Trip day is finally here! Headed to pick up the Collins family, so we could head to the airport. We arrived about 9am I quickly dropped off my bag. Kelle and the girls got their bags dropped off and we headed to security. Jennah wasn’t feeling great so I took her with me through Clear Pre check and quickly made it through security. Kelle and Bella had regular security it took them about 30 minutes. After getting through security Jennah and I went to the gate and found a place to camp out. We found out of flight was delayed 70 minutes. After sitting around for a while we decided to take a little walk and find a place to each the lunch we packed. We went to the middle area and found some chairs and a table to eat and relax for a little bit. Then another quick walk and headed back to our gate to get ready for the flight. 

Finally time for boarding the plane!!! Once on the plane the pilot said the weather is a little bumpy so we might have to keep the seat belt sign on most of the trip. After spending about 30-40 minutes taxing the pilots came on and said their day had timed out and we were going back to the gate!!!!  

They had other pilots “near by” so we had to wait on those pilots of land and come take over this place. We spent a little over an hour sitting on the plane. Those pilots also said they were getting low on time so we are sitting at the gate waiting until we are further in the take off line. If the pilots taxi too long they will time out but they sit at the gate for hours (not a good sign for catching the connecting flight). Still no ETA in leaving.  

As I write this it is 3:51 pm still sitting on the tarmac. Original flight was really scheduled for June 13th. Our rebooked flight that was supposed to take off today at 12:22. We started boarding the plane at 1:20pm. I’ll start writing again once I have more information.

Finally we were able to take off at 4:45!  As of right now the connecting flight leaves at 7:30pm and we are supposed to arrive at JFK at 8:11pm. Not sure if they plane will get held or if we are going to get rebooked. Guess we will find out when we land. 

The nice thing about flying in first class when we were waiting at the gate we were given the choice of several snacks. I had some almonds and a cookie. Not sure what Kelle and the girls got in Comfort. I was able to get some better updates in first class about our flight and was able to chat with an agent to find out about making our flight or having to get it changed. 

We were served dinner around 6:30 (another first class perk) I guess while they were waiting around Orlando there were able to get meals delivered. For dinner I have a Southwest Chicken Salad mainly over a bed of rice. It wasn’t too bad. Sides were pineapples that had something red on them. There a sort of berry cobbler that was yummy. 

We landed in New York at 7:53 and waited for our gate to open. At 8:16 the pilot came on and said the plane at our gate started to push back but then stopped, so we are back to waiting for a new gate. We finally got off of the plane at 9pm!!! Luckily we just had to go from gate B35 to B36. They were boarding Main cabin 3 when we arrived. We got right on board I even had time to use the restroom. Where I knocked the toilet paper roll off and when I set it in the counter knocked it into the sink and the sink turned in making the toilet paper wet. I’m going to blame it on being super tired and still having 7 hours until arriving in Brussels.  

At about 11pm dinner was served in my cabin. 

Then it was lights out on the plane. I laid my seat flat and tried to go to sleep. I did get a little bit of sleep. It felt like I’d fall asleep and then we would have turbulence which would wake me back up. 

Then about 3:30 east coast (9:30 Brussels) the lights came back on to do a drink and breakfast service. The overnight oats were ok I was still full from the partial dinners the previous night, so I ate the fruit and croissant