June 25th- The Day that never ends

This is the current scene at the Phoenix Airport. We got up a little before 5 this morning to get things set at the house and get to the airport for our 7:30 flight.

When we got to the airport, we found US airways had not given us seats together like they said. We were all scattered throughout the plane- while that would be awesome not to have to sit next to the kids, I highly doubt the lady in 5F would appreciate sitting by an unaccompanied 5 year old. The lady at the counter said they would switch it for us when we were at the gate. That lady there seemed less than thrilled helping us. Grrr! Eventually, they got two, two, and one. Some very nice lady switched with Calib though. I sure hope she didn't pay for her window seat, she ended up in the middle of two rather large individuals. I hope karma treats her well- it was very nice of her.

When we got to Phoenix we realized they didn't check our bags all the way through because of our long connection. We complained about having to go to baggage claim, and re check in. But, I mean, hey, cool vacation to Alaska, lets not complain about a little added hassle. This 'little hassel' turned out to be a big one though. When we went to check in, they were missing Calib. They seemed skeptical if I even booked him. Which is a bit ludicrous, since I did book the flight all the way through to Anchorage, not in sections. They eventually got it straightened out, so good news: no kid is getting left in Phoenix. I mean, if I had to pick to leave a kid in Phoenix, it wouldn't be Calib, anyway. After all this they didn't have us seated together AGAIN. Plus they wanted to charge me baggage fees again. I pulled a lady all upset, as if my viewers came out looking like my family had no teeth (thats a Sneak Peeks nod for anyone who isn't familiar). I complained enough- pretty much refused to pay the baggage fee again, and they didn't make me. I did get a stern talking to about reading the fine print online. Really? Justin just bought a house and I guarantee he didn't read the fine print, why am I expected to in booking a flight. Ugh.


We did have a nice day in Phoenix though. Amanda (one of my best friends) and her family came to get us from the airport. They showed us around a bit, we ate lunch, we went out to the Cardnials stadium (I'm one stadium closer to my goal of seeing all the stadiums), and we took our picture in front of a giant cactus. We did have one forgetful moment, and left Haydens booster seat in the car, so Amanda so generously went to get us one, and brought it to us. Way to save the day on that one Amanda. I was so prepared, I'm almost ashamed to admit I forget something. Even worse, I had a note in my pocket NOT to forget the booster seat. Can't win 'em all. Then we went out to an early dinner (though it was lunch for everyone else because of the time change) with Don, Barb, Philip and my Aunt Karen. It was really nice to visit with them for awhile, then they dropped us back off at the airport.

This should have been the end of the blog. Unfortunatly, since there's no wifi in the air on US Airways, you know by now, this is not the end of the story. We got to the gate, boarded the plane, and then sat.. and sat... and sat. First, we were waiting on a conecting flight. Then we were waiting on some air vent to be fixed. But, apparently while said air vent was being fixed, they had to cut the air to the plane, which meant de-boarding the plane, since it's somewhere around 112 degrees here (which, by the way doesn't feel as hot without the humidity). So, they told us to leave our carry on's on the plane. A little while later, they told us to go back and retrieve our carry on's, as we had to change planes. Ok, so we did, went to the new gate. End of story right? Obviously not, or I still wouldn't be here blogging about it on the floor of the Phoenix airport. THEN our pilot had a family emergency, and had to leave. We are now waiting on a new pilot, which will take up to two hours.

Now, all this wouldn't be so bad if the travel time (from stepping on the plane in Tampa to off the plane in Anchorage) wasn't already 17 hours. They just told us they are going to try and board at 7:15, leave by 7:45 or so. This will hopefully put us in Anchorage at midnight ANCHORAGE TIME. Which, makes it 4 am our time when we are grabbing our luggage in Anchorage. Then, hopefully we will be off to the hotel, and the rest of our trip will go WAY better than this part. I'm hoping to be asleep before I hit the 24 hour mark of being awake.

Here's the good news:
I paid for the ticket, EVENTUALLY I have to get to Anchorage.

Meltdown Count: ZERO (I know, you're as shocked as I am)

About to Meltdown Count: FIVE

Lesson of the day: Never fly US Airways again