Getting to Jamestown

When the hubby got his bid to the World Series, we found out that if I came out for the entire trip we would have to foot the bill for the hotel for the entire 10 days instead of him getting his room covered. We decided that he would drive out to Jamestown and I would fly out a week later. This way we would save money on hotel, could take our time getting home, and I would not have to suffer through 5 days of pool play.

Once we decided that, I had to figure out where I was flying out of and flying into. Jamestown has an airport but only gets flights in from Pittsburg on SunAir. I could fly into Erie, PA or Buffalo. Erie was about 45 minutes and Buffalo was 90 minutes. I could fly out Appleton, Green Bay, or Milwaukee. Based on pricing regardless of where I was flying to, Milwaukee was cheaper.  Mom and Dad would take me to the airport. I could fly United into Erie and get in around 4pm or I could fly Southwest into Buffalo and get in around 11:30am. Because Erie was closer, we decided I would fly into Erie. I had a choice of taking an 8am flight out of Milwaukee to O’Hare or a noon flight out of Milwaukee to O’Hare. Either way I was on the 1:45 flight to Erie. Sit around an airport for 4 hours or sleep in… that was easy an easy decision.

I checked in and printed my boarding pass from home. I really like that especially since I wasn’t checking any bags. The hubby took my luggage with him. I just had my backpack and laptop. Once I got to Mitchell I was able to go straight to security which was a breeze. Then I entered the Recombulation Area..the only airport to have one. It's just a fancy name for the area to put your shoes on and get re-situated after going through security.

Once I got through security, I still had 90 minutes before boarding and there really wasn’t anything on my concourse. There was a sit down restaurant, a beverage kiosk, and that was about it.  I was really hoping that there was a Starbucks. The gate area was small too so I couldn’t even walk around. Good thing I had “Grey” to keep me company. If I wanted WiFi I had to pay for it. I used my free 20 minutes and that was all I got.

Finally it was time to board. Boarding was pretty easy. I had a window seat. Once everyone was boarded, the captain informed us we were waiting on maintenance because one of the engines needed oil. Once the oil was filled, we missed our push back window and had to wait to get clearance to push back. Needless to say we were late in leaving Milwaukee. My hour layover in Chicago was getting smaller.

Once we finally got to cruising altitude, our flight attendant attempted to give us beverages but before she could even get everything set up, it was time to start our descent. No water for me.  We flew half way to Michigan I swear before circling back to O’Hare. When we landed, ground control had us drive all the way around the airport before getting to our gate which we had to wait for. Now my hour layover is down to 15 minutes.

Of course, I couldn’t take off from the same terminal that I landed in. I had to hustle from Terminal F to Terminal B. By the time I got to my gate, they were not yet boarding. I decided I had time to go to the bathroom. Since there was a bagel shop next to the bathrooms that had no line, I grabbed lunch since I was starving. Luckily both of them were right by my gate. By the time I got back to the gate, they were pre-boarding.

There were no issues getting into Erie. We were only a few minutes late getting in mainly because we were late leaving Chicago. I found the hubby and off to Jamestown we went. Next time he gets a World Series in Jamestown, I will fly into Buffalo since it is easier to get to.