Yes vacations are supposed to be relaxing,
but this trip went a little sour!
First off, I was on time to the airport so no stress there. I kept wondering if I had forgotten anything, because I almost always do, but no I was in the clear there as well.
I found my seat on the plane, right between a really cute guy on my right and a little bit of a nerd on my left. The cute one decided he would rather sleep than talk to me, and the nerd decided he would rather read. But hey you all know me I'm not much of a talker and I generally put my foot in my mouth anyway - Is there a cure for that?
The flight attendant announces that we need to put our seat in the upright position, and put our seat belt on. PROBLEM- the cute guy is sitting on one half of my seat belt and he is still sleeping! I sit there thinking, what to do, what to do! Finally I just get up the nerve and wake him up! Oops, turns out he isn't sitting on my seat belt, mine had an extender on it so I didn't recognize it as my other half. I feel dumb, but get over it quickly!
I swear it felt like we had been just sitting on the plane for 20 or so minutes. There was no air on, it was starting to get really hot, someone just let a stinker (both guys are now pretending to sleep - I'm sure it was one of them) and there was no window to roll down. The pilot comes on and announces they had to fix a problem with a flap, but that we would now be on our way. PROBLEM! I only have a 38 minute lay over in Vegas and I now have 9 minutes to make it to my next flight! Not that I wouldn't want them to fix the flap! it's just at this point I begin to panic!
I
try to stay calm and call a flight attendant over to ask what I am to do if I miss the flight, I have never been in this situation before. Her advise is to talk to the clerks on the ground and that we might make up time in the air. At this point I feel tears welling up in my eyes, (I can be such an emotional person) I keep trying to tell myself I am fine, breath. But no the flight attendant keeps talking and won't go away so the tears keep coming as I'm thinking just go, just go, just go. Finally she leaves and I pull myself together. There is a screen on the seat in front of me that I can watch the progress of the flight, after about 10 minutes of watching, I just shut it off because according to the data I now have 3 minutes to make my connecting flight and my nerves can't handle it.
We eventually did make up time and landed with 15 minutes to my next flight, with a sigh of relief, until it takes 7 minutes to taxi across to our unloading dock, and yes I am watching the clock this whole time. The pilot gets on and announces to please let those who have a tight connection flight to Atlanta to exit first --thank you, I hope that helps! By the time we got to the dock many have forgotten to let us off first, so I have to wiggle my way to the front. Only one person seemed annoyed that I wanted to get past him - really some people!
I am running like a mad woman down the breeze way thinking there is no way I going to make this flight. I get to the opening, start scanning all the doors for gate 41 to Atlanta, and quickly realize that I have exited from gate 40. I see the line of boarding passengers at Gate 41 and casually walk to the end of the line trying to seem cool, hoping no one has noticed my crazy, panicked demeanor! I'm good, I made it - I CAN'T BELIEVE I MADE IT! What are the chances that the two gates that I needed would be right next to on another.
I settle into my next flight when the pilot announces that a few panels may have been miss placed on the plane and they wanted to check them. PROBLEM - I still have one more flight to catch when I get to Atlanta, but I no longer have any energy to panic and figure what is going to happen is going to happen. Twenty minutes later we are on our way. I play the trivia game on the screen in front of me most of the flight and am happy to say that I ended every game in the top 10, there where only about 26 people playing at all times, but it was still fun.
I get to Atlanta with an hour to spare. I head out to find my departure gate first, because Atlanta is a pretty big airport. I get to concourse D look down at my ticket to see what gate I need and realize I need to be at concourse C - PROBLEM! Just Lovely - I wind my way back to the other side of the airport, and find the right gate on the right concourse -Yeah! I head to the restroom not fully awake, avoid going into the men's room by inches- they need to mark those better! Go get something to eat. Head back to my gate, see a girl coming out of the men's room looking a little dazed and confused, as the custodians laugh nearby - it must happen often - they really do need to mark those better.
I am now sitting at my gate waiting for them to announce they are boarding when instead they announce the flight will be delayed by 25 minutes because they need to change a tire, I'm not really surprised at this point and am glad they decided to change it before they loaded us- gotta look for the positive! It would have been worse to sit on a cramped plane for 25 minutes.
We are finally up in the air to my final destination, Jonesborough Tennessee! We are in a small prop plane, about a 20 seater. I generally do not like these planes because you feel every drop and bump. And turbulence we felt! At one point the plane wasn't just rocking back and forth, we were rolling back and forth, it does a number on your nerves. It was so bad that I grabbed the seat in front of me to try to stop the plane from rolling, I'm sure it helped to! We hit a few more bumps and then finally land.
I head to the baggage claim, and watched as everyone else found and retrieved their bags. The conveyor belt was still moving but no new bags were coming off! My bag didn't make it to Jonesborough because at this point WHY NOT!
I talked to the attendees who said it may come in on a later flight and they would deliver it to my hotel if it did. My mother comes to pick me up, we go to a lovely dinner at the Chop House -mmmmm, so good! We Head to the hotel, still no bag. I'm sitting on the bed wondering out loud what I am going to sleep in, as my mother suggests I make a dash for it from the bathroom to the bed in my underclothing. We were sharing the room with 2 other ladies and I thought they might not appreciate this. The phone rings, my bag is here!!!! RELIEF
I decide to head to the hotel gym to run off some stress. I only get to run for 1/2 hour. I would have liked to run longer, but they close the gym down at midnight.
In the end I think I really shouldn't
be allowed to travel alone!
We make it into Jonesborough Tennessee in the morning for the International Storytelling Festival!
Jonesborough is a really darling small town. I have decided that it is a really cute place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live here, for different reasons. Mostly I have decided that so called Southern Charm isn't that appealing to me, or at least what I have seen of it. Announcing to your spouse, but loud enough for a 20 foot radius, that you are heading to the bathroom, is not charming. My hometown has it's quirks too. It really comes down to what you have grown up with and are accustomed to.
Here are a few of the girls that went, Molly, Robin, and Nan (there were eight of us total this year) The man to Nan's left was hitting on her! It was pretty funny to hear their conversation (keep in mind Nan is married and a mother to 6 and wanted nothing to do with it) One of the reasons I love going to Nationals is to get to know others on the Timpanogos Storytelling Committee better
Here is my favorite shop in town. The Christmas Shoppe on Main. It is Christmas year round. I always buy a few ornaments to add to my collection. I like to find the ornaments that are a bit different.
I picked these one's out this year!
I got to hear
Ed Stivender interview
Bil Lepp at the indoor theater. They were so funny together and played off of each other so well. No pictures were allowed of the performance so I just took a picture of the stage. Bil's advice was to write down the 3 dumbest things you do each day and you will eventually get a good story out of it.
For the most part once we got to the event it was fun, it is always fun. The audience was mostly of the older generation and a bit cranky. They announced at the beginning of one of the sessions that if you are going to open a bag of chips, to please do so before the show starts and the audience clapped. This was an outdoor event, so I thought that was a bit over kill. Can't imagine what they would think if they went to an LDS ward on Sunday Yikes!
Some things I learned this weekend:
1. Long layovers are not necessarily a bad thing!
2. Beautiful, but wouldn't want to live there.
3. I need to approach & talk to people more - not really a new flash!
4. Southern people are a bit crude, and Utahans are a bit prude.
(I think I lay somewhere in between)
5. People need to take a chill pill!
6. Grateful for my non-smoking surroundings!
7. Take off from work the day after I get back!
(I went to work exhausted and a bit grumpy)
Well Jonesborough, until next time!
