trip report- travel day form hell! Nov 10-18
Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 10:02 am
Here goes guys! I thought I better hurry and throw yall a bone- I got 2 emails yesterday telling me to hurry-up!
November 10-18, 2006
STJ and Bongo Bongo
We all decided to go over to Memphis the night before our 6:00am flight to start our vacation early. We were suppose to leave around 3pm and check into the hotel, get a nice pre-vacation dinner, and get rested for our travel day. Well, my husband got stuck at work until 6:30pm and I just spent the day hurrying up and waiting! ughhh! We finally made it to the restaurant to meet our friends around 8:30. Checked in to the Marriot, had a few cocktails and tried to sleep. We got up around 3:15 am because we had to drop off our car to be repaired at the dealership(we got in too late the night before) and we had to do this by 4:15 am to make it to the airport on time. Our friends had dropped their car off to do the same thing the day before because they weren't late starting their vacation. We had to all pile in a ford taurus cab at the car place and ride to the airport , luggage and all. This must have looked hysterical. We rush, rush, rush, to get checked in and through security and grab some breekie. We finally arrive at the gate, where we had maybe 10 minutes of peace before they start the annoucements that our flight had mechanical problems.This went on and on. Our little hearts were pounding. We were flying USAir through Charlotte to STT. This was my first encounter with them. We were delayed an hour.Could have been much worse. We had to find the gate agent down the hall to tell hem we were suppose to be boarding- lost this guy was! When we get on the plane, the flight attendent asks us about our connection and we tell her we know nothing-
Dufus told us zero. She tells us that he told her he had already taken care of us for the next leg. When we get to Charlotte, we have 10 min. until our flight leaves. Do you remember the O.J.Simpson Avis commercial years ago? Well, I was O.J. running through the airport. We get to the gate and see the plane backing up from the gate. The gate dude in Memphis had already put us on the next flight. Seriously- we could have made this one if they would of let us off first. I guess they just didn't know that we were going to the most amazing place on earth and nobody else was going anywhere as great as we were. So--- when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade or bloodymarys, as it turned out. There was a bar directly across from the gate where WE DIDN"T GET ON THE PLANE. I figured it was fate. So, instead of fussing with the gate attendent, like the rest of our party, I started my vacation anyway! We watched football games and had a blast. I had to make a few phone calls. Called Paco and told hime we would be late. Called my kids to tell them it would be dark and they couldn't see us on the webcam and it was all USAirs fault. Called Wheatley taxi and gave them new flight info. Called Conrad Sutton to tell them we would be there after they closed. This took at least 3 - double bloody mary's to accomplish.
The flight down was uneventful. We arrived on-time. I did just as VaBill said and got me a big snort of caribbean air as soon as we deplaned. It was cooler than usuall also. I guess I don't normally arrive this late in the day. It took us longer than usually to get our bags because there were 4 planes in at the same time. I have never seen this before. The taxi was there waiting for us. He was the best!!!! We got drinks for the road and off to Red hook we went. We had just missed the ferry, so we hung out and waited for the next. Our cabbie,Eddie (Wheatley taxi 340-473-8900) bought us some beers and we waited. We sat on the top of the ferry, just takin it all in! We were so excited to be there and the travel day had been exceptionally long! This was our friends first time and they finally understood what all of the fuss was about. They thought it was the most beautiful place they had seen.
Paco was there to meet us and take us to the car place.
Finally, time to head to Bongo Bongo.
More to come....
November 10-18, 2006
STJ and Bongo Bongo
We all decided to go over to Memphis the night before our 6:00am flight to start our vacation early. We were suppose to leave around 3pm and check into the hotel, get a nice pre-vacation dinner, and get rested for our travel day. Well, my husband got stuck at work until 6:30pm and I just spent the day hurrying up and waiting! ughhh! We finally made it to the restaurant to meet our friends around 8:30. Checked in to the Marriot, had a few cocktails and tried to sleep. We got up around 3:15 am because we had to drop off our car to be repaired at the dealership(we got in too late the night before) and we had to do this by 4:15 am to make it to the airport on time. Our friends had dropped their car off to do the same thing the day before because they weren't late starting their vacation. We had to all pile in a ford taurus cab at the car place and ride to the airport , luggage and all. This must have looked hysterical. We rush, rush, rush, to get checked in and through security and grab some breekie. We finally arrive at the gate, where we had maybe 10 minutes of peace before they start the annoucements that our flight had mechanical problems.This went on and on. Our little hearts were pounding. We were flying USAir through Charlotte to STT. This was my first encounter with them. We were delayed an hour.Could have been much worse. We had to find the gate agent down the hall to tell hem we were suppose to be boarding- lost this guy was! When we get on the plane, the flight attendent asks us about our connection and we tell her we know nothing-
Dufus told us zero. She tells us that he told her he had already taken care of us for the next leg. When we get to Charlotte, we have 10 min. until our flight leaves. Do you remember the O.J.Simpson Avis commercial years ago? Well, I was O.J. running through the airport. We get to the gate and see the plane backing up from the gate. The gate dude in Memphis had already put us on the next flight. Seriously- we could have made this one if they would of let us off first. I guess they just didn't know that we were going to the most amazing place on earth and nobody else was going anywhere as great as we were. So--- when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade or bloodymarys, as it turned out. There was a bar directly across from the gate where WE DIDN"T GET ON THE PLANE. I figured it was fate. So, instead of fussing with the gate attendent, like the rest of our party, I started my vacation anyway! We watched football games and had a blast. I had to make a few phone calls. Called Paco and told hime we would be late. Called my kids to tell them it would be dark and they couldn't see us on the webcam and it was all USAirs fault. Called Wheatley taxi and gave them new flight info. Called Conrad Sutton to tell them we would be there after they closed. This took at least 3 - double bloody mary's to accomplish.
The flight down was uneventful. We arrived on-time. I did just as VaBill said and got me a big snort of caribbean air as soon as we deplaned. It was cooler than usuall also. I guess I don't normally arrive this late in the day. It took us longer than usually to get our bags because there were 4 planes in at the same time. I have never seen this before. The taxi was there waiting for us. He was the best!!!! We got drinks for the road and off to Red hook we went. We had just missed the ferry, so we hung out and waited for the next. Our cabbie,Eddie (Wheatley taxi 340-473-8900) bought us some beers and we waited. We sat on the top of the ferry, just takin it all in! We were so excited to be there and the travel day had been exceptionally long! This was our friends first time and they finally understood what all of the fuss was about. They thought it was the most beautiful place they had seen.
Paco was there to meet us and take us to the car place.
Finally, time to head to Bongo Bongo.
More to come....
