Minter: My Dream

I love the name Minter. In fact, I want to change my last name to Minter. Somehow, it just sounds so refreshing: Kelly Anne Minter. Kelly Minter. It's like the combination of "Mint" and "Winter" - so lovely!

I had a crazy travel day on Sunday, but it was all worth it for living in the lap of luxury as I did. (As I always am. Duh.) JH and I woke at 4am to drive to the airport for my 6am flight. (Urgh, I know.) Since we stayed out until 2am the night prior (with Mary Kay Letourneau and her former student/ husband, Vili as our deejay) for a birthday party, I was especially struggling. When I arrived at the airport, I couldn't access my flight information and a service agent had to help me check in. She handed me my boarding pass to get from Seattle to Chicago, but told me that I had to get my other boarding pass from Chicago to Richmond (Virginia) at the gate. Apparently, there was a plane change for my second flight and the seats would be distributed shortly. So I schlepped all of my stuff through security to my gate and asked the attendant for some help. He wasn't able to access the flight either, so he told me I was to get my boarding pass in Chicago. (Sigh.) I wasn't frustrated, just confused.

I "slept" on the flight to Chicago, though with an aisle seat and a flight attendant whose butt was too big (thus it bumped my head every time she walked by) for her job, my "sleep" was spotty at best. We arrived late and as I made my way to the Richmond gate, I saw we were to depart 15 minutes later than scheduled (due to last minute equipment change) and there was quite a long line in front of the empty service desk. I decided to wait for a while since I figured it didn't matter much as I had a confirmed seat on the plane.

As I discovered an hour later, it DID matter much because after standing in line for 20 minutes, I was informed that there were no more seats. Not only did they change planes, but they also downsized which meant that about 8 of us were left at the airport as our flight departed for Virginia. I was one of the few who just rolled with the punches and didn't make a huge fuss about it (as you can imagine, some others were P.I.S.S.E.D. since we were never informed of this problem until about 10 minutes before the plane pulled back from the jet bridge) which worked out in my favor. Here's what happened: As they were trying to accommodate me, I mentioned I could fly to a nearby airport and change my car reservation to drive to Richmond. So as they were booking me on a 4pm flight to Washington Dulles (just out of DC), the gate agent not only gave me a seat on business class (which, as you'll see, was better than any first class I've ever had), but I also scored a free roundtrip ticket to anywhere United flies! Not too shabby for a 6am flight day.

And business class was A-MA-ZING. I'm telling you - the best I've ever had. We flew to Dulles on one of those newfangled planes that have first class "pods" (with full on beds and personal televisions) and business class seats (with reclining chairs and duel televisions). I enjoyed a cheese and fruit plate (plus free bloody mary) with my British seatmate who was all business and no fun, especially when he was eying me as I played with my electric seat-moving devices and television remote control. (What? I had to use everything before deplaning!) Needless to say, I enjoyed that flight immensely.

To make matters even better, when I got to Dulles, I found a luxury rental car to drive...thank you for heated leather seats, electric controls, and a stellar moon roof. Bomb diggity - I'm living the life!