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Monday, December 13, 2010

Worst trip ever...

Coming up will be the Thunder Road Marathon race recap and review. But first let me gripe about the worst trip ever.
To start out, I had this funny elevation post timed to go up while I was in the air. It formatted all funky. Boo. Then my host's puppy chewed up my phone charger, so I was without a phone - or internet, because coincidentally my host's laptop charging cable wasn't working (Apples have this magnetic USB port - most unreliable! So I was cut off from my hubby and the entire world the whole trip. And I couldn't check into my flight early.
So the flight back. Major drama. First, security drama. I don't do the whole body scanner thing. I have a cancer history and I prefer not to add unnecessary x-rays. So I politely requested a pat-down...and was refused! The rude and cocky security team told me they were too short staffed and I had to have an x-ray. I politely insisted (it's, you know, the law...). Meanwhile a stranger rifled through my untended baggage. I asked someone to please secure my luggage; she replied, "Only if you go through the scanner." Behind me, my friend Brett (our host for the weekend was his twin Bj) was detained because his license didn't look like him - he has gained weight due to medications he takes and the officer rudely pointed out the weight discrepancy about a thousand times. I eventually got a supervisor to hear my plight, but not before a fellow passenger had recorded the incident for Youtube (I made him promise no dramatic Youtube anti-TSA videos but he wouldn't delete it. Sigh). Brett finally got through, too, by presenting an photo credit card. DRAMA. It took the TSA over an hour to provide me with a pat-down!
Once I made it to the gate, I was faced with more drama. Apparently our pilot was a sensitive soul, because he refused to walk onto the tarmac in the snow (in Charlotte!) even though we were in a very small plane. After a 30 minute delay trying to find stairs small enough, the crew gave up and we all walked across the tarmac. After sandwiching on the plane (it was very small), we sat there for an hour. The pilot communicated not a word. The attendant kept calling him and he took the phone off the hook! We were baffled - passengers were panicking, freaking out, calling the airport, booking alternate flights, and fighting. The long and short of it is that the pilot was waiting on the plane to be de-iced, and there were technical difficulties. Rather than allow us to deplane and attempt to find alternate ways to reach out destinations, the pilot held us for 3 hours without a word of communication or even a how-de-do to the attendant, refusing the airport's radio request to allow the passengers to deplane. We all missed out flights, including 8 international connections. I stayed overnight in Miami, then flew in and went straight to work until 10 pm. I am DEAD tired. After all my complaints, though, I do want to mention how amazing our flight attendant was. She kept us all calm despite her own frustration, and distributed bloody marys and almonds throughout the cabin. What a dear! I'm definitely calling her in a compliment.
After almost 6 hours in a plane to Miami and 3 hours to New Orleans - with countless amounts of time in the airport - I am just glad to be home. I'm having a glass of Malbec and a peanut butter cup Cheers!

7 comments:

  1. I had a completely terrible trip to Charlotte too. I didn't know you were running Thunder Road! I just posted my recap. You aren't alone in the airport drama.

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  2. Ugh, I hate flight issues. Sounds like you ended your night well though. Mmm...wine and chocolate.

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  3. Oh wow, what a nightmare - I just finished reading Becka's saga and then yours. Travelling issues are such a headache - nothing like feeling trapped.

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  4. Oh my gosh--that sounds awful! I hope you have a relaxing day today!

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  5. Oh. My. Gosh. That is ridiculous. What an awful experience for you! That pilot should be fired. Not communicating is totally unacceptable. Unreal.

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  6. Good Lord that sounds awful! Glad you survived and could appreciate the efforts of the flight attendant during it all. Get some R&R soon!

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  7. Yuck! That sounds terrible :(

    I HATE FLYING. hate it. Not because I'm scared of it, because it's so damn inconvenient and stressful. I have to fly home next week for the holidays and I am NOT looking forward to it!

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