So, the day had finally arrived. Me and two of my mom friends were taking a few days off from motherhood and heading to my parent’s home in Florida for a little R&R and some exciting tarpon fishing in the Boca Grande Pass. We had spent days preparing schedules, lists, dinners, carpools and empty laundry rooms for our wingmen (a.k.a. husbands) to take over while we left for four whole days. The kids also had to be prepped that dad was in charge and hey, don’t be worried if dad forgets to pick you up from school, you may have pizza every night or you’re late for a few practices, it will be okay, mom will be back soon!
We arrived at LAX in what we thought was plenty of time only to be told that rather than wait in the security line, take the elevator up get in the front of the line. Even though we only had to go up one floor, it took a few minutes to get there. Apparently, the elevator had just been fixed and we must have missed the memo that told us that you needed to push a down button to go up! Next, there was the delay at security as Lizz had her bag pulled and searched for bringing her own water bottle, I guess it was her first time on a plane! And lastly, isn’t it great when you get to your gate to find no where to sit and a delay for no reason.
After flashing my husband’s Continental Gold Elite card, we were one of the first ones to get on the plane. And thank goodness we were, Karen was able to get enough blankets to wrap herself up in as if she was headed to the Arctic.

We tried to sit back, relax and enjoy our trip from LA to Houston. The wonderful little fly we swatted away after we boarded stayed with us the entire flight. The salad that was served consisted of the whitest lettuce I have seen plus a sliver each of a carrot and cabbage, how appetizing. We were hoping that the pilot would make up some time because of our delay. No can do, we found ourselves with 7 minutes to get to our connecting flight once we touched down (it took that long to just get off the plane). As we bolted out of the jetway and located our next gate on the screen, we knew timewise, we were in trouble. After running what seemed like a mile, with my pants falling down below my hips, we arrived at the gate to find the doors closed. Over to customer service we went to be treated like pieces of dog crap by one of Continental’s finest. “You have 5 minutes to make a flight to Tampa at gate C22 (we were at E1) and oh, they won’t hold the flight and there are no rental cars available.” Thanks for all your help lady
I’ll spare the details but, we made the flight. I was able to get a call into my parents to let them know that instead of driving 20 minutes to come get us they will need to drive 2 hours, you can thank. We finally arrived in Tampa to find our gate-checked luggage not at the gate when we got off, where the heck was it? “It could be in baggage claim,” according to another fine Continental employee. Hey thanks for the tip!
After finding our luggage and then my parents, we were off on the 2 hour trek back to their house. On the drive back, one of our husbands emailed us to let us know we can thank President Obama for our delay. He was landing at LAX and all planes were held. Thanks alot buddy!
After what seemed like days, we made it to the house and got into bed about 2 am. A fine start to our little vacation
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