It's April 30th and by the lack of me writing any posts you should have assumed that all is right in the world of TubaDad and Hope. And if that's what you have assumed although we all know that assuming makes and ass out of you and me, you would be correct.
Since my last post in February, TubaDad and I have been on two trips. The first to Mexico and the second to Key West.
The first trip presented some challenges for us. I'm sure a cosmic test to see how we would do under stress. Our flight left at 6:30am and we had both set our alarms for 4:30am. I'm not quite sure how to adults over the age of 40 BOTH set their alarms incorrectly but that's what we did and when I woke up at 5:06am the two of us were in fast forward motion throwing on our clothes, throwing stuff in our bags and throwing ourselves in the car.
Lucky for us we only live 5 minutes from the airport, if that. As I read the itinerary a little uh-oh bubbles up out of my mouth as I announce that our flight actually leaves at 6:10am. TubaDad applies more gas and I'm holding on for dear life.
Since I'm an over packer, he throws me out at the curb with my suitcase as he goes to park the car. I'm running (and I use the term loosely as it's not really possible to run wearing flip flops and dragging a huge suitcase behind me) to the gate and when I get there I go to the youngest guy there and say to him, "We are going to miss this flight if you don't help me!" So, he sees my unruly hair from only being awake for 15 minutes and the sand in the corner of my eyes and takes pity on me. We get checked in, some we make it through security, walk briskly to our gate, right on to the airplane and whew! We made it. And, then... there we sat for another hour.
The airlines finally realized they couldn't hold us any longer as we were all getting hot and restless and they released us back to the airport. This was actually a nice reprieve for us as we were able to grab some coffee, spend some time in the restrooms and exhale a sigh of relief.
Of course, we did not follow instructions given to remain at the gate and we lounged in the big comfy chairs with the gate still in view but out of ear shot. After awhile TubaDad went over to check on the progress of our flight and he returns in a jog with a whistle saying, "We gotta go!"
They had been calling our names to change airlines because we wouldn't make our connection in Ft. Lauderdale and on to Cancun so we grabbed my over packed bag and hurried over to another terminal with two other couples.
As we were walking up to the ticket counter, TubaDad gets a phone call from one of his bosses. One of the big bosses- let's call him Bob. They were talking about change and how the big boss wanted to bring a new guy over to the shop and so on. TubaDad tells him he would love to be there but he was about to board a plane to Mexico. TubaDad is assuming that the new guy is replacing an employee that had recently quit. TubaDad gets on the phone with the boss under the big boss- let's call him Greg - asking about the new guy and wham! Greg tells TubaDad that Bob had just fired Greg and the new guy was TubaDad's new boss and it was a whole new situation. If that makes any sense at all. He spent the next 30 or so minutes on the phone with his shop, etc. preparing them for what was going on.
Needless to say, at this point we both needed a drink.
We got to Mexico fine on Sun Country. We got to our little bus and purchased some beers. And ah! We were on vacation. We got to the resort about an hour later and in to our room that had a great little balcony. We could see the pool and the ocean. The rest of the trip was walking around, sitting on the beach, relaxing and eating. No schedule. No worries. No kids. It was wonderful.
It was so wonderful that trials of flying home couldn't even ruin it. I'll try not bore you with all the details but getting through customs and through security was not easy an easy task causing us to miss our connection. While getting through customs my phone is blowing up because my ex didn't remember that he had to pick our kids up. That all worked out fine though and we were scheduled to get on the 9:50pm flight. Which turned into the 12:30am flight. Which turned into the 12:50am flight. Which turned into the 1:20am flight. And then 1:50. And then 2:10... you get the picture. That plane was not leaving.
Somewhere in the one o'clock hour, TubaDad looks at me and says, "Get your stuff. We're not going to do this." Being a good girlfriend, I gathered my stuff and simply asked, "What are we going to do?"
We got a hotel room. He purchased two new tickets on American Airlines departing at 10:00AM the next day. And we went to sleep. We made it home the next day around 12:30. He went to work. I went and got a pedicure.
So, needless to say we passed the cosmic tests of traveling together. Key West was less adventurous but just as much fun. And, don't forget. Never fly Spirit Airlines. Unless you just love hanging out in airports.
