KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Travelers are saying goodbye to the old terminals at Kansas City International Airport. 

Many will be on the final departing flight, arriving the next morning at the new, $1.5 billion terminal.

With hand-made shirts, snacks to share, and card games to play, Bev Carey & her daughter, Liz Nuckolls, have a girls night planned unlike any other.

“It was her idea,” Carey said.

At 10:25 p.m. Monday, the Lenexa duo will be on Southwest flight 3369, the last one out of the old terminal at KCI bound for Chicago Midway International Airport.

“What happens if we make friends with people who like want to go to a bar?” Nuckolls asked.

“I don’t want to leave the airport,” Carey said.

Whatever they do, they’ll fly back on Southwest 1980 Tuesday at 7:40 a.m., becoming the first passengers to arrive at the new KCI terminal.

“We just want to do it because it’s fun,” Carey said.  “It’s a fun story.”

They’re not the only ones who will be a part of history.

“For me, it’s a full circle moment,” former City Councilman Jermaine Reed said.  “I was elected to the City Council in 2011, and this was a conversation that then-Mayor Sly James and my colleagues started talking about.”

Peter Carnesciali is also making the trip and plans to pull an all-nighter.

“Some of the people in the group are going to be getting a few hours’ sleep in a hotel, some of us are going to go into downtown Chicago and go check out a bar,” Carnesciali said.  “I think the design of the new one is going to be great for Kansas City and unlocking our future.”

Nuckolls said it was “kismet” that she had a companion pass expiring in March, so she knew she and her mom had to do this.

“We can always say we were the first ones to arrive at the new airport, last ones ever to leave,” Nuckolls said.

“This is a historic moment in our city,” Reed said.