I could have slept for an eternity but I had things to do. I woke up early on Thursday morning and had breakfast (free at the hotel, which I don't know if I mentioned it, but it was a much nicer hotel than I was suppose to be at). Then it was off to Target. I love Target. It's clean, shiny, and smells good. The shelves are well stocked. The employees are friendly. Maybe they just sense my love of Target. It must radiate from me. I buy the things I need and meander through the store for a good hour.
Back to the hotel to get properly ready for the day. Once that happens, I set off to Planned Parenthood. To make plans to NOT get pregnant. They have awesome walk in clinics and discounted birth control. Got what I needed from them and then I was off to the running store. Yep, seriously. I talked to some guy there that was really into running. Told him what my issues are (shin pain) and he asked a bunch of questions, looked at my old running shoes and then asked what my budget was. I told him I needed to go as cheap as possible. He recommended a shoe that was $135 or so. Not what I wanted to pay and to be completely honest, it didn't feel comfortable. Not enough arch support or something. I told him I'd think about it.
After that I went to Foot Locker and bought the same shoe for about $40 less. Still not sure that it fit right, but the running guy said it was what I needed. I went back to the hotel to try them out (hotel had a fitness room). Yeah, not helping the excruciating shin pain. Whatever. Shower again and then head out to meet up with friends.
I meet them at work (we all used to work together). We hang out there for a while because that place is like a blackhole. It's really hard to get out of there. But eventually they can call it a day. We head out to an old favorite just in time for happy hour. Gotta love two for ones. It was just so much fun. Probably had a little too much to drink and then started drunk dialing. Hilarious. One of them had to leave (she drove us there) but we talked 'grandma' into coming out with us. She picked us up at the bar and took us to get food. We hung out there for quite a while. Again, just so much fun. I miss them already. It was a really fun night.
Friday was fun too. I went to the zoo I used to work at. They have a new exhibit that I was dying to see. It's amazing. Beautifully done. I, of course, walked around the entire zoo and saw all the up dates they had done. The whole place looks great. And the weather was just beautiful.
After the zoo I went to the mall. Did some window shopping. You forget just how big that place is. It was bordering overwhelming. Since it was getting late anyway I left. I called an old friend of mine (not that she's old, we've been friends since grade school) and then went to her house. It was fun. I haven't seen her in a long time so we had some catching up to do. It was a late night.
I went running again on Saturday morning. Shoes still sucked. Then I went shopping. Looked at cameras. I realized just how much mine sucks when I was at the zoo. The cameras I had 'picked out' online didn't really live up to my expectations. They were confusing to me. I'm sure I could learn but I wanted something nicer than what I have and simple to use. Instead of getting a new camera I got my foot stomped on. I'm sure it was accident but seriously, it broke the skin. So there I am bleeding in Best Buy. I had had enough. I went outside and called my dad, who was meeting up with me. He was already in Minneapolis, waiting at the hotel I was suppose to be at. I gave him directions to the new hotel and told him I'd meet him there.
After he got his stuff up to the room we went back to the mall. He was looking for a birthday gift for my oldest sister. We couldn't find what he was looking for. So we went to lunch instead. Lunch was delicious. I ate way too much. After lunch we went back to the hotel so we could get ready for the Twins game.
I'll pick up there tomorrow.
Showing posts with label Minneapolis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Minneapolis. Show all posts
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Vacation Part 1
I think I've almost recovered from my vacation. Don't get me wrong, I still have some unpacking to do. There is still laundry to do as well. But I'll get to that stuff later. Since Itchy is currently on vacation I have even more free time then usual.
As if you haven't heard enough about American Airlines sucking, let's start with my series of flights (all with AA) back to Minnesota. My first flight of the day was delayed because of rain. Not the heavy rain that you can't fly in. This was a moderate downpour but nothing that should have delayed us. The problem was that to board the plane (which is tiny) you have to walk from the airport out to the plane. The locals did not want to walk out to the plane and risk getting wet. They stood outside under the overhang and waited until the rain stopped. The brave few that risked melting in the rain screamed about it while we boarded. One in particular was especially begging to be punched in the face. She happened to be right behind me. Screaming at me to move faster because she was getting wet. God forbid. I was standing outside too. With no umbrella. Huge surprise here, but I was getting wet too. I couldn't move any faster because the people ahead of me weren't moving. Shut the hell up lady. I purposely walked up the stairs as slowly as I could. After all, they were wet and I needed to be careful. Wouldn't want to slip. After the rain stopped and every was finally in their seats we were able to take off 20 minutes late.
We land in Puerto Rico (you all know how I feel about Puerto Rico). It's nearly 9 am. My next flight isn't until 1:45 pm. This is a dreadfully long time to spend in any airport but in Puerto Rico it's almost an eternity. Nothing fun happened. I read a book, played some Nintendo, and people watched. Around 1:00 pm I notice that my flight has been delayed until 2pm. Then at 1:40 when we are suppose to start boarding it gets delayed again. Take off is now scheduled for 2:45 pm. Fine. Whatever. It's finally time to board the plane. This takes forever because it's a bunch of Puerto Ricans. We pull away from the gate at 3 pm. Then at 3:30 pm we pull back up to our gate because the plane has a small computer problem. It's going to be a ten minute fix. We are to remain seated with our seat belts fastened.
We sat there for almost 2 hours. We were not offered any type of explanation at all. We were, however, reminded several times to remain seated with seatbelts fastened and our chairs in an upright position. You know, since we could take off at any time. With no warning. From the gate.
We were suppose to land in Miami at 4:30 pm. We landed closer to 7 pm. At least the pilot had tried to make up some time, we did arrive earlier than expected. But because of that they didn't have a gate for us. So we circled the airport at a ridiculously slow pace until there was a gate ready. I didn't get off the plane until 7:40 pm. I had to get all the away across the airport to get on my next flight, which was already boarding and scheduled to leave at 8:15 pm. I had to run. Like an idiot. Every single one of the departure boards was saying that my flight was boarding. I got to the gate at just after 8pm. No one was boarding. They were all sitting, reading, eating, etc. But there was no boarding. It crosses my mind that I missed my flight. These people must be on the next flight leaving from this gate. I go ask the man behind the desk. Nope, I didn't miss my flight. It's been delayed for an hour due to the weather. He had JUST updated the departure boards. I ran for nothing. Bastards.
I called Itchy to vent and let me know that I was finally in America. I tried to call the car rental place but there was no answer. I called the hotel to let them know I'd be late. Then I wait.
The weather clears up and we take off. I get to Minneapolis at midnight. I've been up since 5 am. I'm really tired. I collect my luggage and head off to the rental car place. That was easy enough except, I really didn't need or care to be asked 20 times if I wanted to upgrade. Can I please just have the car I reserved? I reserved a small car because I wanted a small car. Granted, I hated the car I got (it didn't have power windows, call me lazy, but I like power windows) but that was my decision.
I drive off in search of my hotel. Finally find it, but they really should make a bigger sign. I walk in, tell the guy I have a reservation. He enters my name and then tries to push me over the edge. Tells me I have no reservation. I am late. They were overbooked. They had to give my room away. I don't think I even said anything to him. Just stared at him waiting for him to say that he was joking. When it became clear that he wasn't, I explained that I had called and told some lady (I actually had her name, but can't remember it now) that I would be late. He goes back to the computer and types for a while. He doesn't look happy. I can't blame him. I wasn't very happy either. He comes back and says that he has secured a room at a different hotel for me and that they would honor the price I had booked through Priceline. Big sigh of relief. His direction to the new hotel were crappy (take a right and then look for the tall building, not sure if this guy had ever left that particular hotel before, but there are many tall buildings in Minneapolis) so it took a while to find it. But I did. Got checked in and up to my room at around 2:30 am. I dropped dead at that point.
To be continued...
As if you haven't heard enough about American Airlines sucking, let's start with my series of flights (all with AA) back to Minnesota. My first flight of the day was delayed because of rain. Not the heavy rain that you can't fly in. This was a moderate downpour but nothing that should have delayed us. The problem was that to board the plane (which is tiny) you have to walk from the airport out to the plane. The locals did not want to walk out to the plane and risk getting wet. They stood outside under the overhang and waited until the rain stopped. The brave few that risked melting in the rain screamed about it while we boarded. One in particular was especially begging to be punched in the face. She happened to be right behind me. Screaming at me to move faster because she was getting wet. God forbid. I was standing outside too. With no umbrella. Huge surprise here, but I was getting wet too. I couldn't move any faster because the people ahead of me weren't moving. Shut the hell up lady. I purposely walked up the stairs as slowly as I could. After all, they were wet and I needed to be careful. Wouldn't want to slip. After the rain stopped and every was finally in their seats we were able to take off 20 minutes late.
We land in Puerto Rico (you all know how I feel about Puerto Rico). It's nearly 9 am. My next flight isn't until 1:45 pm. This is a dreadfully long time to spend in any airport but in Puerto Rico it's almost an eternity. Nothing fun happened. I read a book, played some Nintendo, and people watched. Around 1:00 pm I notice that my flight has been delayed until 2pm. Then at 1:40 when we are suppose to start boarding it gets delayed again. Take off is now scheduled for 2:45 pm. Fine. Whatever. It's finally time to board the plane. This takes forever because it's a bunch of Puerto Ricans. We pull away from the gate at 3 pm. Then at 3:30 pm we pull back up to our gate because the plane has a small computer problem. It's going to be a ten minute fix. We are to remain seated with our seat belts fastened.
We sat there for almost 2 hours. We were not offered any type of explanation at all. We were, however, reminded several times to remain seated with seatbelts fastened and our chairs in an upright position. You know, since we could take off at any time. With no warning. From the gate.
We were suppose to land in Miami at 4:30 pm. We landed closer to 7 pm. At least the pilot had tried to make up some time, we did arrive earlier than expected. But because of that they didn't have a gate for us. So we circled the airport at a ridiculously slow pace until there was a gate ready. I didn't get off the plane until 7:40 pm. I had to get all the away across the airport to get on my next flight, which was already boarding and scheduled to leave at 8:15 pm. I had to run. Like an idiot. Every single one of the departure boards was saying that my flight was boarding. I got to the gate at just after 8pm. No one was boarding. They were all sitting, reading, eating, etc. But there was no boarding. It crosses my mind that I missed my flight. These people must be on the next flight leaving from this gate. I go ask the man behind the desk. Nope, I didn't miss my flight. It's been delayed for an hour due to the weather. He had JUST updated the departure boards. I ran for nothing. Bastards.
I called Itchy to vent and let me know that I was finally in America. I tried to call the car rental place but there was no answer. I called the hotel to let them know I'd be late. Then I wait.
The weather clears up and we take off. I get to Minneapolis at midnight. I've been up since 5 am. I'm really tired. I collect my luggage and head off to the rental car place. That was easy enough except, I really didn't need or care to be asked 20 times if I wanted to upgrade. Can I please just have the car I reserved? I reserved a small car because I wanted a small car. Granted, I hated the car I got (it didn't have power windows, call me lazy, but I like power windows) but that was my decision.
I drive off in search of my hotel. Finally find it, but they really should make a bigger sign. I walk in, tell the guy I have a reservation. He enters my name and then tries to push me over the edge. Tells me I have no reservation. I am late. They were overbooked. They had to give my room away. I don't think I even said anything to him. Just stared at him waiting for him to say that he was joking. When it became clear that he wasn't, I explained that I had called and told some lady (I actually had her name, but can't remember it now) that I would be late. He goes back to the computer and types for a while. He doesn't look happy. I can't blame him. I wasn't very happy either. He comes back and says that he has secured a room at a different hotel for me and that they would honor the price I had booked through Priceline. Big sigh of relief. His direction to the new hotel were crappy (take a right and then look for the tall building, not sure if this guy had ever left that particular hotel before, but there are many tall buildings in Minneapolis) so it took a while to find it. But I did. Got checked in and up to my room at around 2:30 am. I dropped dead at that point.
To be continued...
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