Andrea is home sweet home.

So, in case anyone was sitting on the edge of their seat wondering how the remainder of my trip went, I thought I'd fill you in.

The taxi ride from the hotel to the airport was just as eventful as the ride from the airport the first time. I'm pretty sure our driver was part gangster. He spoke in such short sentences and mumbled words, I could barely decipher what he was ever trying to acts me. His first strike was his plush Auburn jacket lying on the armrest when we got in the van. My co-worker said "uh-oh he's an Auburn fan", just trying to make conversation, and then somehow the jacket disappeared, not sure where it went, but it was gone. He then had his ear buds in his ears the entire time, but continued to turn up the radio, which was playing some retro funk kind of music. He proceeded to roll all of our windows down, without asking if that was ok....I mean, it's not like we were paying customers or anything, therefore, we had delightful new dos when we arrived at the aiport. We got out of the cab, I gave him a turkey sandwich I had in my purse, along with the plastic wear and the mustard & mayo as well. Why did I have a turkey sandwich in my purse you might ask? Who DOESN'T carry a spare sandwich in their purse for such emergencies as this? For some reason, the sandwich and southern hospitality wasn't enough, and he still wanted dinero, so I had to cough up the cash to pay him.

Bags checked. Through security. In the airport. Now waiting. Thankfully, oh so thankfully they had free wi-fi. Did I mention it was like 1:15 and our flight wasn't until 3:15? Oh, and did I mention our flight was delayed until 4:15....which I am now thankful for being that the original plane that was to transport us got taken out of service for a "mechanical delay"....glad I wasn't 20,000 feet up when they discovered this!

While waiting we hear a page overhead: "If you just arrived from gate X, and you've left your walker, well, it's a miracle you've made it very far, because we still have your walker at the gate."

Now, on the plane we board. Our steward was quite comical. He probably had one of the driest senses of humor I've ever seen, but kept us laughing the entire time. While giving the pre-flight emergency speech he proceeded to "swim" when it came time to talk about the life preservers, and pretended to hyperventilate when it talked about the oxygen devices. He then had a special name for every "delicious beverage" he handed out to all passengers.

We made it to Birmingham, and thanks to what I'm certain were 100mph winds, we had a more bumpy landing than the first. Safe at last....so I think. My sweet Mr. Wonderful picks me up, only to realize he has let his alter ego out for the day, and he thinks he's a NASCAR driver. When I FINALLY arrived at home, I was so glad to be here, so glad to see my sweet Braidster, but most of all, SO glad to see my own shower!! What is it about knowing your shampoo & conditioner is right where you left it, the body wash is where it's suppose to be, and best of all, you know the last time it was truly cleaned!

Head hit the pillow at 8:15 last night.

All is well with the world.

Andrea goes to Tampa....

So Tuesday began as a normal travel day. I was anticipating safe travels for my first trip for the Capstone. The plane was at the gate, on time, we left, on time, and we landed EARLY. Now, I didn’t say we land smoothly, but we landed safely. All was well. I prayed for our flight prior to and many times DURING the flight…you see I don’t like turbulence, not even a little bit. My heart ends up in my throat and I white knuckle the arm rests. I could see the clouds from outside my window, I knew the clouds were causing the turbulence, but I still had a sinking feeling every time we went bump bump bump. My prayers were answered when we landed and we were safe. What I failed to pray for was our taxi ride from the airport to our hotel. Holy Guacamole did I pray hard during that taxi ride! Curves that had 25mph speed limits were taken with two wheels on the ground at 60 mph. I could not even look down, literally, as it would make me sick. Imagine how it is when you’re on a roller coaster and try to look down….yea, that’s how our taxi ride was.

So, we made it safely to our hotel. We arrived at the front desk simply wanting to check in, place our bags in the room and freshen up prior to the welcome reception. Apparently that was asking too much. As it turns out, the lady who made our reservations made them to begin on Monday night, and since we weren’t scheduled to arrive until Tuesday, we obviously did not show up on Monday night. (I’m not sure how you make flight reservations for Tuesday, but then hotel reservations for Monday, but alas, that’s what happened). So, since we were a no-show, they cancelled our rooms AND booked them for other people AND they were sold out. So now we are in Tampa, safe & sound, but have no where to stay. Thankfully the METI staff was more than accommodating and provided us with “whatever we wanted” to eat and/or drink while we waited. They then put us up in the hotel across the street, which was an Embassy Suites, and it was a MUCH better deal! We all had suites with a living area separate from the sleeping area, free breakfast – and I’m not talking about croissants and cereal, I mean made to order omelets, eggs, sausage, bacon, bagels, toast, cereal, fruit, potatoes…..and I could go on. They also had free happy hour every night….not that this was utilized, it’s just the point.

The rest of the conference was wonderful and I am now awaiting my flight back to Birmingham. I am praying it is totally event free and praying we will arrive prior to the bad weather that is anticipated for tonight. Currently our flight is delayed.