Technically I've been back since Monday night, but I've been too drained to blog. For those of you who might have seen my facebook status, my trip home Monday was not nearly as easy as my departure. I will blog in more detail about it later, but lets just say that I ended up coming home 10 hours later than planned, and missed a day of work. That part wasn't a big deal, but I sure was glad to finally get home. I've barely been home at all this week, so I have to yet to download the few pictures I took.
In short, the trip was great, and as sad as I was to leave, I know that I'll be back in a month or so for a 10 day visit. Tonight should be pretty relaxing, and I can finally sit down and blog the rest of the trip. In the meantime, happy Easter Weekend!
4.10.2009
4.02.2009
I arrived!
Well today was certainly a busy day. The good news? I arrived safely in Virginia! I will say that the whole flying standby thing was certainly an adventure. I arrived at the airport less than an hour before the flight, flying standby doesn't require the whole 2 hours before deal for normal flights. Going through security was a little bit of an adventure, because of course, at least according to the TSA, I can't follow directions. Apparently even though they have changed the rules for laptops and have ambiguous signs, it's my fault that the sign isn't more direct. Oh well, I won't make the mistake of not taking my laptop out of my bag, even though the sign says you don't have to if it's in a certain type of case, one of which I have. I must admit I haven't flown with a laptop in a really long time.
So after I got to the gate, I was told that the flight was full, as in everyone had checked in, however not everyone had claimed their seat yet. They had 10 minutes to take their seats or the standby passengers would get them, and let me say it was the longest 10 minutes of my life. I kept hoping that each person walking by wasn't getting on my flight. There were probably 5 or 6 people that came after me, and I was getting really worried. However, when I felt like I wouldn't get a chance this go around, they called my name and the name of another standby passenger to get ready. There was only one seat left and I got it! I was so incredibly relieved, as they opened the door and I pretty much ran down the ramp. I even had an aisle seat, not so much of a big deal for me, since us 5ft folks don't need much leg room.
The rest of the travel was pretty uneventful. I dosed a little, listened to some music, and watched The Rocker with Dwight from The Office. Chris was actually close by the airport when I landed, and I was pretty surprised, because I wasn't sure that he would be released so early in the day. He brought me Subway which was awesome because they only thing I had eaten all day was the chocolate cake I ate for breakfast. Yay, I know, totally unlike me, but I couldn't resist another piece.
The drive to the hotel was incredibly long. If you think traffic where you live is bad, I swear DC traffic is some of the worst. I think it took us close to 2 hours to get to Fredericksburg, where we are staying. We just hung out, Chris did a little bit of work, and then I went out and grabbed some dinner while Chris took a nap. I went to Sonic, a little adventure, but thanks to Tom Tom, I found it and a grocery store and came back in one piece. Now because of the time difference, Chris is sleeping and I'm wide awake. We have to leave here at 3:30am tomorrow to take Chris back to base and I can have his car, which is only 4 hours or so away. At least I can come back and sleep for a while.
Stay tuned for more tomorrow. I forgot the cord to transfer photos to my computer, but I'm thinking that Chris might have one that I can use so I'm going to see tomorrow. For now, enjoy some posts without photos. Stay tuned for (hopefully) daily posts on my trip to the East Coast!
So after I got to the gate, I was told that the flight was full, as in everyone had checked in, however not everyone had claimed their seat yet. They had 10 minutes to take their seats or the standby passengers would get them, and let me say it was the longest 10 minutes of my life. I kept hoping that each person walking by wasn't getting on my flight. There were probably 5 or 6 people that came after me, and I was getting really worried. However, when I felt like I wouldn't get a chance this go around, they called my name and the name of another standby passenger to get ready. There was only one seat left and I got it! I was so incredibly relieved, as they opened the door and I pretty much ran down the ramp. I even had an aisle seat, not so much of a big deal for me, since us 5ft folks don't need much leg room.
The rest of the travel was pretty uneventful. I dosed a little, listened to some music, and watched The Rocker with Dwight from The Office. Chris was actually close by the airport when I landed, and I was pretty surprised, because I wasn't sure that he would be released so early in the day. He brought me Subway which was awesome because they only thing I had eaten all day was the chocolate cake I ate for breakfast. Yay, I know, totally unlike me, but I couldn't resist another piece.
The drive to the hotel was incredibly long. If you think traffic where you live is bad, I swear DC traffic is some of the worst. I think it took us close to 2 hours to get to Fredericksburg, where we are staying. We just hung out, Chris did a little bit of work, and then I went out and grabbed some dinner while Chris took a nap. I went to Sonic, a little adventure, but thanks to Tom Tom, I found it and a grocery store and came back in one piece. Now because of the time difference, Chris is sleeping and I'm wide awake. We have to leave here at 3:30am tomorrow to take Chris back to base and I can have his car, which is only 4 hours or so away. At least I can come back and sleep for a while.
Stay tuned for more tomorrow. I forgot the cord to transfer photos to my computer, but I'm thinking that Chris might have one that I can use so I'm going to see tomorrow. For now, enjoy some posts without photos. Stay tuned for (hopefully) daily posts on my trip to the East Coast!
4.01.2009
Today is my Friday
And I'm pretty darn excited about it! I'm actually blogging from work at the moment. I've been finishing up projects since I'll be out of the office until sometime Monday, so I have a bit of free time. Last night was a loooong night for me. I worked out at my new gym (on a side note, I dead lifted 95lbs and benched 65 lbs, big feats for little ole me, but more about that later) and then came home, scarfed down some dinner, and got to work on my to-do list. I did a ton of exciting things like resetting the pool timer, laundry, packing, putting dishes away, packing up the animals' things and most importantly, getting my ticket.
I'm pretty sure I mentioned before, but I'm flying standby on an employee pass, so I never had to actually commit to a flight until last night. Technically I didn't have to last night, but I needed to give Chris an idea of my plan since he'll be picking me up from the airport. We figured out the flight and then went to book. *This is where my lesson comes in. Listen up all you peeps in relationships that involve sharing things like credit/debit cards. I still have to pay the taxes, so I was giving my aunt my credit card information over the phone, and for some reason it wouldn't take. I couldn't understand why it wouldn't accept our zip code. Now, over a year ago the Post Office changed our zip code, so sometimes databases don't accept our new one, but they take our old one, so I just move on. But this time, my aunt must have tried it half a dozen times. This specific card is linked to Chris' account, but has my name on it. Then all of sudden it hit me, he must have changed the billing address to his address in VA when he was having trouble proving temporary residence a month or so ago. HOWEVER, he never bothered to tell me that I would need to use that zip code for it's billing address. I actually had to go onto the card's website and verify what he had done, and yup, I was exactly right. Of course when we tried it with the new zip code, it worked like magic. The moral of the story...don't forget important financial details! I can only imagine how embarrassed I would have been if I had been at a store buying something and asked to put in the zip code, only to be turned down. Not that a lot of places do that, but some do as an extra security measure. So after over an hour of trying to booking my flight, I did it.
Of course, it doesn't mean I'll get one. I'm trying to think positive, but something in the back of my mind keeps saying, "what if you don't get on?" There are 3 non stop flights tomorrow, and I'm trying to get on the earliest one first, so I have at least 3 chances, not including the flights with stops. So any little travel prayers you'd like to send my way, I'd really appreciate it. It might sound trivial, but going 6 weeks (or even longer as we have before) without seeing your best friend is hard, especially when it's still not a sure thing.
Oh a completely separate note, I'm headed to the Suns game tonight! The third time in a month! I'm going with my Grandpa, Dad, and three guys that my dad does business with. I'm sitting with my Grandpa in his seats, and the other four are in my Grandpa's firm seats. I'll try to fill you in more about that either tonight or tomorrow morning. I'm sitting in Row 7 (Yes, I am that cool) so I should get some really good pictures. They are playing Houston, so I'm hoping to get some good photos of Yao and the gang. Go Suns!
I'm pretty sure I mentioned before, but I'm flying standby on an employee pass, so I never had to actually commit to a flight until last night. Technically I didn't have to last night, but I needed to give Chris an idea of my plan since he'll be picking me up from the airport. We figured out the flight and then went to book. *This is where my lesson comes in. Listen up all you peeps in relationships that involve sharing things like credit/debit cards. I still have to pay the taxes, so I was giving my aunt my credit card information over the phone, and for some reason it wouldn't take. I couldn't understand why it wouldn't accept our zip code. Now, over a year ago the Post Office changed our zip code, so sometimes databases don't accept our new one, but they take our old one, so I just move on. But this time, my aunt must have tried it half a dozen times. This specific card is linked to Chris' account, but has my name on it. Then all of sudden it hit me, he must have changed the billing address to his address in VA when he was having trouble proving temporary residence a month or so ago. HOWEVER, he never bothered to tell me that I would need to use that zip code for it's billing address. I actually had to go onto the card's website and verify what he had done, and yup, I was exactly right. Of course when we tried it with the new zip code, it worked like magic. The moral of the story...don't forget important financial details! I can only imagine how embarrassed I would have been if I had been at a store buying something and asked to put in the zip code, only to be turned down. Not that a lot of places do that, but some do as an extra security measure. So after over an hour of trying to booking my flight, I did it.
Of course, it doesn't mean I'll get one. I'm trying to think positive, but something in the back of my mind keeps saying, "what if you don't get on?" There are 3 non stop flights tomorrow, and I'm trying to get on the earliest one first, so I have at least 3 chances, not including the flights with stops. So any little travel prayers you'd like to send my way, I'd really appreciate it. It might sound trivial, but going 6 weeks (or even longer as we have before) without seeing your best friend is hard, especially when it's still not a sure thing.
Oh a completely separate note, I'm headed to the Suns game tonight! The third time in a month! I'm going with my Grandpa, Dad, and three guys that my dad does business with. I'm sitting with my Grandpa in his seats, and the other four are in my Grandpa's firm seats. I'll try to fill you in more about that either tonight or tomorrow morning. I'm sitting in Row 7 (Yes, I am that cool) so I should get some really good pictures. They are playing Houston, so I'm hoping to get some good photos of Yao and the gang. Go Suns!
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