WE INTERRUPT TODAY FOR A BRIEF UPDATE

By interrupt, I mean one of the following..

1.Take a break from something
2.Cause something to stop
3.Disturb somebody or somebody’s work
4.Obstruct view

Here is exactly what happened. By exactly I mean sort of.

I boarded my flight, and took my coveted First Class seat....4-D, and buckled up without the assistance of a seatbelt extention the young guy next to me.

Please understand, I was only able to fly First Class because I upgraded to First Class using my frequent flyer miles...because I get one mile for every dollar I spend at Walmart and Disneyland. Those miles add up, and my bank account goes down at the same rate? Some coincidence!

By the way, did you notice how much I like saying First Class?

I had a yummy breakfast of pancakes, sausage, fresh fruit and a croissant.

This is what it looked like....after I finished.

When I arrived in Dallas, I had a two hour layover before continuing my journey to the local regional airport where I live.

I found me a nice little cubicle-like niche with electrical outlets and free wifi.

I couldn't wait to post and keep my readers reader abreast of my journey.

I plugged this in....

Then I connected this..... and I tried and tried to connect to the internet. Everything indicated that I was in fact connected....but I wasn't. As time dwindled down, I had to give up on my efforts. As I was unplugging stuff that I plugged in, I noticed this.

Yeah, I never connected this. NEVER!
That is my lame explanation for the late update. Seriously!

When my son-in-law brought me home to the compound...

This was on my door. They missed me...yeah, my aqua aerobics pals.....who would have thought?


But my favorite neighbor didn't know I was gone? Seriously!

WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS...
..is no secret

Because, when Grandma J steps into the world of gambling, corruption and brothels, she shares it all with her peeps! As my oldest daughter alerted you to on my last post, my flight out of the local regional airport, who's slogan is "We'll Take You There" was canceled, as were all flights to Houston, where I was supposed to connect to Vegas. The weather was fine, so why were all flights cancelled? Let me tell you...it's because it's the same friggin plane that travels to and from this local regional airport and Houston all day, and the next day. And because this condition is permanent and terminal (as in airport terminal), Grandma J wasn't happy with rescheduling for the next possible flight...the next day! So she walked all the way over to the only other airlines and got booked on their next flight which connects out of Dallas to Vegas.

Because this other airline is located about ten feet away, they arranged the change with the original airlines electronically. So, off we go, and because of the changes, Grandma J arrived in Las Vegas five hours late, but at least it was the same day.

I met Tabatha's Mommy, Marianne, who is also my son-in-law, Sgt. John's Mommy too...and my friend.
We stayed at the Four Queens downtown....
which isn't ritzy like The Strip with all the panhandlers and prostitutes. It's where the whole Vegas thing started way back when. It's also where the fabulous Fremont Experience is. Several years ago Fremont street was closed off for two blocks of hotels, that were renovated and covered to create a plaza with kiosks and a great laser show several times a night with great music.
Our room was on the fifth floor, and this is the view. This is what the covered Fremont Plaza looks like during the day from the street level.

These next pictures are from our room for the light show...which moves too fast for Grandma J's cheap camera.

And lookie who Grandma J found in the casino?

We had a blast, meeting old friends.

And getting chummy with people with familiar names, like John Wayne.
And maybe inhaling too much laughing gas...or developing a food allergy or something that might affect our small motor skills....just saying.

But two days later, the fun came to an end... or did it?

The final chapter of this junket is still raw and painful. Spending 22 hours to get home, with eight of them hanging with my new roomie was not the icing on the cake, just saying! The icing, if you want to call it that, was the fact that out of the zillions of others who attended our sleepover in the Houston airport, my new roomie and I were the ones who found the only four comfy chairs to make matching beds.

NO FLY ZONE....
..or big black hole

I hate to obsess about things, especially things that should be fairly simple. I don't subscribe to the Murphy's Law Club where if anything can go wrong it will. I am a Virgo detail person, and usually take every scenario into account when planning things like vacations.

Some of you might vaguely remember me mentioning a cruise I'm taking to Alaska in September. Aboard this ship.

The Sapphire Princess. With about ten eight friends from So CA. We are meeting in Seattle, then we will rent two vans and drive to Vancouver B.C., where we reserved three rooms for the night. We don't board the ship until 4:40 PM the next day so we can do a bit of sightseeing.

I booked this cruise back in December, and it was suggested by the cruise agent, at American Airlines, that I wait a while before booking my flights. With all the bruhaha with fuel prices, and the airlines charging extra for things like seats luggage, and the rumor that they might charge fat people more, I finally booked my flights on May 26th.

Remember me telling you about flying to Seattle from Texas, which requires changing planes in Dallas? And, remember me mentioning flying back to Orange County CA after the cruise? Good...just stay with me on this. I board my first flight on American Airlines out of the small regional airport where I live at 5:30 A.M., changing planes in Dallas, then on to Seattle.

The cruise ends in Whittier Alaska, docking at 12:30 A.M, The shuttle to the airport in Anchorage takes two hours, give or take. So I book a flight out at 7:30 A.M. on USAirways, changing planes in Phoenix, on to OC. This is what my vacation routing looks like.
On may 27th I email my flight info to one of my travel friends, who calls me and says, "they don't let you off the ship until morning" ......Holy mother of God!

Expedia booked me on two different airlines because that was the most economic package. I called Expedia right away and explained that I had to change my fights going home because I didn't bother to ask when we could leave the ship misunderstood the disembarkment rules. Well, this was going to cost me $150 from the airlines, and an additional $30 from Expedia....OR..I could call the airlines and change it myself and save $30. US Airways changes it for the next morning at 7:30...because that's all they had. When they emailed me my updated itinerary this is what my route looked like.
Somehow, USAirways, or Expedia, messed with my flights on American Airlines..which were fine!! Guess what? After calling Expedia every day since, nothing has changed. No one can tell me why they were messing with the leg of my trip that was OK from the beginning.

Things could be worse....my friends are booked on Alaska Airlines, and they filed for bankruptcy.

Tomorrow, I will call again! Then get drunk go to a matinee.

A GROUP VACATION...
That was all about ME.

I spent a good portion of the holiday weekend booking flights for an Alaskan cruise I'm going on in early September. I wanted to wait to book the air travel until a good fair popped up, maybe in July or August. But with the uncertainty of fuel prices and the airlines adding charges for checked luggage and an actual seat that's not on a toilet other things like food and headsets, I decided to just book it and be done with it.

I'll be meeting up with eight friends in Seattle, then we'll rent a few cars and drive up to Vancouver, BC together. The ship departs the next day, late in the afternoon, so we'll have time to party all night see a bit of Vancouver. The cruise ends in Anchorage, Alaska, and I'll be flying home from there.

So, this isn't a round trip ticket I'm trying to book, it's a multi-destination ticket. Of course, I'm flying out of that small little regional airport that goes nowhere outside of Texas. Because really? Why would you want to go anywhere else? I am flying to Seattle, then I have to change planes in Dallas, worry about my luggage going to the same destination at the same time. I will be on the first plane out of the small regional airport at 5:30 a.m. to arrive in Seattle by 11:30 a.m. to meet up with my friends. Don't forget the two hour time difference, making my not so simple trip from Texas to Washington eight hours.

Getting back home is the fun part. We dock in Anchorage at 12:30 a.m., then have a 2-3 hour ride to the airport. The first flight I can get on back to Dallas is too late to catch the last flight to the small regional airport near home that day! I decide not to go home, but stay and become an Eskimo fly from Anchorage to Orange County CA...and start my next vacation. See? Kill two birds with eight stones.

All these details and time-lines were giving me a headache. The airlines aren't as user friendly as they used to be. In fact, I called the airlines to see if they could help me coordinate my flights, and they told me there is a fee for that service. Huh? In the past couple of years I haven't had a trip that didn't have a cancelled or late connecting flight, making me miss my flight. American Airlines has had to put me up in a hotel three times in two years. Not good.

I was reminded of a group trip I took in the eighties. When the airlines cared about their image and your travel experience. My vacation tale is one I should keep to myself, but because you guys are all close personal friends, I can tell you...and you won't be judgemental, and realize what a selfish, self-centered person I am was.

I loved skiing, and wanted to experience good skiing, not in the crowded expensive slopes of Southern California. Spending more time in traffic and long lift lines, than actual skiing had lost it's appeal to me.

The local community college had a ski class with a trip to Banff, Alberta, Canada for the final exam...dirt cheap. The class met two nights a week on the grassy slope backing up to the football stadium. For the purpose of the class, it was covered with AstroTurf,then sprayed with WD-40 to make it slick and fast. Hey, don't laugh, this is surf country, sometimes you have to fake it.

The morning we departed for our Canadian ski trip, I was supposed to meet my instructor and forty classmates on campus, then travel to LAX on a bus. Well, I over slept, and missed the bus. I took my own car to the airport and met the class in time to board the plane. The instructor was a bit ticked at me, but hey, these things happen.

So, now we're all on the plane, finally settled in for the flight. Not so fast, readers! The flight attendant makes an announcement that the flight is way over booked, they want volunteers to give up their seats.

After much back and forth offers, yep, I give up my seat for $200 and a seat on the next flight to Calgary. SWEEEEET! Of course my instructor was ticked...AGAIN. No one told me that once we landed we still had to travel about 90 miles to the Banff Springs Hotel.
So there they were, waiting for me, for four hours, to take the charter bus to Banff because we were supposed to travel as a group.

So, I have to say, the airline was very accommodating. Not only did they pay me $200 to take a later flight, they sent me a voucher for my inconvenience. Air travel sure has changed, hasn't it? Or maybe bad Karma finally caught up with me.

Oh, and the instructor gave me a failing grade.