The Morning From #!*#!&#!!

Who would have thought? Yes, we always worry about the weather in Denver, Omaha, and Michigan when we are flying out for our annual trip - but who would have thought we needed to worry about Dallas, Tx - our connection city!

It started about 3:00am on Friday morning - we were sleeping away at Jaime's house (or at least Glenn was - for some reason, I couldn't go to sleep that night so had seen midnight and was just FINALLY sleeping good!) My cell phone rang - dear me - where in the heck did I leave it - I can hear it ringing - and then I remember it's in my purse which is stashed away in the closet! I stumble out of bed but of course by the time I find it, it's already gone to voice mail. I check and see it's from Jay - knowing they're 2 hours ahead of us in Michigan, I figure he's just calling to let us know they're ready to leave so I don't return the call - that was my first mistake!

I crawled back in bed, hoping to get a little more sleep before the 4:15 alarm goes off - but of course I just lay there and worry since I DIDN'T call Jay back - fast foward to 3:45 - the phone rings again - this CAN'T be good!! So of course I answer this time and it's Jim calling from Iowa, telling me the unbelieveable news that all flights to Dallas have been cancelled, due to the fact that Dallas got a foot of snow!


OK - my brain is awake now - and I NOW know what Jay was calling about - so I hang up from Jim and call Jay and sure enough, they're already heading back home - after standing in line forever to rebook, they can't even get out of Grand Rapids till next Monday! Hmmmmm - that would mean like flying in on Monday, spending the night, and flying back home on Tuesday - definitely not anybody's idea of a vacation!

I tell Teri and Jay to get on the internet and see if they can get ANY type of tickets and call Jim back, all the while hooking up my laptop, grabbing some water and throwing on some clothes. I start the search - Glenn and I can get out of Denver the next day, at a cost of $1750.00 - I don't THINK so!! !But we always take out travel insurance so I called them - how much could we get reimbursed for rebooking flights - 150% they say - at least I know what we're looking at now!!

Patty and I call each other back and forth - back and forth - they've tried to rebook at the airport and nothing is available - I check online since I have the computer and yes, there's a ticket here and a ticket there, but not 4 tickets with one company - NOT looking good!!

Patty's decide to go to their daughter's house so she can get on the computer and start looking - by this time, Teri and Jay have checked and can't find anything out of Michigan!! Bummer!!

Of course our airport taxi, Brad, has been up and sent back to bed - the alarm has long since went off and it's about this time -5:15 - that it finally dawns on me that I haven't called American Airlines to see about getting our little slip of paper that says the flight has been cancelled which is something you MUST have to turn back into the insurance company! Second mistake of the day - I call American Airlines and you guessed it - OUR FLIGHT HAS NOT BEEN CANCELLED!! Oh my gosh - we're not dressed, we're not finished packing, we're NOT ANYTHING and our plane is destined to leave at 6:45!! We throw on our clothes, stuff the rest of our things in the suitcase, tell Brad who is back in bed of course that we're leaving for the airport and RACE out the door - it's a 1/2 hour drive to the airport.

No time to park in the cheap parking lot and take the shuttle as it's a race against time so we park in the expensive lot - it's 10 degrees out and we have our sandles and light jackets on, running through the parking lot as there's not a shuttle to be found!! My, it's cold and a LONG ways to the terminal - we find American and the line is horrendous!! Luckily, no one is using the automatic check-in so we swipe our passports (no luggage to check), get our boarding passes and race down to security, calling Patty on the way to let her know we are at the airport!!

Patty informs me they HAVE gotten rebooked but won't be in till Sat. morning and were trying to see if the 4 of them could spend an extra night, since they will have lost a night's stay! Teri and Jay could not find anything for rebooking so opted to just cancel their trip - darn!!

Security is long - and of course the gal says there are liquids in my carryon bag - I KNOW for a fact there aren't - we travel enough that I KNOW my liquids go in the little ziploc bag and we had already sent them through the machine! So they take my bag for a bag check and the guy finds the problem - fruit bars which are kind of jelly like were mistaken for liquids! So much for my nicely packed clothes!!

Now the real race begins - get to the gate before they CLOSE IT!! We race by a breakfast place and a coffee place and my stomach is growling like crazy but there's no time to stop! Final boarding call - we MADE IT!!! Of course no room in the overhead bins for us but we find a spot about 5 rows back, collapse in our seats and turn to each other and smile - but the fun isn't over yet..................

Of course we had to de-ice in Denver - remember I said it was 10 degrees out???? So we wait in line - watch them de-ice the plane after a LONG wait, looking at each other and knowing that our plane is going to arrive late in Dallas and we only had a 45 minute window as it was to catch the next flight!

We were right - plane is over 15 minutes late landing - luckily we're towards the front of the plane so we race off and literally start running again - our next flight is in the next terminal - I had to idea how to use the trams and didn't dare take a chance getting off in the wrong place so we just opted to run - Dallas is a BIG airport - we run - we run -we run - and my darn leather sandles give me 2 huge blisters - OW!!!!!

Final boarding call - now where have we heard that before???? But the lady at the gate is super nice and says yes, I have time to run to the bathroom AND if I really hurry, to grab something to eat at McDonalds - yes, yes, yes!!! As much as I dislike McDonald's, the thought of some food made me welcome this fast food place with open arms!

We board the plane - plop down in our seats on the almost empty plane because EVERYBODY else was cancelled - and eat some mighty fine bacon/cheese/egg bagels! My feet hurt like crazy and I'm sure I looked a mess but who cares??? WE WERE ON OUR WAY TO COZUMEL!