The Vacation of All Vacations - The Beginning
Where do I begin. Well as everyone may already know, we have just returned from our Beaches Turks & Caicos week-long vacation with the kids. The island was beautiful, the weather fantastic (well except for that 1 day of Tropical Storm Olga), the resort phenomenal. What more can I say. Except for well it almost didn't happen. As every Simpson vacation seems to go, there is always something that happens to make our vacation memorable. And there are couple this time.
First Jason was expected to join us on our vacation, and he did, but at the last minute. He scheduled a meeting on Friday (our departure day) and was unable to get out of it. Grandpa Howatt, myself and the kids left earlier in the day to avoid any unpleasant weather conditions and Jason was going to drive down after his meeting. Before we left he had arranged himself a seat on a chartered flight that left Sudbury around 5:00 pm. Because this was a stand-by situation there was a possibility that he would not get a seat. And then the call came. 'There's something wrong with the plane' he says 'their going to try to get another one, but if not I will have to drive down.' 'I'll call ya back' By the time 8:00 pm rolled around, I finally remembered Jason had still not arrived and decided to give him a call. Luckily he was on his way to the hotel from the airport. Crisis averted for now.
Since our flight was scheduled to depart @ 6:30 am, being Howatts, we all got up at 3:30 AM, to prepare for our flight. As we arrived anxiously at the airport at Terminal 1 for our United flight to Charolotte, NC we did not expect was about to happen next. After waiting in line for approximately 45 minutes, it was FINALLY our turn. As the UNITED representative studied our tickets he began to have a perplexed look on his face. As he nervously handed back the tickets to me, I was caught off guard with what he was about to tell me. 'Ma'am, you're at the wrong terminal. This flight is with US AIRWAYS, not UNITED. You have to go to Terminal 3 to catch this flight.'
As a ran my hand down my face and closed my eyes, I knew what that meant. Although I had never stepped foot in Terminal 3, I knew it was way far away.
'You'll have to take to MONORAIL to get over there.'
Mother**&^%$#@ I thought, as there were children present. 'Are we going to make this flight?'
As he furrowed his brow and sucked in his breath 'It's going to be tight.'
Son-of-a-*&$@!
So began our sprint to Terminal 3. By this time no one wanted to say anything to me. Probably afraid I might physically implode on the spot. When we made it to the US Airways counter it was 5:45 am. A glimmer of hope had begun to return. But then we hit the US customs and Immigration line. Mother*&$@!. By the time we made it out of that line it was 6:00 am. My glimmer was returning. Then we hit the Security line. Mother*&%$@!.
We were literally the last people to get on. But we had made it. Now that is a Christmas miracle.
First Jason was expected to join us on our vacation, and he did, but at the last minute. He scheduled a meeting on Friday (our departure day) and was unable to get out of it. Grandpa Howatt, myself and the kids left earlier in the day to avoid any unpleasant weather conditions and Jason was going to drive down after his meeting. Before we left he had arranged himself a seat on a chartered flight that left Sudbury around 5:00 pm. Because this was a stand-by situation there was a possibility that he would not get a seat. And then the call came. 'There's something wrong with the plane' he says 'their going to try to get another one, but if not I will have to drive down.' 'I'll call ya back' By the time 8:00 pm rolled around, I finally remembered Jason had still not arrived and decided to give him a call. Luckily he was on his way to the hotel from the airport. Crisis averted for now.
Since our flight was scheduled to depart @ 6:30 am, being Howatts, we all got up at 3:30 AM, to prepare for our flight. As we arrived anxiously at the airport at Terminal 1 for our United flight to Charolotte, NC we did not expect was about to happen next. After waiting in line for approximately 45 minutes, it was FINALLY our turn. As the UNITED representative studied our tickets he began to have a perplexed look on his face. As he nervously handed back the tickets to me, I was caught off guard with what he was about to tell me. 'Ma'am, you're at the wrong terminal. This flight is with US AIRWAYS, not UNITED. You have to go to Terminal 3 to catch this flight.'
As a ran my hand down my face and closed my eyes, I knew what that meant. Although I had never stepped foot in Terminal 3, I knew it was way far away.
'You'll have to take to MONORAIL to get over there.'
Mother**&^%$#@ I thought, as there were children present. 'Are we going to make this flight?'
As he furrowed his brow and sucked in his breath 'It's going to be tight.'
Son-of-a-*&$@!
So began our sprint to Terminal 3. By this time no one wanted to say anything to me. Probably afraid I might physically implode on the spot. When we made it to the US Airways counter it was 5:45 am. A glimmer of hope had begun to return. But then we hit the US customs and Immigration line. Mother*&$@!. By the time we made it out of that line it was 6:00 am. My glimmer was returning. Then we hit the Security line. Mother*&%$@!.
We were literally the last people to get on. But we had made it. Now that is a Christmas miracle.
posted by The Simpsons @ 7:49 PM
3 Comments:
I want 2 items on the official record:
1. The COMPLEX MANAGER (my boss's boss) scheduled that meeting, and despite valiant efforts to have it moved, mining never stops.
I will admit that I did absolutely zero planning and preparation for this trip (my only responsibility was to show up at the scheduled time and I botched that) which leads me to record item #2.
2. I did absolutely zero planning and preparation for this trip so.... when I asked (in writing) about what airline we would be using, I was not within my rights to 'check up' on Kristen's arrangements. So I blindly accepted United, even have a United Air Miles card with 0 miles on it to prove my faith.
P.S. - It would seem the HOWATT process of leaving early in the wrong direction is no more effective than the SIMPSON method of moving at light speed at the last minutute in the right one.
Well now, my favourite picture was Gracie with Grandad walking on the beach, how cute was that.
Your site is one of the highlights of my week. I love seeing the triplets, they all are absolutely beautiful and amazing. I have four grandchildren of my own but they did not come all at once. I am a friend of Nanny Di's from her work.
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