Made it to Florida

I am unable to estimate the number of times in my life that I have flown. Playing college basketball, we flew everywhere. I also played on travelling teams in high school. I cannot even begin to estimate the flying I have done, but it is a lot. Probably not as "a lot" as Cali Tara, but still, a whole bunch.

That being said, when I tell you this was the 3rd worst flying experience I have had, that is saying a lot.

The first worst was getting snowed in to O'hare. Thank goodness we had family there and a cousin named Josh willing to make the perilous drive to the airport to get us. The second was having my flight back to WKU cancelled on Christmas Day and eating pizza for Christmas dinner in the airport. I made it back to Bowling Green by 1am and by 4am was headed back to the airport for a trip to the Bahamas -- just a forty-five minute flight from where I had just been. (My coach would not let me just fly to the Bahamas solo. Ugh!)

So yesterday was not as bad as these two, but it was quite obnoxious nonetheless. The day started at 10am. Tif, William, and I drove the 1:15 minutes to Pensacola and stopped at lunch at Steak-n-shake. Tif dropped me off at the airport around noon. That's when I found out that my 1:33 flight was now a 3:30 flight and that my supposed 6pm Fort Lauderdale arrival would be pushed back to midnight due to weather and transfer problems in Atlanta.

We actually boarded the flight for Atlanta at 2:30pm but didn't leave the tarmac until 3:30pm. We were in Atlanta by 5:30pm (eastern). The airport was a MESS! There were people everywhere. I haven't seen it that bad since the snowstorm in O'hare. I found out that I was on a 7:30pm flight. We boarded the plane at 7:30pm, and sat on the runway for nearly an hour and a half.

This was made worse by the fact that even though I had paid $12 to secure an aisle seat (an Air Tran policy), they had plugged me into a window. I asked if they had any aisle seats available. No, the lady told me, only to put the woman in stand-by behind me in one! I, of course, didn't want to pitch a fit. It's a short flight, and I know everyone was cranky, but if you have ever seen my legs try to get into the inside of a row of airplane seats, you can understand my frustration. Add to that that I was in the row before the exit row so I couldn't tilt back either. I am forced to sit straight up with my rear end pushed all the way back into the seat in order to get my legs to fit, and even then, my knees are clobbered by the tray table in front of me and keep bumping into the metal on the seat. I watched with incredible envy as Asian woman (who had missed a friend's wedding due to all the delays!) next to me crossed her legs. Wow! That would feel nice! Thank goodness the nice man in front of me had mercy on my plight and didn't try to put his seat back. I would have cried! This also makes me say thank you again to "Little-T" who on our flight to Africa, willingly gave up her own aisle seats numerous times to help my leg situation. You rock Tara!

I wouldn't have ranked this as the third worst trip I have taken without a few other things going "wrong." The turbulence, due to the weather in Atlanta, was very bad for the first thirty minutes. The kind that makes everyone grip the seat in front of them and start whispering and mumbling and looking around.

I arrived in Fort Lauderdale around 10:20pm only to find that my luggage must have sat in the rain for hours as numerous pieces were quite soaked inside my bag. Oh well again. My parents managed to navigate through horrid airport traffic and slow down just long enough for me to quite literally throw my stuff into my car. Ugh!

But anyways, by midnight, I was tucked quite nicely into my parent's guest room and am now awake after a good night sleep. I will be heading down to Roy and Joan's in a couple of hours. The shower is at 11am. It'll be good to see Bri and some of her friends and family that I have not seen in quite a few years. It should be a fun day. Of course, I will take photos but they will have to wait until my return to Eglin AFB, where I can plug in my handy-dandy photo card.

Talk to you all later!