So, I told everyone that I would journal about our trip/vacation.  I decided that I would break it up to a day-by-day type of thing since it would be TOO much to post all at once. 

Without any more ado... here is DAY ONE!

Here's the low-down.  My BIL was graduating from boot camp in South Carolina last week so my mom, dad and sister were leaving to fly back to the graduation.  Did I mention that my mom and dad have been divorced for 17 yrs now?  Yeah.  That's beside the point.... 

My hubby and I checked into it (last minute) and found that we could swing the trip if we decided to go without the kids.  This is a HUGE decision for us.  I have never been anywhere with the kids~ not for more than a day or two. 

Anyways, we decided we would do it.  It was a great deal~ $1000 for car AND tickets.  The motel room we would share with my mom so it would be no charge.  We got everything arranged and after much stress and many anxiety attacks we are on our way.

Mom, Dad and Tiff fly out on the evening of the 23rd.  They will be getting into Charlotte on the morning of the 24th and get checked into the room and all that.  Our flight is leaving the next morning and we will be meeting them in Charlotte around 9pm that evening.  The next morning we would get up early and head to Savannah, GA.

Or so we thought................

The airport we were flying out of (in Oakland) is a two-hour drive for us.  We got up on time (3:00am) and got out the door on time (4:00 am) and are on our way to the airport.  Surprisingly we hit NO bay area, rush hour traffic.  Smooth sailing.  We get to the airport, jump out and grab our shit.  We walk through the door to find.......... our flight out is delayed.  Not only delayed, but delayed by TWO hours.  Okay.  No big deal.  Except........ our connecting flight out of JFK is leaving 59 minutes after we are scheduled to land.  Yeah.  Not good.  After 30 minutes dealing with the check in counter (many phone calls, etc placed) they tell us to keep our original connector because they will likely be holding it since our flight out was delayed.

Yeah.

Our flight out of Oakland ends up being delayed for two and a half hours.  We don't leave until right around 10:00am.  By the time we get to JFK we find that our connector did, in fact, leave without us.

Here's a bit of a timeline (of the way things were SUPPOSED to go).  We were supposed to leave Oakland at 7:25 am.  get into New York at 3:59 pm and then fly back out of New York at 4:58pm.  Our flight from JFK would put us in Charlotte around 7:15 pm.  Rental car pickup scheduled for 8:00pm and then a 2 1/2 hr drive to Florence, S. Carolina.

Back to the connector leaving..... We found out when we got to JFK that our connector was gone.  The next flight out (which they had already transferred us to) was scheduled to leave at 9:45pm.  It would put us in Charlotte between 11:45pm and Midnight.  Our car rental place said it closes at Midnight.  Not looking good, but POSSIBLY manageable.  We called the car rental place and they said they were actually open until 12:30 am.  Okay.  We could swing this.

Again~ or so we thought.

Come to find out our NEW flight out of JFK is delayed.  (Imagine that, right?)  It's now scheduled to leave at 10:35.  This would put us in Charlotte around 12:30 ish.  Majorly pushing the time limits here.  But what are we going to do?

Did I mention that JFK airport is the filthiest place I have EVER seen in my life?  Yeah.  Truly disgusting.  I was afraid to sit down, touch anything or go to the bathroom alone.  Not a great place to be hanging out for hours on end.

Well, we head outside to have a ciggy.  Airports don't have smoking sections (rooms) anymore so we have to go outside.  NO biggie except that every trip outside requires a new trip back through security.  Airport security.... well, it's fucking ridiculous these days.  After tossing our drinks (that we bought for extremely inflated prices AT THE FUCKING AIRPORT) we head back inside.  We roam around for awhile and finally find two seats that are together near our gate.  We sit down and prepare to wait.

And wait.  And wait.  And wait.

It was such a cluster-fuck at the jetblue gates that EVERY flight they had booked from JFK that night was delayed.  We didn't end up leaving JFK until almost MIDNIGHT!  Yes, I'm serious.  Ever seen a bipolar mama with severe anxiety attacks, mild agoraphobia and germ-phobias sit for an extended period of time in a strange place, in dirty chairs with people she doesn't know?  It was not pretty.  But I handled it 'fairly' well.  Not great~ but better than even I would expect *lol*.

By the time we finally land in Charlotte (around 1:20am) our car rental place is closed.  It doesn't open again until 5:30 the next morning.  All of the OTHER car rental places stayed open to wait for the last incoming flight.  Not ours.  AND all of the other rental places were out of cars.  Well, that's not completely true.  One of them had ONE car left~ a corvette.  Yeah, that's practical for group travel on a budget.

What's our recourse?  You got it.  We had to sleep in the airport until the car rental place opened the next morning. 

What do I do? 

I headed straight for the bathroom.  I changed my clothes, scrubbed my face, brushed my teeth, fixed my hair, shaved my pits, etc.  Yup.  In the public restroom.  By that time I'm wide awake *lol*  My poor hubby wasn't.  I am fairly positive that he wanted to kill me sometime around 3:00am :)

(Here's us around 3:00 am... notice the *ahem* sleepy look on the hubby's face *LMAO!*)

We finally get to sleep around 3:30 or 4:00 ish in the morning.  The alarm goes off at 5:30am and we head over to get our car and begin our vacation........................... (a day late)

Day TWO to come a little later! :)

Tags: vacation, family, fun, trip, south carolina, virginia, north carolina, boot camp, army

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