Goodbye Snow...

Actually, there were times during our travels today that I would have GLADLY welcomed the snow. What a traveling nightmare. Hmmmm….where do I begin?

Well I guess it really all started on Christmas Eve. I got a message (from a computer) on Thursday letting me know our flights on the 27th had been cancelled and if I had any questions to call. Well hell yeah I had questions! I called the airline and got it all worked out…we were going to depart a few hours later BUT they bumped us up to first class. I could live with that ;). But the big question for me was WHY didn’t they just do that automatically? Why didn’t they just put us on the next flight without making me stay on hold for ten minutes filled with anxiety while they worked it all out?

Soooo…a blizzard decides to visit Michigan last night (when our travels began). Our flight was supposed to leave at 6:30 AM so I booked a room by the airport so we wouldn’t have to start our day at 3AM. We decided to just stick with the plan even though our flight was moved to 8:30. It’s a good thing too…the roads were pretty bad last night; I can only imagine what they were like this morning.

I NEVER (well hardly ever) watch the news (it’s just too depressing) so I felt dumb for not knowing about the recent terrorist incident when my girlfriend informed me AS we made our way to Detroit. Great…now security is going to be even MORE of a bother. The inconvenience tried to begin right when we checked in; the lady informed me that the airlines wanted their guests to arrive 3 to 3 ½ hours before their departures….ummm NO. I wasn’t going to even arrive TWO hours early. I HATE sitting at the airport waiting…waiting…waiting, ESPECIALLY with kids.

I must say, I was very happy with my decision. Checking in was smooth sailing. We arrived at the airport a little before 7 and we were at the gate by 7:15 :). I felt even better about my decision when they announced that our flight was delayed 30 minutes. However, I did make a very BAD decision; I chose NOT to feed the kids breakfast there and wait until our layover in Charlotte. I had good reasoning at the time…the boys ate a bowl of dry cereal on the way from the hotel to the airport and Aspen…well Aspen DOESN’T EAT PERIOD. Why buy her McDonald's when she is just going to take one bite…I DID get her some chocolate milk though ;).

By the time we arrived in Charlotte we were ALL starving. We didn’t arrive until noon AND we missed our connecting flight. Our plane in Detroit experienced some technical issues after it was de-iced. We didn’t end up taking off until 10:30 :(. From then on it was rush, rush, rush. The airline wouldn’t inform ANYONE of their next departures. They only told us ALL to see an attendant once we arrived in Charlotte. Getting off of that plane was fun…everyone wanted to race to the podium.

Once we got to the attendant, she informed us that we had to go “outside” the terminal to the main ticketing area…sigh. Once we got there, NOBODY wanted to work…they just wanted to continue chatting with each other. Someone finally helped us and then appeared bothered and questioned WHY we came all the way to the main ticketing area when we had already been reassigned to the 1:15 flight…I wanted to SCREAM. U.S. Airways has officially taken the title away from NWA for being the WORST airline (in my opinion). We got our new tickets and made our way through security AGAIN. Luckily, the process was still going smoothly.

We no longer had the comfort of first class and by the looks of things we were lucky to even get on that flight. The standby list was ridiculous. Our seats were all over the place too. Marc was put in first class. Blake, Nicholas, and I were in row 6, and Aspen was in row 8. The attendant had some guy in row 8 switch with me so I could be with Aspen. Then Marc switched with him so he could be with the boys. But our bellies were full (with Pizza Hut) and we were finally on our way so all was well. Thank goodness my kids are used to traveling…they were AMAZING. I think their behavior was better than my own ;).

Everything went smoothly after that. Thankfully, our luggage made the trip with us. The guy helping us with our bags slipped us through security so we didn’t have to wait in the long lines. Marc treated us to a Hummer limo ride. The kids thought it was so cool…they were a little confused about the famous aspect though. Nicholas thought it was the driver that was famous…Marc had to explain to him that we were famous today because we were the passengers ;). The kids ooooed and ahhhed once they saw Atlantis in the distance. When we checked in we were upgraded from the one bedroom suite to the deluxe one bedroom ;). So here we are…all cozy and content in our beautiful room at the amazing Atlantis Resort. We didn’t do much once we arrived. We walked around the property a bit and got some food and ice cream. I think my favorite part might be the marina. Some of those yachts are amazing. I also LOVE the atmosphere of the Cove. The boys are pretty impressed with all the “fanciness” as well. I know how lucky I am to be able to enjoy these amazing experiences with my beautiful family.