Well, I just got home from a WONDERFUL week w/ my bestie (that is the current hip word for best friend, I have learned:)) It was so great-Tracey and I shopped, ate out, watched TV (uninterupted which is a major treat for me), made homemade soy candles, and walked her dogs...3 days w/out my husband and kids...while I sure did miss them, it was so refreshing...I am so thankful for the opportunity to visit her! My husband is wonderful for letting me go (of course I arranged some helpers for him but he did most everything himself-and school was cancelled due to weather while I was gone so he had an extra hard job!)...he lets me do an annual trip to Tracey's house-it's such a blessing...and I'm so thankful to Tracey for being the world's BEST hostess (she actually bought my plane ticket, too!) I have been laughing to myself every day since I got home b/c the stories of my travels are so funny...I had to post them with the hopes that someone else might enjoy them, too:) Here is a summary of my week last week:
Sunday night: Get packed, tell everyone goodbye and my mom droves me to the Evansville airport...they tell me the flight to Detroit (where I am connecting) was delayed and it would make me miss my flight to Tampa so I'd have to come back in the morning...I AM SO DISAPPOINTED! I do NOT want to go back home for the night! It was going to cut my vacation short...I meet another young woman traveling on my flight and she is really bummed, too...our moms get to talking....so, I stand there for 15 minutes till the airline people say, "well, maybe you can make it..." so, I chance it! Now, the moms decide Jackie (this other girl) and I need to stay together in case we get stuck in Detroit (can I tell you by this time I'm feeling like a little kid b/c my mom is sounding so overprotective....does she remember that I've flown to foreign countries multiple times w/ my children? HA!)I'm on my way to Detroit on the flight w/ my new friend, Jackie and her little pug dog...as we are landing we exchange cell phone numbers...we have plenty of time to make our connections...till the airline holds us on the plane for 30 minutes b/c they can't find anyone to let us off the plane! We take off running! I arrive at the terminal as I see my plane shut the door...I'm stuck! So, they give me a hotel room at the day's inn and a meal voucher...great...but then my new friend, Jackie calls...she was given a room, too BUT that won't do for her so she decides to get herself a room at the Westin (attached to the airport...$250/night)...and she asks me if I wanted to crash there w/ her and her dog (she has to sneak in)...haha....I tell her I am fine at the days inn and that i don't have the money to split it w/ her...she says, "oh, who cares! just stay w/ me..."...so, I spend the evening w/ a complete stranger and her dog...who keeps jumping in my bed and biting my hand...I sleep in the most comfortable, plush bed I've ever laid in, watched a nice big flat screen tv....and while it is slightly awkward, it ends up being a decent night! They even have freshly brewed Starbucks in the room in the morning! So, we part ways and I fly out the next morning...arriving in Tampa exhausted and in dire need of a change of clothes (I'd slept in my clothes) and decent toothbrush!! I was sore for 2 days from running so hard in the airport...no kidding...I guess the last 2 months at the YMCA was a waste of my time!
Thursday: So, after a wonderful few days w/ Tracey, it is time to travel home...I am supposed to fly out at 12noon but since I see there is an icestorm heading to Evansville that day, we decide I should get up at 4am and fly standby on the 6:22am flight (Northwest Airlines)to beat the storm...(Tracey is a great friend and droves me to the airport at the crack of dawn!)...they let me go early and I am on my way...UNTIL...when I get to Memphis, they CANCEL MY FLIGHT TO EVANSVILLE! The ice storm had begun...so, they try to send me to Detroit...I decide that it's not smart to go further north...so, I go to another desk and they book me through Cincinnati...then I think, "this is crazy...that's where the storm is heading after Evansville...I"ll get stuck again"...so, then they rebook me to Atlanta (and switch me over to Delta)...I think I am good to go...so, I fly to Atlanta....then get stuck again! They keep delaying my flights...then finally they board us....we are going down the runway and I think, "I am going to make it!"...then they cancel our flight 2 seconds before take off...(lots of swear words are the only things flying-not from me of course), take us back to the airport and tell us to wait until the next morning! AHHH!!! I think I'll NEVER get home...I wait in a 60 minute line to get my flight rebooked...take a bus to the Holiday Inn..spend $60 on a room...walk in the freezing rain to some little diner, eat by myself, sleep, wake up and go back to the Atlanta airport...my flight gets delayed 40 minutes...then 10 more...then 10 more...then we get on the plane...then we sit on the plane for 55 minutes...then we FINALLY FLY HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 34 hours after waking up at Tracey's I am HOME!!! I could have driven to Evansville and back to Florida again in that time!!!!!!!!!!!!
The CRAZIEST thing was that when I got to Evansville, my bag came out on the carousel! Hahaha....it was like a miracle! I couldn't believe my bags followed me on that adventure! I'd switched airlines, and rebooked multiple times...I'd even been booked on multiple flights at the same time somehow at one point...
Well, I'm not sure why I just typed all that out...I guess b/c it's funny to me...if anyone actually takes the time to read all of that, I hope you don't feel like you wasted 10 minutes of your life-haha....
Lesson learned: start visiting Tracey in the spring or fall ...NOT the winter!!!!!!!!!!
