So I made it home. I have a story to tell and I'm not sure I can give it the justice it needs as I'm pretty tired.(I will do my best)
Let me just say this: I am going to be letting United Airlines have a piece of my mind on Monday morning! --I seriously kept thinking, "am I dreaming that this is happening?"
our flight out of Sacramento was for 1:30 pm (PST) - as per their request we arrived promtly at noon (90 minutes before flight is scheduled for take off) We paitiently waited as that's what you do...
the flight was full and mom and I were in the same aisle but each in the middle seats opposite sides of the plane -no big deal. WELL... {deep breath} we all got packed in, and then they decided that they had to announce that there were "mechanical" issues GREAT! {eyeroll} like *I* needed to hear that!!! ~i'm a ball of nerves when stuff like that is mentioned.
So they had a mechanic 'fix' the problem, then when he checked it out to make sure that it was indeed fixed, it wasn't and therefore he did whatever all over again. Now, keep in mind... the weather is unusally HOT there this spring. Over 100F we're all sitting on the plane and for whatever the (insert word of choice) he was doing without the airconditioner on. I'm NOT kidding... it was NOT fun. I was milliseconds from asking to get off! We were delayed 2 + 1/2 hours in Sacramento, therefore missing our connecting flight in Chicago. GREAT! {sigh} The flight was horrible, a lot of "turbulance" (do you think that's even real? or something stupid they made up to justify scaring the hell out of everyone?) upon landing we knew we missed our flight to Buffalo it was off the departure screen. We (along with MANY others) stood in line at the customer service desk waiting to figure out what our options were... in the meantime they phoned home here to Steve to tell him of the changes made to my itinerary. *I'll skip the part of the crazy old chick that went all pyscho, for now.
When it was our turn to talk to the agent, he was VERY pleasant - he probably knew he didn't have a prayer otherwise. He gave us a vochure for a FREE stay at the Holiday Inn overnight, and told us where to go to get the shuttle, ok so we're feeling a bit relieved. Once we reached the shuttle area, we found a Holiday Inn shuttle that apparently wasn't the "right" one, and then a second one arrived, also not the "right" one -whatEVER! So I called the one we were booked to stay at and the guy (not speaking english -grrr!) ok -guess what he told us -ready for this one? "We don't have a shuttle service from the airport!" WHAT??? are you KIDDING ME??? How on earth do you propose we get there?? "well, ma'am, you can rent a car" WHAT??? RENT A CAR???? I should add this is all nearing midnight CST -- and we have to return to the airport for 5am. Once he figure we were NOT renting a car, he suggested a taxi --HELLO??? are you out of your head fred? Needless to say, I hung up! We debated for a bit and decided to go find out what the Hilton (a stone's throw from the airport) had to offer... $300 was their cheapest room. HELLO??? I want to rent a room not buy it! {DEEP SIGH} back to the airport... at this point we are out of the security section and security is now closed. GREAT! so we looked up to see how far the hotel was on the touch screen thingy and it wasn't even ON the screen. We went upstairs to see if we could find something to eat... nothing. We found a bench and that's were we sat/laid until security opened at 4:30 am. Horrible. I forgot to grab my jacket out of my suitcase before I checked it (duh) I was cold, STARVING, tired... FUN EH? {not!}
I'm smiling in the picture, mostly because I was SO tired that I couldn't believe I was in this situation!
My time visiting with *my* Shannon, was AWESOME --the only thing that sucked was that it wasn't ENOUGH time :( I think I'll post more tomorrow... I seem to get jet lag pretty bad. My body feels like it's still flying --VERY weird feeling.
However I *like* the way that my card turned out, but it just didn't resemble her style!