Haven’t read about how she packed & then got to departure day? Click here.
I landed. At the gate when we landed were half a dozen people pushing empty wheelchairs and picking people up to get to connecting flights. A wheelchair pusher was supposed to be my guide across the airport. I was supposed to be the pushee.
Nope, thus the first real glitch in my great adventure. It came about because of my own stubbornness. I will not be pushed through the airport when I am able to walk.
And that, my dears, explained why I was race walking through the Charlotte airport trying to keep up with a flight attendant who was going to be late! We had a nice, little jaunt through a few hundred folks.
Since they no longer serve anything that resembles food on planes, I just had my first Bojangles, four-piece meal in the airport. I used my phone to take a couple of photos of the menu. Then I enlarged the photos so I could read what they were. Not too bad.
Uh oh. Battery in my iPad is running down. Having a power source is important when you are as dependent as we are on electronic devises. Here in Charlotte and many, many other airports, they have “electric chairs.” Not the execution sort. The sort that have plugs in the supports. Never being one for decorum, I reverted to crawling on the floor to find it and plug in. If you cannot find it yourself – after all, I have found plugging hinges into outlets has become a nemesis since I lost my sight- ask someone to do it for you,
Sounds like we are getting ready to board for the last leg of this journey.
Friday morning
I am here! I made it!
We flew into Denver International, which is freakin’ huge! My navigation skills have always left a bit to be desired, but after a trip to the bathroom and a few requests for directions from airport staff to get me going in the right direction, I got to the baggage claim. As I was being swept along with the crowd, it dawned upon me that I probably would not have needed to ask. I just followed the mass of humanity headed for their luggage.
When I got to the baggage claim, there was a board saying which carousel my bag would be on. By that time, though, I was in contact with my friend via text, and she guided me to baggage area 17. Even if I had not been able to talk to her, there were several people looking at the board and I could have asked. Played the blind, old lady card again. Or, I could have fired up Be My Eyes or I could have taken a picture and enlarged it. Where there is a will, there is a way.
My bag had a large, orange bow on it. That made it easy to spot.
All told, it was a pretty uneventful, first foray into the world of traveling “blind.” The problems I had came from my own obstinance. (FYI I think there was also a wheelchair waiting for me in Denver. I said hello to the guy and kept walking!) I would not have had questions about navigation if I had taken the ride.
After they picked me up, my friends took me to an Indian restaurant. Since I am generally a meat, potatoes and a veggie sort, I would not have known what was on the menu if I could have seen it. My friends picked a few things for me. If I had not had them with me, I would have used my handheld magnifier or asked the waiter.
This is doable!