New Years Traveling Disaster
Sunday, January 09, 2011
We love traveling. We love it so much, we have dedicated this blog to it. The world is full of adventures and we just want to write about s few of ours. Unfortunately, not all of our adventures are fun and amazing.
Our most recent trip was not for pleasure but to see a sick family member who is passing away. This journey was going to be difficult but we were optimistic.
The trip began easy enough. We love airplanes and airports despite all the fear, security, and drama concerning the TSA. People are fascinating to watch and we've always adore the Austin, Texas Airport. It can get busy and stressful during the check-ins and security lines but we've grown accustomed to it. While waiting for our plane, we usually get to hear live music to keep our spirits up. Plane rides are amazing too. We little humans and monsters are traveling roughly 500 mph at 36,000 feet in the air. It's fantastic!
We decided to save a little money and fly with Southwest Airlines to Buffalo, NY. Southwest has always been a quick and cheap way to get anywhere we needed on a bind. We have not had many problems with them... until now. After flying all day, we were ready to hit the road and see our family. The drive to see our family was going to take a little over an hour so we wanted to leave quick. To our delight, our first two bags came out quickly. I should mention we were traveling with some other people. Anyways, we waited...
...and waited.
...and waited.
Our other bag never appeared.
Nothing. The last bag never came out. Of course, this was the bag full of clothes and all the essentials we needed. We reported the bag missing and had no other choice but to leave.
It's about 11 PM at this point and we needed clothes and a few supplies. The only store open was Wal-Mart. We usually avoid that store like the plague but we had no choice.
It was 1:30 AM by the time we reached our family's home.
It was difficult to get up in the morning but it had to be done. We spent the day mingling and visiting family and friends. We eventually got the glorious phone call that our bag was found and that they'll deliver it by the end of the day.
Crisis adverted but the story is not over yet.
Visiting the family was emotionally and physically draining. Our grandfather is not doing well and we tried to spend as much time with him as possible. We also had the duty of keeping our seven cousins entertained, all who are younger than 13. All that running and emotion overload was a lot to take in.
After a few days, it was time to leave. At the airport, a horrible announcement was made. The flight to Baltimore was going to be delayed. In order to get back to Austin, we had to take a connecting to Baltimore. A few minutes later, another announcement listed several cities. If your connecting flight was to any of those cities, you would have to rebook your flight. Our stomach lurched when we heard Austin on that list. We would have to wait another day before we got home.
We could stay in Buffalo or fly to Baltimore and stay there for the night. We choose Baltimore and after seven hours of waiting, we were on a plane again. The strange thing is that the Southwest employee would not help anyone get any other flights. He simply refused to talk to anyone and no one could change plans until it was too late. We knew there was a flight to Dallas that we would have taken instead but we were never allowed to discuss that option. The guy was just so rude and the least helpful human being we have come across. He simply shooed anyone away who tried to adjust their plans.
We were sent to the Westin Hotel once in Baltimore. We have to admit, it was a nice place. Huge comfy beds with blankets that just nicely melted onto the body. It was a nice sanctuary even though it only lasted a few hours.
We didn't have our luggage with us. To speed things up the following morning, we didn't request them. We were told that they would be in Austin before us. We woke up about 4:30am and got picked up by the most wonderful shuttle bus driver. He was just the right amount of sweetness which was refreshing.
The security line was quick enough and we made it a point not to get in the line with the X-Ray machine. Those things freak us out a bit. Once past that, we ran into the first gift shop we saw. It was full of the most tackiest shirts we've ever seen, but we were desperate. The moment we land in Austin, we would have to go straight to work. We looked like disgruntled tourist. Fun.
We went to our gate only to find out that our tickets were incorrect and had to go to the other side of the airport. Our first flight sent us to Nashville. It was short and sweet and we slept most of the way.
As I wrote the first draft to this, we were FINALLY landing in Austin. We were tired, angry, and ready to strangle the kid who wouldn't behave but we were home!
Our luggage wasn't there when we landed. They eventually found our luggage and delivered it to our home.
This horrible adventure was finally over.
Thanks for nothing Southwest Airlines.
Our most recent trip was not for pleasure but to see a sick family member who is passing away. This journey was going to be difficult but we were optimistic.
The trip began easy enough. We love airplanes and airports despite all the fear, security, and drama concerning the TSA. People are fascinating to watch and we've always adore the Austin, Texas Airport. It can get busy and stressful during the check-ins and security lines but we've grown accustomed to it. While waiting for our plane, we usually get to hear live music to keep our spirits up. Plane rides are amazing too. We little humans and monsters are traveling roughly 500 mph at 36,000 feet in the air. It's fantastic!
We decided to save a little money and fly with Southwest Airlines to Buffalo, NY. Southwest has always been a quick and cheap way to get anywhere we needed on a bind. We have not had many problems with them... until now. After flying all day, we were ready to hit the road and see our family. The drive to see our family was going to take a little over an hour so we wanted to leave quick. To our delight, our first two bags came out quickly. I should mention we were traveling with some other people. Anyways, we waited...
...and waited.
...and waited.
Our other bag never appeared.
Nothing. The last bag never came out. Of course, this was the bag full of clothes and all the essentials we needed. We reported the bag missing and had no other choice but to leave.
It's about 11 PM at this point and we needed clothes and a few supplies. The only store open was Wal-Mart. We usually avoid that store like the plague but we had no choice.
It was 1:30 AM by the time we reached our family's home.
It was difficult to get up in the morning but it had to be done. We spent the day mingling and visiting family and friends. We eventually got the glorious phone call that our bag was found and that they'll deliver it by the end of the day.
Crisis adverted but the story is not over yet.
Visiting the family was emotionally and physically draining. Our grandfather is not doing well and we tried to spend as much time with him as possible. We also had the duty of keeping our seven cousins entertained, all who are younger than 13. All that running and emotion overload was a lot to take in.
After a few days, it was time to leave. At the airport, a horrible announcement was made. The flight to Baltimore was going to be delayed. In order to get back to Austin, we had to take a connecting to Baltimore. A few minutes later, another announcement listed several cities. If your connecting flight was to any of those cities, you would have to rebook your flight. Our stomach lurched when we heard Austin on that list. We would have to wait another day before we got home.
We could stay in Buffalo or fly to Baltimore and stay there for the night. We choose Baltimore and after seven hours of waiting, we were on a plane again. The strange thing is that the Southwest employee would not help anyone get any other flights. He simply refused to talk to anyone and no one could change plans until it was too late. We knew there was a flight to Dallas that we would have taken instead but we were never allowed to discuss that option. The guy was just so rude and the least helpful human being we have come across. He simply shooed anyone away who tried to adjust their plans.
We were sent to the Westin Hotel once in Baltimore. We have to admit, it was a nice place. Huge comfy beds with blankets that just nicely melted onto the body. It was a nice sanctuary even though it only lasted a few hours.
We didn't have our luggage with us. To speed things up the following morning, we didn't request them. We were told that they would be in Austin before us. We woke up about 4:30am and got picked up by the most wonderful shuttle bus driver. He was just the right amount of sweetness which was refreshing.
The security line was quick enough and we made it a point not to get in the line with the X-Ray machine. Those things freak us out a bit. Once past that, we ran into the first gift shop we saw. It was full of the most tackiest shirts we've ever seen, but we were desperate. The moment we land in Austin, we would have to go straight to work. We looked like disgruntled tourist. Fun.
We went to our gate only to find out that our tickets were incorrect and had to go to the other side of the airport. Our first flight sent us to Nashville. It was short and sweet and we slept most of the way.
As I wrote the first draft to this, we were FINALLY landing in Austin. We were tired, angry, and ready to strangle the kid who wouldn't behave but we were home!
Our luggage wasn't there when we landed. They eventually found our luggage and delivered it to our home.
This horrible adventure was finally over.
Thanks for nothing Southwest Airlines.
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