Well, the big departure day is finally here, time to start the vacation!!
We left the house on-time at 8:45 AM for the ride to the airport. Many thanks to Brant for taking us and then driving our car back home!!
The weather at home was really nice, and the ride to the airport was uneventful. We had a little trouble checking in at the Airline Kiosk, it did not want to scan our passports correctly. After getting all of the information loaded, we checked our two bags and received our boarding passes. Off to security, and again, all went well, no problems or setting of any security alarms. We got to experience the total body scanner for the first time, unfortunately, you can’t see your own ‘”body picture”.
We headed to our gate, and that was where we had a little problem with a broken zipper on my pants after I made a visit to the rest room. My zipper did not just break, the whole moving part of the zipper came off from the top. We spent the next 15 minutes searching for a safety pin to help with the emergency, I guess we should now learn to pack them in the carry on bags. We have a small sewing kit, but of course it is in the checked luggage. Not the best way to start off the trip. Stephanie kept asking if she could work on my zipper out in the waiting area, I could just picture her kneeling on the floor in front of me trying to work on my zipper, I can just imagine what people would think.
I pulled out my shirt to cover the situation and then it was time to get on the airplane. Thinking about fighting a broken zipper for the next 12 hours of international travel was not making me a happy camper. After we got to our seats, I tried desperately to re-start the zipper, but you just can’t do it from the top. Stephanie asked the flight attendant if she had a safety pin, and lucky for us, she did. I still had to fight with trying to make the zipper work when Stephanie suggested starting it from the top, but backwards so the zipper would close going downward. That did work to a point, but there was not a way to keep the zipper from opening again at the top. In went the safety pin, and we then began thinking about a contingency plan for zipper repair during the layover in Philadelphia.
After our flight landed, and we had departed the plane, we began to search for a men’s clothing store inside the airport, thinking we might be able to find another pair of pants to purchase. We went into a Brooks Brothers store, and looked at a pair of $80 pants. At this point, I was thinking that maybe a few more safety pins would do the job. The salesman, Reggie, ended up knowing what to do to repair the zipper, had some scissors and thread, and he and Stephanie fixed the zipper while I waited in the dressing room, sans pants. It is a neat trick to know, Reggie put a cut at the bottom of the zipper on one side, and re-threaded the escapee zipper closure portion back on from the bottom. Then he stitched a couple of threads to keep the zipper from going back too far down, and also put a few at the top to replace the stops that had apparently come off . It is delicate, but at least I do not have to worry about having an open fly while flying. Many thanks to Reggie!
We still put the safety pin at the top as an additional safety measure, and now I just have to be really careful when I need to undo the zipper for potty breaks. We can probably fix the pants better once we have our own sewing kit when we get our luggage.
After the trauma of the zipper incident, we were hungry, so we headed off to find a restaurant in the airport for some lunch, and then settling in for our 3.5 hour layover. At least I have regained my peace of mind and my zipper.
We were able to get free wi-fi in the Philadelphia Airport to make this post. We were also able to view the online radar for the Philadelphia area, which showed some rain approaching from the West. Hopefully, it will either arrive after we leave, or be light enough not to cause any flight delays. We have our fingers crossed, we need to make an on time departure in order to arrive in Frankfurt on-time, and make our fairly short layover connection to Milan.
Layover in Philadelphia
Chuck – Between the pretrip repairs to your suitcase zipper and the repair of your pants zipper, you two are now probably qualified to work as consultants for YKK. This venture may become known as the “Zipper Trip”.
I am not returning to JEA, I am now an executive engineer for YKK, and they are giving raises this year, zippers are BIG.