10 March 2013

Adventures in Air Travel

My sister, Riz, traveled with me to Arizona so we could see our sister, Lana, and her daughter, Mia.

Our day started very early. I didn't set my alarm right. Fortunately, Daddy's alarm went off and woke me up. Rizzie knew I was awake when she heard, "OH CRAP!" We managed to get our stuff loaded and Mom drove us to the airport. 5:20am on the HOV is interesting. It was kind of scary how many people were on I-95 already.

We checked our bags and headed to security. This was my first experience with the body scanner. Little did I know that the bling on the butt pockets would lead to a pat check and hand swab. No, really. The blingy button on my pockets showed up as anomalies or something. They had to check me. Then I got to do the hand swab. I was a little afeared that my lotion would mark me as a terrorist (like Jeff Dunham), but I passed so I got to keep going.

We're sitting at our gate, whiling away the time, minding our own business when a swarm of kids arrived. I don't really mind the groups of kids in airports (most of the time); there were a couple kinds in this group that were annoying as hell. First, there were the two girls who couldn't seem to stop laughing while desperately trying to get one of their friends' attention from across an aisle. They were directly across from us. They were loud. Then there was the kid who clearly skipped both crawling AND standing before walking. I know this to be true because every time this kid tried to stand up, he fell on his face. I kid you not!!! Every time! I've never seen a teen so incapable of standing. His friends just laughed at him.

The flight was nice - what little of it I was awake for, anyway.  The poor girl sitting next to me in the row apparently climbed over me, twice, while I was passed out. This is what happens when you're awake for 24 hours and then only sleep about 4 before traveling. Just saying.

Our layover in Chicago was miraculous, if only because we didn't have to change terminals. At all. I have never (that I can recall) been so lucky at Chicago O'Hare. It was AMAZING.

It was our flight from Chicago to Phoenix, however, that proved most entertaining. First, the woman in the seat in front of me did not seem to grasp following basic instructions. The flight attendants announce to "please fasten your seat belts." She did not. They instructed the powering down of all electronic devices. She was still on her phone. It took two more prompts before she finally clued in and did as instructed. Then, later in the flight, she turned into Mary Poppins. I say this because she pulled this bag out from under the seat in front of her and, lo and behold, it was the never ending bag. She kept pulling stuff out of this bag - another bag, two jackets, a makeup bag, a purse. Seriously, Riz can back me up. Never. Ending. Bag. How she got the damn thing to fit under the seat in front of her is beyond me. Just bizarre.

We had a great experience with Alamo car rental when we got to Pheonix. We ended up with a Dodge Charger (sweet):

The drive to Sedona from Phoenix wasn't too bad. Beautiful weather for the most part. One of our first real views of the area came from a scenic view heading into Sedona.

Such a beautiful place!

We checked in at the Sky Ranch Lodge, which also had amazing views and good accommodations. If you're going to Sedona, I definitely recommend staying there.

All in all, it was a great start to a wonderful vacation!

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