It was easy enough to move the flight around. We took a taxi to the airport and made our way through the throngs of people. Neil had been prepared, but I could still see it hit him hard. Airports are particularly people-y, which left Neil very anxious and uncomfortable. He was wearing headphones to try to tune out some of noisy chaos, but he was on visibly on edge the moment he stepped out of the car.

We did our best to avoid bumping into other people as we walked back and forth through the winding queue toward the grumpy TSA agents who made sure we were in fact the...