Top Ten Reasons to Love Southwest Airlines Today

Top Ten Reasons to Love Southwest Airlines Today

by | Apr 21, 2015 | Out and About, Top Ten Tuesday

3035470-inline-i-1-southwest-airlines-unveils-modern-colorful-redesignLast weekend’s trip to the Accessibility Summit conference was wonderful, as always. But this trip included a bonus perk: the flights too and from the conference were wonderful, too. In fact they were so wonderful, I feel compelled to list Southwest’s top ten wonderfulnesses since previous posts on this blog have bemoaned travel travails associated with this airline.

10. No flight delays. Not one. Most of the time we got to the gate early.

9.  The early Sunday morning flight from DC to Chicago Midway had only about 3 dozen passengers. So my flying buddy and I sat in the front row. With extra legroom. The perfect opportunity to pretend we were flying first class. And I was the first person off the plane for the first time in my whole life.

8.  2 bags free. Which for an author carrying books to sell is money in the bank.

7.  Southwest now has free gate-to-gate WiFi. Which, if I had enough tech savvy to figure out how to make it work, would have been a real perk. My flying buddy got it running on her phone, but she didn’t know how it happened, so she couldn’t teach me.

6.  They still serve free snacks. Pretzels and peanuts.

5.  Southwest has Goldilocks layovers. Not to long, not to short, but just right.

4.  Their magazine is about more than travel. A few years ago, it had an article about Harvard Medical School’s Brazelton Institute, dedicated to healthy development of infants and young children. It was a boon to the research for Does My Child Have PTSD?

3.  Some of their employees must moonlight as stand up comedians. More than one of them have jazzed up the safety instructions at the beginning of their flights so people actually pay attention. And maybe even laugh.

2.  Those same employees can also use the perfect combination of humor and steely determination to keep 40 eighth graders–on their way to DC for a class trip–from running amok on a crowded plane.

1.  Southwest flies out of Des Moines, so after a long day of air travel home is only a 45 minute drive away.

What’s your favorite airline? What makes it your favorite? Leave a comment.

Back in the Saddle Again

Back in the Saddle Again

by | Jan 6, 2014 | Daily Life

back in saddle

Contrary to what a literal interpretation of the above title implies, the no-longer-afraid-of-heights-and-horses genie did not work any magic at our house over the holidays. Neither the man of steel or the woman of aluminum will be riding horses in the near future. Or until hell freezes over. Which could be today with a predicted high of -7.

But I digress.

The back in the saddle reference is purely metaphorical–as is the hell freezing over phrase–so maybe the previous paragraph wasn’t a digression, though this one is in danger of becoming one.

Back to the topic at hand.

After an autumn filled with writing-related travel and pitching in to help rellies move, along with two December weekends devoted to Christmas travel and house guests at our house this past weekend, the hubbub is officially over.

I am back in the saddle again.

Back in the saddle that is preparing DifferentDream.com blog posts on Mondays, visiting Mom on Tuesdays, delving into writing and speaking projects Wednesdays through Fridays, and working around the house on the weekends. Back in the saddle without interruption for all of January and February.

A very boring saddle.

And a totally welcome one. Because it offers the long stretches of time needed to disappear into the story land of the mystery novel waiting to be completed. A story land replete with real horses and real saddles, which are fun to image riding because there’s no danger of falling off and getting hurt.

Now that’s my kind of adventure.

Which is why I’m glad to be back in the saddle again. A metaphorical place were I plan to stay for most of January and February. Yippie yi yo kayah!

Special Needs Travel: Just Do It

Special Needs Travel: Just Do It

by | Nov 15, 2013 | Different Dream, Holidays, Special Needs Parenting

Special Needs Travel: Just Do It

The holidays are upon us, and for many families that means traveling season has arrived. Guest blogger Kimberly Drew is back with advice about how to travel with kids who have special needs.

Special Needs Travel: Just Do It

Travel? YUCK!

Twelve and a half hours in a car, approximately 6 children’s movies, 4 stops, 2 meals, countless snacks, and 600 plus miles of road stand between me and the house I grew up in. When my husband and I started dating during college, we could do the trip between Indiana and New Jersey in 10 1/2 hours. Now that we have three kids, we laugh about those days.

Although, my competitive husband still likes to do whatever he can to shave off the minutes.

We moved out near my husband’s family in New Jersey when Abbey was around 18 months old. We’ve been racking up the miles on our vehicles ever since. I’m not just motivated by the faces of my family members and the miles and miles of corn waiting for me, sometimes you just need to get away. How about you? Do you need to get away? I encourage you to just do it.

Just do it.

Don’t let the challenges keep you from going home, going on vacation, going somewhere new, going anywhere! Life is too short to keep a checklist of things that make it too difficult to take a road trip. There are places to explore, sights to see, and memories to make with your family that are only a few hours away. I know that taking a child with special needs in a car for any amount of time requires planning, but it’s worth sitting down and making a checklist. I’ll get you started—a piece of paper, a pencil, a destination.

There you go, you can thank me later!

In all seriousness, it’s so worth it to get away. I know our daughter thrives on routine, but sometimes that routine can make me feel like I’m going crazy. The walls of my house start to close in on me and I feel trapped. We have even gone just a few hours from home to get a hotel room and do nothing. We swam in the pool, ordered pizza to the room, and watched TV in bed. Maybe that sounds like a lot of work for just two days and one night, but for us it was a much-needed break. Not to mention, my husband and I always have the best heart-to-heart talks while in the car on a trip.

With a little extra planning, maybe you and your family could take a small road trip this fall?

If just the thought of going somewhere overwhelms you, it’s probably all the more important that you get away. Maybe start with just your spouse, or one of your parents, or a best friend. Work up to a trip with your child, but don’t delay getting away. It’s so good for your mind and body to have a break.

Just do it.

What’s Your Special Needs Travel Story?

How do you handle travel with your child who has special needs? Leave a comment with your best tricks and tips.

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Kimberly grew up and went to college in the small town of Upland, IN. She graduated from Taylor University with a degree in Elementary Education in 2002. While at TU, she married her college sweetheart and so began their adventure! Ryan and Kimberly have four amazing kids on earth (Abigail, Jayden, Ellie, and Cooper), and a baby boy waiting for them in heaven. Their daughter Abigail (Abbey) has multiple disabilities including cerebral palsy, a seizure disorder, hearing loss, microcephaly, and oral dysphagia. She is the inspiration behind Kimberly’s desire to write. In addition to being a stay-at-home mom, Kimberly has been serving alongside her husband in full time youth ministry for almost fourteen years. She enjoys working with the senior high girls, scrapbooking, reading, and music. You can visit Kimberly at her website, Promises and Perspective.

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Once Again, There’s No Place Like Home!

Once Again, There’s No Place Like Home!

by | Oct 21, 2013 | Out and About

no place like home

What can happen in one short week?

  • A country bumpkin can drive through Chicago both ways without mishap and with correct change for the toll booth.
  • A bargain shopper can buy steal-of-a-deal new snow boots at an outlet store.
  • Old friends can spend a day together and pick up the conversation right where it ended almost 30 years ago.
  • Co-authors can hammer out the direction of a new book…and laugh a lot in the process.
  • One writer can enjoy lunch several days running with publishing house personnel, an agent, and special needs ministry colleagues.
  • An Iowan can navigate Grand Rapids, Michigan all week long and not get lost once.
  • The same Iowan can flawlessly execute a Michigan left turn. (Cue applause)
  • A writers’ conference can result in complete strangers becoming fast friends over coffee and hand outs.
  • The trees along Lake Michigan’s eastern shore can be beautiful enough to bring a person to tears.
  • Arriving home after a wonderful week reminds weary travelers of a truth that bears repeating, though clicking one’s heels is optional…

…There truly is no place like home!

Off to My McFarthest Spot

Off to My McFarthest Spot

by | Sep 13, 2013 | Out and About

Harding County Jump Off

In just a few hours, I’ll be on my way to the McFarthest spot where Hiram and I lived for seven years. We moved there in 1978, two shiny new college graduates with our first grown up jobs. Seven years later, we returned to Iowa so our three-year-old son could be closer to doctors and a children’s hospital.

When we left Harding County, a tiny bit of my heart stayed behind, though I didn’t know it way back then. But with the passing of years and decades, it calls to me disguised as longings for the immense sky and the cool night air, for elbow room and old friends. In answer, I pull out my mystery novel manuscript and let my imagination take me there.

But this week I’m making the long drive west and north to do background research.
I want to smell the air, see the small towns, and hear gravel ping against the fender.
Feel my stomach lurch as the car rounds the curve at the crest of the Jump-Off.
Remember what it was like to live without cell phone service and wireless wi-fi.
Visit the school where I once taught, where a former student teaches now.
Hug old friends.
Share old memories.

All in an effort to pour this far away, precious place and the kind of people who live there into a fiction story. So readers who don’t live there and don’t know what they’re missing can fall in love with my McFarthest spot. So the remote and vast land that captured my heart 28 years ago captures their hearts, too.

Are you there yet?