WHAT A RIDE!

Where to begin? First of all, our flight leaving WPB for DC left 2 hours late. We were to have a connecting flight in DC to Albany, NY. Just about 30 minutes into our flight, the pilot came on saying the airport in DC was closed to incoming and outgoing traffic due to severe weather. He said we would continue on and see what developed. A couple of hours later we notice that we seem to be flying in big circles, first the sun is on one side of the plane and then the other side. The pilot then comes on and says the DC airport is still closed and we are in a holding pattern over the Raleigh-
Durham, NC area and that we will continue this for the next 40 minutes or so. An hour or so later, he comes back on and says DC is still closed and they must make a decision soon as to what to do as fuel is running low! Nice! He comes back on shortly and says we will land at Charlotte,NC. Says there is severe weather to the East of us and severe weather coming at us from the West but that he will try to "beat it" to Charlotte! The plane turned and we headed right into black clouds and lightning. The plane dipped and rose and dipped and rose! Felt like we were on a roller coaster and I hate roller coasters! Thought I was going to have a panic attack! I have never had one before, but sure thought I was going to! I had been praying for God to put his arms around the plane and keep us safe. I pictured God with his arms wrapped around the plane..His hair flying in the wind and His robe flapping in the wind....yelling out "Wow, what a ride!" That is what kept me sane! The plane finally landed in Charlotte and the passengers all burst into applause! We were told to pick up our luggage and that their would be agents to assist us in rescheduling our flights. Instead we were handed a piece of paper and a business card as we arrived in the airport. There was a number to call to reschedule the flight and a number to call for a "discounted" hotel room. By this time it was 10pm. 47 minutes later of being on the cell phone with US Air, our flight was rescheduled for the next day with 3 connecting flights! Not what we wanted at all but was told it was this or a refund which amounted to 57 dollars per ticket! In the meantime, Amanda had called for a hotel room with a shuttle bus only to be told they had no rooms with a shuttle available. We would have to pay for a taxi. I guess if you are from a big city getting a taxi is not a problem, but for us small town people, we had no idea how to even go about getting a taxi! Finally found one and all we knew was that we were going to a Comfort Inn 6 miles from the airport. Thankfully our taxi driver knew where it was, but it sure seemed a lot further than 6 miles. Got to the hotel around midnight and had to get up at 5am to leave for the airport at 6am. Didn't get much sleep but at least was able to shower and lay down. Got a taxi back to the airport at 6am and was met with bedlam there! Thankfully they had lots of agents working! Left Charlotte around 8am for Washington,DC. Of course we each had a middle seat and we were scattered around the plane. It was to have been a 1 hour flight. We flew and flew and flew. I was getting antsy, thinking this is the longest hour of my life. I found out why when we landed, we had changed to Central time so it became a 2 hour flight. When we landed in DC, the passengers all stood ready to get off and we waited and waited and waited some more. Finally someone came on and announced to be patient as they were having trouble getting the door open! After about 10 minutes it opened and we were able to get off. There we switched to United Airlines for another flight to Chicago, Illinois. We had to take a shuttle bus to the United terminal. When we checked in to get our boarding passes, found out that Amanda and I had been given seats in first class. The agent was not happy about it at all and said in no uncertain terms that we were not keeping those seats as US Air was only paying them for economy seats! Shucks! Had just enough time to get to the gate and board. Didn't have time to make a restroom stop. Again we each had a middle seat in different rows, but this time in an exit row so had lots of leg room. We were entertained on board by a 70ish little old lady doing her exercises. She walked up from the back of the plane and proceeded to do her "over the head" arm stretching and her squats and bends. We made it to Chicago and had a 2 1/2 hour layover so took advantage of that and had lunch at Wolfgang Puck's and some Starbucks! Finally boarded for our final flight on to Albany, NY. It was an uneventful flight and we landed in Albany around 5pm. Picked up our rental car where a gentleman struck up a conversation with me and found out he had left Jax around the same time we left WPB the day before and he was also just arriving! So even though it seemed like it at least we weren't the only ones who were given the run around! After a stop for dinner at Panera Bread in Albany, we made it on to Gene's parents around 8pm. Our supposed to be 3 hour flight turned into a 9 hour flight and an almost 30 hour trip!
The weather was beautiful in NY and it was nice visiting with all of Gene's relatives. On Saturday Amanda and I left Gene with his brothers and we drove 90 miles down the NY thruway to an outlet mall that had over 220 stores. It had a lot of the upper end stores that most outlet malls don't have. We arrived about the time it opened and left around 4pm. We were pooped and still hadn't been through the whole area. And it was packed!

After an uneventful flight back to WPB, arriving at midnight, we could not find our car in the long term parking garage! 40 minutes later Gene found it and we headed home, stopping to pick up Miss Ella along the way.

Amanda has now flown back to Philadelphia, Pa where she is visiting with one of her suite mates from PBA for a week. Gene and I are babysitting Miss Ella, who gave us quite a scare on Saturday. She decided to take a stroll while my back was turned and we could not find her! She eventually came home, filthy face and all!

I tried to post some pictures but Blogger would not upload them!