We are checked in at airport - whew!

So, when we rented the car in Las Vegas at the beginning of this adventure, we were assured by Miguel at Budget that it was easy to return the car at San Diego, that the rental return place was "at the airport". So, our plan was for me to drop Bill and the kids off at the terminal, return the car, and bop back over to the terminal in just enough time to get our boarding passes, get through security, get breakfast, and board our plane. All of this between the 5am opening time of Budget and our 6:30am departure. We knew it'd be a little tight.

We were checked out of our hotel and on our way to the airport by 4:30am. The gps said it was a 10-minute drive, which we hoped would take no more than 30 minutes, given our previous driving experience in southern California (which was 2 hours off the estimation of a 7-hr drive, see previous post). Thankfully, people in California do sleep, and it was a 10-minute drive to the airport. But, I became nervous because it was quite clear that the Budget return place was not "at the airport", but rather on the same side of town as the airport. Accordingly, my cortisol levels began to rise significantly.

As I dropped them off at the front door, my brain kept telling me over and over, 'we should stay together, we should not separate'. Yet, we stuck to our plan, and they got out with their bags and I left them, hoping that the gps address I had was right and that there would be no surprises. It was 4:40am.

Although I made one turn too soon, I still managed to find the Budget car return place. And, thankfully, someone was already there receiving people and processing their paperwork. Bless them! And the charge was exactly what they estimated in Vegas (thank you, Miguel), happy day!

And, to add to my joy, a shuttle to the airport was sitting there, ready, running, with a driver, and we pulled out right after I got on. Cortisol levels beginning their slow descent back to normal.

And even though the driver dumped us a 1/4-mile from the doors to the airport, and people driving at the San Diego airport have absolutely no respect for pedestrian crosswalks, I met up with Bill and the kids around 5:00am. Yes!! I printed out our boarding passes and we proceeded through security in record time (kids don't have to remove their shoes anymore, sanity at the airport is also slowly returning). We even got breakfast. Missions accomplished. :)