Our Travel Record Continues!

So after our (Emma and I) trip back from VT this summer and Brian's adventure back from England (that ended up involving Emma and I), we thought we were done with crazy travel adventures! BOY WERE WE EVER WRONG!!!

On Wednesday December 17th, the weather looked good between El Paso and Albany, we thought we'd have no issues getting to Albany. Well, we got to the airport, made it through security (Emma is great, she sits down takes her shoes off, hands them to us, and takes off her coat and stands right with us till its time to put it all back on again!). We headed toward the gate and Brian checked a departures board as we walked by. He said to me "Huh it says our flight is now 12:00" - we were supposed to have a 10:20 flight. He goes to the desk and asks them, telling them we have a connection to make in Austin, they tell him all is fine and we'll make our connection, we were thinking, "YEAH RIGHT!" We went to grab some drinks and sit and eat our buttered rolls we had packed. Just as we were finishing up we heard them call our name, requesting us at the Southwest counter.

We get to the counter and then notify us we're not going to make our connection in Austin. REALLY YOU THINK? (Brian had told them this earlier!) So they tell us they are routing us through Orlando, on the same flight, and we'll fly from Orlando to Albany. Time passes, and they notify us that the part they needed to fix the plane they don't have in El Paso and they'll be flying in the part and mechanic from Phoenix, and they should begin boarding around 12:15.

12:15 rolls around and they still haven't started boarding us. They begin boarding shortly after. We're sitting on the plane for quite a bit, watching our watches, and watching any extra time we had in Orlando fly by. All of a sudden they shut the engines off and Brian and I look at one another and say "well thats no good!"

We head off the plane immediately to the Southwest counter, as we know we're not going to make our connection now. While in line the people in front of us were refusing to get back on that particular plane, and the guy started telling Brian about how engines work and such and Brian looks at him and says "yeah I know I'm an aeronautical engineer!" They don't say another word to us!

Eventually after a bit at the counter they decide to route us to Vegas and then a direct flight to Albany. We were like whatever, just get us there. Unbeknownst to us, Vegas was getting lots of snow, that they can't deal with in Vegas!

We got on the plane we thought was going to Vegas and as we were supposed to be descending the pilot comes on says the Vegas airport is closed, and they are going to wait a little bit to see if they reopen it, otherwise we're going to go to San Diego (the next stop for that particular plane). I look at the flight attendant sitting across from us, and ask her what happens to people like us trying to get to Albany, knowing full well we're in for a very long couple of days.

Once in San Diego, we find a flight to St Louis - that was supposed to go to Vegas first, but they are just going skip that leg. The Southwest agent told us to head to the gate, and he'd be over in a little bit to book our leg from St Louis to Albany on Thursday, and make arrangements for a hotel for the night. Well, the San Diego airport was an absolute ZOO! Vegas is the big hub between the pacific coast and ANYWHERE! So needless to say our Southwest agent never caught back up with us. I told Brian it was fine, and we'd just deal with it when we got to St Louis.

We get to St Louis, and yet another very help flight attendant called to make sure there would be someone at the Southwest counter to help us get a room and book our flight for the next day. The nice man asked us how the heck we ended up in San Diego trying to get to Albany. He had a flight leaving to Chicago that evening, but after talking about it (and the weather that Chicago always has), we opted to just stay in St Louis and leave on an early flight that went through Baltimore the next day. We ended up in a Hilton (for all of 4.5 hours), where the price on the back of the door was listed at $500, and we payed nothing - hurray for Southwest!!!

Oh did I mention, some how our bags made it to St Louis with us! We opted to take them with us to the hotel and recheck them in the morning, because that way we'd know where the heck they were!!

We get to Baltimore without a hitch! FINIAL LY!!! Then as our boarding time comes and goes, there is an announcement that our airplane is broke and we'll be delayed a half hour. Brian and I look at one another "THIS SOUNDS AWFULLY FAMILIAR!!!" Fortunately they were true to their word and the plane was fixed and we made it in to Albany where my mom and brother (who says he'll never travel with me! Of course my husband also said this after this trip too!), and made it to my mom's with no issue.

From the time we left our house to the time we made it to my mom's it was about 32 hours. Granted we stopped for real food in Albany.

What an adventure. We've decided we're going to save our horrible travel stories so we can share them with our darling daughter some day!

Coming home was much better, our flight leaving Albany was delayed about 15 minutes, but not a big deal because we had plenty of time in Baltimore.

So who else never wants to travel with us?!?!