Wow, what a trip

I visited a good friend of mine outside of Los Angeles for a few days, well, what was supposed to be for a few days, but had ended up being for over a week. I had a great time...we had a lot of fun together...and then came my trip home.

I was supposed to leave on Friday...we didn't go to sleep on Thursday night because my plane was supposed to leave early, early Friday morning...so we get on the road, thinking we'll have plenty of time to get there and get me checked in...

Uh, yeah right....as soon as we hit the freeway to go to LAX, dead stop...nothing...a sign up ahead read: "All Lanes closed ahead"...we finally manage to weasel our way off the e-way, only to find ourself in MORE traffic because of people trying to avoid the freeway...there was no way I was going to make it to the airport by then, so we turned around, went back to his house and went to sleep. I had to pay an extra 366 dollars to get a flight out on Monday...the cheapest and earliest...

SO THEN...knowing what happened the last time, we left EXTRA early two hours early on Monday...plenty of time to get there, right? LOL, yeah we get there, only for me to miss my flight because I got stuck in security for an hour...my god, was I pissed. And my bags are already on their way to Detroit while I'm stuck in L.A....what luck!

Oh wait, it gets better...

So I take the next flight out to go to Phoenix to catch a connection to Detroit...I got to Phoenix fine...only to find out that the Detroit flight was overbooked...no flight out to Detroit until the next morning (Phoenix to Las Vegas and THEN to Detroit) at 11. I figured it wouldn't be a big deal, I'd get a hotel room, shower, relax, watch some TV. Nah, my luck is never that good. The cheapest hotel room near the airport was 149 dollars AND I'd have to take a taxi to get there. I had already spent so much money already, I said fuck it. I slept in the airport on a chair in a starbucks. That wasn't pretty...

So I get up at 6 am after maybe 2 hours of light sleep, contacts in my eyes still (no solution, that was already in Detroit!), headache, the whole bit...and go through security which took almost two hours because I had to stand in a long line, AND THEN, they had to search through my shit again..UGH! I made it to customer service to find out that the 11 o'clock flight to Las Vegas to catch my connection to Detroit was overbooked too...*sigh* I had almost given up hope...

But, then, magic happened...she found me a flight that was leaving in five minutes to go to Las Vegas that had a seat left, so I could catch my connection to Detroit....it was a miracle...I was afraid I was going to have to sleep in the Phoenix airport again...

Needless to say, I made it home, and so did my luggage, even though my suitcase was all ripped up and now has to be retired...

I swear, I will never miss a flight ever again...and my first born child's name will be Mona...

 

Awww that sounds miserable

 

Oh my god that sounds like absolute hell! It must feel amazing being home and done with it all now.

 

prolly why folks travel less.travelins always a disaster. still sumthin to do. time tax money tax.im always happy when sum fuckhead goes thru the trouble tho.least airports got booze. i guess they better uh?dont worry sis sumday theyl invent teleporters. cloned at the other end n flashfried at the first.

 

Sorry to hear that... I cannot stand airplane travel. I've been in that situation plenty of times.... but yes... the important rule...

Check traffic... domestic be an hour and a half early, international two hours and a half early.

I'm glad I don't look like that much of a damn hippie anymore, they rarely search me unless they notice my passport which says "Israel" on it in big letters.

Anyhow, was the chair at starbucks at least comfy?

 

Wow! What an ordeal! I would have been fuming!

 

Remind me NEVER to fly.

 

i used to love flying. i always packed light, so checking luggage was rarely an issue. but now i have two little ones to haul around and keep happy on a plane. i could never stand being stuck on a plane with a screaming baby. i'd get claustrophobic and freaked out. now I'M the one with the babies. thankfully, they both love travelling. and have yet to melt down on a plane. still, i'm terrified of flying now that my kids are on the plane, too.

 

what airline di dyou use? my friend recently had a shitload of problems iwth united but managed to weasel out $150 travel voucher form them by complaining because they treated her like shit and there were mechanical issues and thigns like that

 

Yes and no...

California was trying to keep me there...and methinks I should have just stayed...all that crap was an omen...

 

LOL...not really. I got an hour and a half of sleep at most...but it was better than sleeping on the floor. There were two people sleeping next to me on couches that I chatted with for a bit, but they fell asleep fine...I was jealous.

 

American West. They didn't treat me like shit...more like the security people did...but I can't blame them, especially with the way I look. Although I was wearing a cashmere sweater...you would have thought they would have given me "good" points for THAT.

There was a Detroit flight that was cancelled through that airline which put lots of people out of place for a little while...which is why I couldn't get on any flights right away...

I still don't understand HOW they overbook flights though!

 

glad you made it back... i'll see you soon and you can eat my food?

 

If you cook vegan food once in awhile, I could eat it...

By the way, when are you guys gonna make that damn West African Peanut soup again?

I love that stuff!

 

Sleeping on the floor ain't too bad.

When I have to sleep in an airport, I do the asshole thing to do... take up a good 20 seats and just lay on them and fall asleep.

You can also snick into the airlines VIP lounge late at night, I've only done that once though.

 

aww yes!! Good ol' traffic on the 405..gotta love it.

Sorry you had such an ordeal Annie, maybe you SHOULD have stayed here in Cali .

I was down off the 405 on Sunday, traffic wasnt bad, (went through though at like 6:00 a.m.) The ride home was a little more hectic (2:30 ish pm) due to the Oscar's being held. Lots and lots of limos and such.

 

Yeah the 405 totally blows...on Friday there was a fatal accident at 2 in the morning and didn't clear up until 10 am...it was crazy, I guess..which is why I missed my plane in the first place...

I really want to be back there...I already miss it and I just got home.

 

Ooh interesting! Any plans of coming back?

 

ya, southern california has a lot to offer. Never a dull moment down in that area.

The thing I hate about it down there is the rude people, too many people and well, its just kind of cluster fucked in some areas.

Where exactly did you stay?

 

how they overbook flights? easily. a certain precentage of people end up cancelling their flight usually towards the liast minute (like you did wiht teh earleir flight, yes?) and so they overbook based off of equations and math that set the precentage of peopel who cancel