Weird that it's going to be 2010 right? Remember 10 years ago when everyone had the Y2k scare? I was a sophmore in High School haha.
Anyway it is good to be home and have some time to relax. We all flew home on Christmas Eve, and for me I was meeting my family out in California. I think i had the longest day flying from Raleigh, NC to San Jose, CA. The day did not start out very well at all. I woke up at 4:46am to the guy at the front desk of our hotel telling me that my ride to the airport was here. Whoops, I slept in. Good thing I was already packed. We got to the airport, I got my boarding pass however it didn't have a seat on it. Went up to my gate lady and she said just to wait. So i waited, and waited. Then i see the plane I'm supposed to be on to my first leg, Charlotte, is pulling back out of the terminal. Awesome. i have to wait in the very happy line of the 20 other people this happened to, to find out that they overbooked the flight and I wont be getting in to San Jose until later. Here's the best part. My best option that this lady told me was to take a Van, A VAN( are you kidding me?), to Charlotte from Raleigh. It's like 2 1/2 hours away. Awesome. There was an extra bonus of the guy complaining and talking about everything in line with me, was also in my van. This day is starting out great... After the 2 1/2 drive with 7 strangers in a Van(and talkative's Mcgee) we finally made it. this is all before 10am. The funny thing is Ryan Ahlwardt was in the same situation as me but they gave him the later flight at 7:05(ours was at 6:00). So here I am in the Charlotte Airport just got through security, tired because i couldn't sleep on the Van(because he was literally driving 90mph the entire way cause he knew we were pissed), and I see Ryan sitting in a chair, with a coffee and a newspaper. I just laughed. We enjoyed a skillet queso from Chili's Too in the airport(awesome, i definitely recommend) and then went our seperate ways.
However my day wasn't quite done yet. Once I finally get on my plane in Charlotte, the lady in Raleigh was nice enough to give me an exit row so i had a lot of room, i sit down and think ok i'm gonna get some sleep on this flight. I'm on the aisle and there's an empty seat next to me, and then a lady sitting on the window. I also think, great so if she has to get up she can without disturbing me because of the luxury room of the exit row. I put my ipod on, headphones in and start to close my eyes. I feel someone tap me. It's this man with his kid(about 10 years old). He asks me if I wouldn't mind switching with him because there were two seats(mine and the empty middle which i explained earlier) together and he and his son's were seperate. I mean what was I going to say his kid was right there looking at me. So I kindly oblige(what a saint I am haha) and go back to 28D or wherever this guy was. It was an isle seat. So just my luck that on the four hour flight to Phoenix, the lady next to me literally got up every 30 minutes. It was awesome I was really happy(sense sarcasm). It didn't occur to me till about halfway through the flight, probably because of how tired i was, that kids can't sit in exit rows. At that point i was just like, whatever, I'll just take one for the team. Good karma, has to be. I made it to Phoenix, flight was delayed by an hour but at that point I didn't care. Then I finally made it to San Jose around 5pmPCT.
There is good news in all of this. I did receive a $450 voucher from said Airline and I sat First Class(first time) from Phoenix to San Jose. Then I had a wonderful Christmas in CA where it didn't get below 55 degrees. We visited Alcatraz in San Francisco which was cool. Also got to hang out with my cousins who i haven't really spent time with since 3 years ago.
Now I'm home in Iowa and it's cold, but i love it. Tonight is New Years Eve and I'm going to go out and see some old friends tonight which should be fun. I hope everyone has a great new year and I can't wait for 2010 with SNC.
Stay cool for me out there
-T