OUR FLIGHT HOME TO VA (THURSDAY, FRIDAY)
Ok, finally got all of the pictures loaded in a slide show. Of course, I probably have about 2000 more. Maybe one day I will get them printed. LOL
We arrived at the airport about 7:30 pm. We wanted to get pineapples for the boys. They had ask for them. Since everything has to be inspected, we decided to get them at the airport. When checking in, you must do everything out side. Now this is Hawaii and the temps are hot and humid. Caring luggage, carry on and a laptop makes for a sweaty deal. Anyway, we get our tickets. Luggage has to be weighed. Guess what, we are over our 50 pounds. Imagine that. In order to send our luggage as is, it will cost us $160. No way. So we start taking out our stuff, outside and where everyone can see. Good thing they were not busy. Our dirty clothes were the reason for the over weight. So we had to carry our dirty clothes on the plane as carry ones. They were sealed in our bags. Thank goodness.
We headed to our gate. In Hawaii you have to go through security 2 times. So avoid doing that again, we just hung out in the airport. I thought I could get on the Internet and get some posts done. NOT I could get on, but only on t-mobile or at& t. So packed up the computer, bought our pineapples and headed to the gate. We had about an hour wait. Not long. One of the families that was with the business trip was also leaving too. So we talked to them. Since everyone was on the plane, we got to take off early. Yeah, home early to see the kids. NOT
Since it was a night flight, I had planned to sleep. Randy was going to watch DVD's. We had a 3 seater, but only 2 people in the seats. I laid down and Randy sat up. At one time I thought I was going to fall in the floor. The flight was very rough. I had taken my seatbelt off to sleep. But had to put back on. I did sleep for about 3 1/2 hours. The reason for our rough flight and the big waves is that there was an active volcano on the big island and it was playing with the atmosphere. We landed in LAX on time even though it was rough.
Now LAX is another story. This is not my favorite airport anyway after the way I was treated coming back from China. Another story. We had about an hour layover before taking off for the east coast. Randy went to get us breakfast and I watched the carry ons. While he was gone, we got an announcement that the pilot and flight attendants where missing and no one could find them. Ok, don't need to rush to eat. About 30 minutes later, which was 15 minutes passed the take off time, we got another announcement. The pilot and flight attendants have been found and would be here in about 30 minutes. Now we are 30 minutes late taking off. SIGH
They finally show up and we board. Everyone is there. Plane is ready and we take off. While in flight the pilots explains why they were late. Due to FFA rules, pilots and flight attendants can only fly so many hours. They had met their limit and had to rest. Looks like the airport would have told us that. Anyway, the pilots knew we were late and had only a few minutes to get to our other flights. So he says that we will be making up time and flying 650 miles an hour or what ever it is called. That is fast. Ok, we are unware of all of the weather problems and the fires. Of course, this is playing with the atmosphere again. Rough flight. No seatbelts off again.
We finally land in Atlanta. Now if you have every flown in or out of Atlanta, you know how big it is. You never land in the area you take off from. So once we get off, we are in a full sprint to get to our next gate. Our plane is taking off in 30 minutes. As we are running through the airport, we notice all of these flights being delayed due to weather. According to the airport, it started very early in the morning with problems. We get to our gate and we are on time. Randy runs to Wendy's to get something to eat. I am not hungry. While he is gone the time changes, we are delayed an hour. So here we sit, unable to get home on time. Finally, we board. This was one of our smoothest flights. And this was a little plane. We land an hour later in Roanoke. Now we are praying that our luggage made it due to the delay. Grab our luggage and head home.
We finally walk through the door at our wonderful home at 6:30 pm. The shouts of joy where well worth it. We had been on a plane and airports since 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Due to all of the time changes, my mind is still trying to figure out how many hours we spend traveling.
We are glad to be home and the kids are so glad to see us. Randy walked in, packed his hunting clothes and headed back out the door for his parents at 8:00 and did not return home until 9:30 pm the next day. This is a different story. You can read between the lines.
I did 13 loads of laundry on Saturday and put everything way. It was just me and Miss Talicee so I could get it done. It is nice to go on a vacation, but now I need one just to get things done.
Our trip was wonderful. A dream come true. If Randy had not earned it, we would have never been able to do this. Yes, we were the true tourist. We did all that we could. We enjoyed just being together. Now we have to face life again. Let me tell you, Monday was the typical Monday and the whole week has been like that. But some times you have to pay that price.
I hope you have enjoyed the pictures and our stories. We have many more. I know some of you have been jealous of our trip. I have gotten many e-mails. Sorry, wished you could have gone too. The island of Kauai is a beautiful island. Maybe one day we can do all of the islands. Wonder what our next adventure will be. I can bet you it will be something here at home. LOL Thanks for reading and keeping up with our crazy family.
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