Monday, April 07, 2008

Traveling Adventures!

It all began, when the alarm went off at 3:30 and I hit the snooze button. At 3:40 the annoying beeping started again, and I started asking myself “whose bright idea was it to book a flight leaving so early in the morning ANYWAY?”

I finally drug myself out of bed and stumbled to the shower. The hot water worked its magic, a little too well, because I stayed in there way longer than I should have! By the time I had blown my hair dry, and put my bondo (make-up) on it was 4:10. I told Mr. Mister he had to get up, because we were supposed to be leaving the house by 4:30 to get to the airport in time for our 6:10 flight. I knew I should have gotten up at 3:00!

I still had to shut down my computer, pack our last minute items, make the bed, feed the animals, and find my mind that I had lost somewhere.

At 4:45 we left the house. Yep! We were going to be late! Hopefully, the lines weren’t long at the airport.

We made it to the parking location at approximately 5:15 and had to wait for one of the shuttle busses that would take us to the terminal. By then, we are starting to worry a bit more about the time. Finally, a bus arrived and we were on our way. We walked through the doors of the Southwest terminal, looked at the line waiting to go through security, and figured we were going to be catching the next flight out. It was LONG!

But first, we had to get through the line to print our boarding passes and check our luggage. Of course, that was when people decided to hold up the line, while they chatted with an acquaintance, telling them how little Johnny and Sarah were doing. Or they just stood there, looking dazed and confused, while there were two machines available for check in. Mr. Mister kept trying to tell them that there were machines they could go to, but they just stood there until one of the Southwest employees yelled SIR you can check yourself in over here!

After about ten minutes, we made it to the counter, took care of everything, and headed over to the security line. We could see our gate from where we were standing, and the other passengers were already in line. As we inched our way along, they started boarding the plane. The lady checking all of the carry on items was working so diligently. She would look, move the luggage forward, back it up, look some more, and then move it forward again. Such a good employee! Thank you for being so thorough!

We shoved our laptops back into their bags, grabbed our shoes, and headed to gate E-16 where Mr. Mister went from being the first person that was supposed to board the plane to one of the last. No picking the best seats this time! We were headed toward the back of the plane, to sit in the seats that everyone else had avoided like the plague. The seats right across from a couple, with a baby! And just to let us know how lucky we were, she decided to let out a squeal to welcome us. Many more screams followed throughout the flight. Especially when she fell out of her seat and hit the floor, because her mother was sitting over in the first seat (Dad had moved to the seats behind ours) reading a magazine, while letting the baby sit by the window (two seats over) so that she could look out and enjoy the view.

Thank goodness Mr. Mister NEVER goes on a plane without music and both sets of headphones. They came in handy!

Unfortunately, he forgot to bring the nose plugs! We had a wonderful passenger sitting somewhere nearby, that must have eaten beans or something, before getting on the plane.

Imagine my shock, as I was sitting there, minding my own business, taking pictures of the wing of the plane, (what else are bored people supposed to do on a plane?) and all of the beautiful clouds, when the funk came up and slapped me across the face! I about choked! What could I do? I couldn’t run! I couldn’t leave the room! I waited for the oxygen masks to drop from the ceiling, but they never did. So, I just had to suffer through it, and pray to God that nobody thought that it was ME!

Ummmmmmmm……Babe? How long did they say this flight was going to last???

Later, as we are making our descent into the Baltimore airport, the captain came on and announced that it was 43 degrees and raining. Obviously, there wasn’t going to be much sight seeing going on today.

We hopped into the rental car and headed for the hotel. It was too early to check in, so we decided to get something to eat. We checked the “trusty” GPS to see where the closest restaurant was, and headed for “Friendly’s.” The woman's voice on the GPS kept telling us that we were arriving at Friendly’s but it wasn’t there. Nope! There was nothing but a bunch of apartment buildings at that location. We continued driving around until we found an IHOP.

After eating we headed back to the hotel. As we were passing by the shopping center, right across the street from our hotel, we saw Friendly’s restaurant. We could have walked to it! It was so close!

By then, we were tired. All we wanted to do, was check into our room, and maybe take a little siesta. After all, we had to get up before the rooster crowed! I have another picture, that was taken through the plane window, to prove it! A beautiful sunrise!



So! ANYWAY! We walked through the door of our hotel room, and I headed toward the bedroom to put my bag down. While standing at the foot of the bed, I heard something hitting the wall from the room next door. Mr. Mister came in with a questioning look on his face. I looked at him, and back toward the wall, and asked “are the neighbors doing what I think they are doing?” Mr. Mister and I burst out laughing because by then, their headboard was really banging against the wall. THEN she started yelling! Not a quiet girl by any means!

OH YES! They were definitely doing what we thought they were doing. It was 12:00 and they were having some afternoon delight! Well, they decided to have some more at 7:30 and again at 9:00!

EXCUSE ME! Could you STOP now! PLEASE!

6 comments:

Amy said...

hope you have fun on your trip!

Cheryl Wray said...

Oh my goodness..the hotel neighbors crack me up. They were enjoying THEIR trip, huh?

LOVE the sunrise photo.

Have a super time!!!

Kari (GrannySkywalker) said...

I'm reminded rather vividly of why I don't fly...and it's not just the fear of being in the air, either! lol

I love, love, love the hotel story. That's way too funny. I can just hear you now, "Honey, we got ourselves a screamer!". LOL

Hope you have a wonderful time anyway. :)
Kari

Natasha Burns said...

that is sooooooooo funny!!! afternoon delight three times? holy mackerel!!!
oh now you have to explain to me - do you pick your own seats on your flights??? like, first in best dressed? i've never heard of that before, we always get our seats allocated here and when I was in Europe same thing, boarding pass has a seat number on it. wow i've got a couple of things to learn before I get over to the US!

Mosaic*Queen said...

LOL!!!!!! This is one FUNNY story!!!

Shannon said...

I cracked up while reading this post. You would cringe if you had to sit next to my family on a plane (though my kids are usually pretty good-knock on wood!).

You should've had your own afternoon delight and out-yelled her! :)