7/27/08

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

The alarm rang at 5AM and I was at the airport by 6:30AM. Plane took off at 8AM Eastern Time.

We flew on a new airline, Virg.in Amer.ica, and it rocks! Seriously, the plane has mood lighting. Blue neon lights lit up the ceiling. Very cool. But even better, the cool little tv screens at each seat were interactive. Need a soda? Just order it on the touchscreen tv. Want to watch the news? No problem---just turn on the tv, plug in your earphones, and C.NN will tell you what is going on below you. And the best was the music. There were hundreds of artists and albums listed. You could build your own playlist of various songs and then listen to it as you wanted during the flight....just like an iP.od. Very cool. The best song we found on that thing....click here....its worth a laugh.

We had a layover at LAX. Since we hadnt eaten anything all day and it was lunchtime, we headed to an airport diner and had a $10 hamburger. On our way back to the gate, we walked right past Donald Sutherland. My first celebrity sighting.

The flight to Seattle wasnt bad.....until the end. I was in the middle seat and when the guy in the window seat went to pass his unfinished Baca.rdi and Cok.e to the flight attendant, he spilled it all over me and Nicole. ALL OVER US....it even spilled in my purse. So annoying. And the guy didnt even say "sorry". Di.ck. So for the rest of the trip, we smelled like Baca.rdi and Co.ke....not very nice. :) We saw him at baggage claim....he picked up his fanny pack from the belt and left. HE CHECKED A FANNY PACK. Enough said about him.

SO once we got to Seattle, we had a few hours layover until we boarded a bus to Vancouv.er. We headed to downtown where the train/bus station is and found a Star.bucks...when in Seattle, you must go to Starbu.cks and so we did. We checked in with the train station and headed to find some real non-airport food. The deli was actually pretty decent, overlooking the football stadium.

So, back to the train station we went to board the bus. At the exact bus time, the driver tells us that there is a train delayed due to a derailment and that the bus has to wait to leave until the train arrives. If the delay was 20 or 30 minutes, no biggie. BUT not the case. We were delayed 2 hours!!!! There was another bus scheduled to leave the station an hour after the new train arrival time....why those people couldnt get on that bus is beyond me.

So there we were, sitting on the streets in Seattle, watching the end of an 8K race through the , city, drinking coffee cause we were freezing! For 2 hours. We were sitting there in capris and lightweight long sleeve shirts....and it was 60 degrees outside. We looked over and over for a street vendor to get a stupid sweatshirt...apparently they knew we needed them so they all went into hiding.

Once we got on the road, it was okay. I fell asleep and Nicole read magazines...she even fell asleep for awhile until the bus driver started sverving and hitting the rumble strips on the road. Pretty comforting when you still have 2 hours on the road with the guy. Customs was pretty uneventful.

We got to the hotel in Vancouver at 1AM local time. That is 22 hours of traveling for us.

We are tired. But the beds are awesome here. And the breakfast we ordered from room service was great.

Now, we have to go to a welcome reception. There are already a million stories to tell about this trip....stay tuned...more blogging from the road to come!!!

3 comments:

Bri said...

I totally missed something. What in the world are you doing in Vancouver?!

-L said...

Honestly woman, I am NEVER traveling with you! You always have some horrible story to tell :)

Hopefully the trip back will be uneventful!

Bri said...

I would've cried. You're a stronger woman than I am :P