For Posterity's Sake (The longest blog post ever.)

>> Sunday, December 31, 2006

Our Adventure

Friday, December 29th.
8 a.m. – Wake up
9-noon – cancel newspaper, cancel cable, go to bank, forward mail, prepare un-attached garage, enjoy McDonald’s breakfast, clean house (including sinks), set light timers, finished packing, turned off water.
Noon – The mother-in-law drops of her BF’s mustang in our garage.
12:15 – We drive to MIL’s to drop off both Jeeps (Lola and Brutus)
12:30 – En route to the lovely city of Detroit
1:00 – Arrive in the oldest terminal known to man – American
1:30 – Waiting for plane
2:15 – Allegedly supposed to board, flight delayed one hour
2: 48 – Time plane supposed to depart
3:15 – Actually boarded the plane
4:00 – Actually took off
6:00 – Diverted to Springfield, MO (Tornadoes and thunderstorms in Dallas). We sat on the plane, refueled and called American Airlines to check on the status of our connecting flight. Turns out, it was cancelled. We re-booked for Saturday a.m. at 9:15. The lovely woman at AA then connected us to a lovely woman at hotels.com who then booked us a room at the Hawthorne Suites at the Dallas airport.
**NOTE: We have not eaten since 10:15 a.m.
**NOTE: My favorite comment from C. after we were grounded waiting for the pilot telling us to tell us the plane, “Hey, do you think they’ll let us off this bird so we can get something to eat?”
7:00 – Plane takes off from Springfield, MO
**NOTE: Very bumpy, very uncomfortable, very death-like.
8:45 p.m. – Land in Dallas. (Took ENITRELY too long. We had to circle the airport numerous times, because some landing strips were closed.
9:00 p.m. – Waiting for our luggage at DFW
9:08 p.m. – Realize we ain’t getting’ our luggage.
9:15 p.m. – Talk to luggage counter princess, realize our luggage will be on the next a.m. flight.
**NOTE: We have no toiletries. Sweet.
**NOTE: We still haven’t eaten.
**NOTE: C. is carrying his laptop and in his bookbag are about 14 pairs of chones (boxers) and his iPod because he nearly forgot to pack his underpants in his checked baggage.
9:17 p.m. – Go outside to hail taxi
9:18 p.m. – Realize there is a severe taxi shortage.
9:25 p.m. – Finally get a taxi ( a Ford Taurus station wagon – haven’t been in one of those since 7th grade.)
9:30 p.m – Arrived at the Hawthorne Suites (right by the airport.) Cab fare: a mere $24.50. (For 2 miles.) HUH?
9:31 p.m. – Checked in. Received complimentary toothbrushes and toothpaste.
9:33 p.m. – Order pizza and cheese bread from Papa John’s. The phone answering whiz was so confused by the spelling of my name, he yelled, “I need help over here,” and proceeded to hand the phone to someone who had “more experience in taking orders.” We ordered. He then told us that the pizza would be in our hands in an hour and a half.
**NOTE: This was unacceptable. We had not eaten since 10 a.m.
9:42 p.m. – C. & I visit the “vending” machine and promptly purchase a bag of cheetos, a bag of chili-cheese fritos, and 2 mountain dews, respectively. These items served as our appetizer.
10:15 p.m. – Much to our surprise, the pizza arrives.
10:16 p.m.. – We “smash” the pizza and cheesebread.
10:30 p.m. – With little hygienic options, we brush our teeth and go to…bed… (what we do is our business.)

Saturday, December 30th
7:00 – Wake up call #1
7:01 – Wake up call #2
7:05 – My cell phone alarm goes off
7:07 – We dress in the same clothes as the previous day.
7:30 a.m. – Shuttle takes us, along with about 10 other luggage-less travelers to DFW. (Through friendly banter, we realize how lucky we were to receive some of the last complimentary toothbrushes and toothpastes.)
7:40 a.m. – Arrive at DRW to a HUGE line. C., who is my prince, sneaks into the business class international flight-self-serve computers to get our boarding passes. Within 5 minutes, we are out of the 2.6 mile line and in the 1.5 mile security checkpoint l ine.
7:58 a.m. – Security man berates Craig and wants him to take off his shirt.
7:59 a.m. – I kindly ask the same security man how he is, and tell him to have a lovely day. He smiles, says, “Thank you, you too.”
8:00 a.m. – We’re in line for McDonald’s breakfast (for the second day in a row.)
NOTE: Ther was no cheese on my biscuit – but I dealt. I’m learning flexibility.
8:30 a.m. – Meander to our gate to find that our flight has been DELAYED AGAIN. We’re not leaving at 9:15 a.m. – nope, we’re now leaving at 10:30 a.m. (Our pilot isn’t here, but the crew is. That’s a pickle, because they don’t know how to fly the plane.)
9:45 a.m. – C. and I sit and recap our “adventure” for later blogging purposes.
1:15 p.m. – Arrive in Cabo and are picked up by brother.

Awesome.

Things we’ve been thankful for during this travel:
• That while we were grounded in Springfield, we were not sitting near the lavatories.
• That we were sitting in the emergency exit seats for our 5-hour flight from Detroit to Dallas. Read: LOTS of leg room.
• That we were together.
• That the children on the plane were AMAZINGLY awesome, quiet and happy.
• That we finally ate.
• That we were able top re-schedule our glight while grounded in Springfield AND book a hotel.

Things we were thankful for.

3 comments:

Tiny 9:11 AM  

Oh my goodness!!! What a long day and a half! Ew. Thank heavens you were in it together:)

Wrestling Kitties 7:12 PM  

WOW!!!!

Well all I can say is at least you are in Cabo together, finally!!! (and yay for having the tooth brushes!!!)

Ky • twopretzels.com 11:16 PM  

(Props to BOTH of you for reading that post. Really. You rock.)

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