Tami in Tejas
Uno Mas, Por Favor
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Millinneum Club
Posts: 7664
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I should preface this report by sharing with you the fact that when Tom and I married some 16 years ago, the week after our wedding was spent moving all of my things from Austin to his house in San Antonio. We said we would plan a honeymoon later (this was all in a life prior to me owning the travel agency). The next thing you know we have 2 children, jobs, and 16 years of wedded bliss have passed, yet no honeymoon. And although we've been fortunate to travel to a variety of places as a family, we've never really taken the time for the two of us...alone...without kids. An opportunity presents itself to us in December of this year, and within days, I find myself making plans for a 3 night stay in Las Vegas. It just so happens that the weekend we are to travel is Valentine's, as well as the week prior to our wedding anniversary. Seemed appropriate enough! Our dear friends from California will be joining us, so we are thrilled (and we initially had another couple from Austin set to travel with us also, but unfortunately their entire household came down with the flu and they had to cancel at the last minute)...
Friday morning arrives after a night of tossing and turning. Had I covered all my bases? Packed, but did I forget anything? Money, tickets? While Tom drops each of the kids off at school, I finish last minute phone calls, put Valentine gifts on each of the kids' beds, and greet my mom at the door (she has graciously agreed to come stay at our house to "watch" the children and doggy in our absence). Within minutes, my friend Donna arrives with her luggage (she had come in from California the day earlier to drop her daughter off with grandparents and would be departing from Austin with us...we would meet up with her husband Chuck in Vegas, as he was flying from their home in California). Hugs all around, we jump in the car and head off to the airport. Our flight is scheduled to depart at 10:45am.
We arrive on time at the Southwest Airlines counter at 9:45am. Donna and Tom are both given their boarding cards, and I am told that the flight is oversold (what??!!) and that I could proceed to the gate to wait for a seat to "open up"....lovely, just lovely. I arrive at the gate and find the gate attendant waiting for me. "Ah, Mrs. Pruitt, we are checking to see who would like to give up their seat this morning and will be with you momentarily to give you a boarding pass". I smile my most pleasant smile and reply, "You know, it's taken me 16 years to get to this point. If you need to offer that person $1000, I think that's pretty fair. Let me know what you can find." So I move away from the counter and find a seat. Within 4 minutes, the attendant walks over to me and hands me a boarding card. The good thing about this stressful start is that I'm given a boarding card for the first group allowed to load the plane. Tom and Donna's cards are for the last group to board. So, I'll be able to board and save our seats towards the front of the aircraft, as opposed to the much dreaded tail. Much better start!
We begin to get a little giddy at this point. That is, until the gate attendant gets on the PA and says that the weather is backing up flight traffic in the Vegas area and they have not been given permission to depart Austin yet. Thankfully they determine this prior to boarding all of us on the plane, and we are instructed to sit tight for about 45 minutes inside the terminal. The time passes quickly and there are no more delays. We're allowed to board. I get 3 seats together on row 9 and sure enough, Tom and Donna are the very last passengers to walk onto the plane. Totally overbooked flight (4 people ended up taking later flights that morning due to the oversold status), so it pays to arrive earlier than you might think for check-in, because we were on time and still ran a decent chance of being bumped. All flights that day were completely booked solid.
Pulling away from the gate, we flap our wings and are airborne for Vegas. Yes, I'll have a Bloody Mary please....
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