Let me tell you the tale of how my husband went through 8 airports in 4 days, and I in 5.

It all began last Friday when we took off from our home base, the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. MHT is a small and simple place, with maybe a dozen gates making up a single terminal. It’s convenient for us and efficient due to both its location and the population it serves; it takes us less than 30 minutes to get from our front door to our designated gate.

Our connecting flight left from Philadelphia International Airport, where we’ve had layovers before. PHL is a pretty sweet airport with a lot of bells and whistles, but we didn’t just sit around this time. We went to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, which we hadn’t seen yet. We only had to ride the commuter rail for a bit and walk several blocks, which wasn’t bad at all.

Then, we had another connecting flight going out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. We had such a long layover there that we actually had a friend, Matt, pick us up and give us a ride to get beer and hang out with him and his girlfriend, Mary. As Matt was driving us back to the airport, we received the horrible news: our flight that night was cancelled due to weather. We were supposed to land at the Colorado Springs Airport.

Matt and Mary graciously let us stay the night at their place while we figured out another route. Sure enough, the next morning, we flew out of Dallas Love Field Airport. We had a new connection at the Kansas City International Airport before finally finding ourselves at Denver International Airport. Close enough to Colorado Springs, right?

So, together, we had been to 6 airports in 2 days. And we had to drive a couple hours from DIA to Colorado Springs on top of that.

However, this was all for my granddad’s 80th birthday. Everyone met up last Saturday for a big party at my aunt and uncle’s house. My mom, brother, other aunt, cousins, and great-aunt and great-uncle had all come out. My granddad’s lifelong friends and Air Force Academy classmates came out, too. He absolutely wiped away tears more than once. It was all a huge surprise; he had no idea that many of those people would be there. There were food and drink, fun and games, and singing and fighting. It was incredibly special. It was totally worth our time, despite our struggle to get there.

As you’ve probably guessed, though, our travel trouble didn’t end with that. Now it was time to worry about going back to Manchester.

Kevin had to be back earlier due to work. He was originally going to leave from Colorado Springs to Denver, stop at Chicago Midway International Airport, and arrive in Manchester this past Sunday. Instead, again because of the weather, we had to wake up at 2 a.m. Monday morning, and I had to drive him straight to DIA. He still had a connection at MDW, but he skipped COS. He finally made it to Manchester a day later than we intended.

As for me, I drove home to Albuquerque with my mom and flew out from the Sunport on Tuesday. I had my last flight from Baltimore-Washington International Airport. I was so close to being back. Yet Mother Nature wasn’t done with me. 40 minutes of layover turned into almost 3 hours, 2 of which I sat on the airplane at the gate as rain poured and lightning in the surrounding area forced planes to stay on the ground. People couldn’t even walk up or down the jet bridge to board the planes. At last, however, I made it to Manchester as well.

I didn’t have a record of the most airports I’ve ever visited in one trip before, but I sure do now: 8. Boy, what a trip indeed.