Worst Luck EVER!

I know when it's time to update my blog because my mom will say, "I've been checking your blog everyday and it's still the same post I've seen a hundred times." There is good reason for my lack of posting. Two weeks ago, I was busy playing "stand-in mom" to these two precious boys while their parents were enjoying the ocean and sunshine in Hawaii. Not going to lie, I was pretty nervous about being responsible for them for an entire week, but they did SO GOOD and we didn't have any issues. The week after that I left for a much needed vacation to Seattle with my two best friends! The trip was amazing....seriously, one of the top 5 vacations I've been on. Before I post about how wonderful the trip was, I'd like to transform into Negative Nancy and talk about the negative part: FLYING! Don't worry....the next post will be happy and cheery and filled with lots of fun pictures and adventures.

I learned three things the day we "thought" we were flying home.

#1. NEVER FLY IN BAD WEATHER

#2. NEVER FLY UNITED/CONTINENTAL...EVER

#3. PAY THE EXTRA MONEY FOR A FLIGHT THAT GOES STRAIGHT THROUGH

We were SUPPOSED to fly out of Seattle at 11:30 Monday morning, arrive in Houston at 5:45pm, leave Houston at 7:30pm, and arrive in OKC at 9:45pm. Boy were we in for a rude awakening. We got to Houston just fine, went to our gate and realized a few hours in that our gate had changed and our flight to OKC was delayed an hour. We proceed to walk to our new gate (which just so happened to be conveniently located ALL THE WAY across the airport)....once we get to our new gate, we look at the screen and realize our gate has changed yet again. They moved our new gate directly next to the gate we had just came from. Here we go again, walking all the way across the airport. Once we get there, we see that our flight has now been delayed until 9:30. At this point, we were a little annoyed because we had to walk so far and we were getting delayed, but we were just praying it wasn't cancelled. Finally, they tell us to board. First, they say that they might not be able to fit all the luggage because they have to load extra fuel in case we have to fly around the storm. GREAT..that makes us feel nice and safe. Once we get on the plane, it takes about 20-30 mins before they get everything ready and start to move. We proceed to the line of planes waiting to take off. Then, they come over the intercom and tell us it will be another 20 mins before we are in the air because they have to wait 8 mins in between each plane's takeoff for visibility purposes...we were 4th in line. After we wait about 20 mins, they turn the engine off and tell us it will be another 40 mins before we take off because the planes already in the air had to detour to Mexico and were sitting at the Mexico airport waiting for the storm to pass and Mexico wasn't allowing anymore planes to come in. This was the point when I started to freak out. I was pretty much ready to get off the plane and start over tomorrow. I was not about to get stuck at an airport in Mexico. Finally, after waiting 40 mins, they decide to cancel the flight. At this point it is about 11:00pm. Thirty minutes later we are off the plane, re booking our flight for the morning, and waiting at baggage claim. As if things couldn't get worse, the baggage claim belt breaks...not once, but twice. That took an hour to fix. Meanwhile, my best friend Alli starts calling hotels. Pretty much all of them were booked, but we found one hotel that was 20 miles away that had 7 rooms left. She booked the room through an International Hotel Hotline (United gave us their number) because they would give us a discounted rate. We pay $30 to take a taxi to the hotel. What do you know???? We get to the hotel and they are booked. INSERT TWO EXTREMELY FURIOUS GIRLS HERE WHO ARE ABOUT TO THROW A HISSY FIT....AND WE DID! We call the hot line and try to get them to work with us, but of course, they make excuses and there's nothing they can do. We sit at the hotel until about 2:00am and decide to call another cab (and pay another cab fee) and spend the night at the airport.

Here's Alli sleeping
This is me sleeping

People probably thought we were lady lovers because we spooned the entire night trying to keep warm. We slept from 3:00am until 7:00am. I'm pretty sure I slept with one eye open the entire time. We kept our arms wrapped around our bags in case someone tried to snatch them. At 7:00am we woke up and went to the check-in desk to start the process for our 9:00am flight. Guess what?? SURPRISE, SURPRISE....our 9:00am flight was cancelled and the 12:50pm and 2:00pm flights to OKC were booked. DUN DUN DUN....they say, "sorry girls, but the next flight to OKC isn't until Thursday." Insert tears here. Total freak out mode sets in. Alli goes downstairs to see if we're old enough to rent a car. We are, but they are sold out of cars....SWEET! Needless to say, they put us on a flight at 10:30am to Chicago and then we would fly out of Chicago at 5:11pm and get to OKC at 7:30pm. The 10:30 flight to Chicago got postponed to 1:45pm so we had to go standby on another flight to Chicago at 12:50pm and we ended up making that flight and got to OKC safely.

I realize that you can't predict the weather....and I'm glad we didn't fly through the bad weather. Hallelujah for making it home safely. However, I've never been so frustrated in my life. It is miserable to feel like you have no control over the situation. It is also miserable to be stuck in an airport from 10:00am on a Monday until 7:30pm on a Tuesday. It also doesn't help that almost everyone you come in contact with that works for United was rude and unsympathetic. We asked for money back, hotel room vouchers, food voucher, etc.....and guess what we got in return......A WHOPPING $10 BREAKFAST VOUCHER. Guess what that bought me at the airport? A breakfast Stromboli and orange juice.........WOOHOO!!!

I know, I know, it was all due to weather, but you can't tell me if you were in the same situation that you wouldn't be LIVID. I had to call in to work on Tuesday and cancel all of my appointments and I'm sure they weren't happy about it either. Sorry about being Debbie Downer in this post, but I just had to get it out there. I WILL NOT BE FLYING UNITED EVER AGAIN!

Glad to be home. I'm sure next time we talk about this experience, we'll die laughing.....oh the memories!

Happy Seattle post coming next....stay tuned!