OK - so here we go! There was no way I could possibly have worked on my step-outs any more - they were as good as they were going to get. No going back!
My Dad had custom made a wood frame for the Starry Night image and of course, it wouldn;t fit in any luggage, so I wrapped it in bubble wrap, added a rope handle and would bring it with me as a carry on. I packed a big bag with all my essential carry-ons and a small knitting bag, along with the mannequin for the CC Lowell contest and some beads.
Dharia arrived here about 9:15 and we dug through some clothes that she could potentially wear. We jammed them all in the luggage and were ready to go.
My Mom came over to watch Ethan who was bouncing off the walls due to all the activity. I sadly said goodbye to him, but he was more interested in playing with Grandma! Off we went to Providence. It was a quick ride and before we knew it were there, mighty early, I might add - 11:00am for a 1:30 flight. But better to be safe than sorry!
Our luggage was checked curbside and the whole process to get to our gate took no longer than 15 minutes. Being the first ones there we stretched out and started crafting; Dharia knitting a sweater and me beading on the mannequin.
Dayna came about 45 minutes later and we relaxed, knitting, etc.
They announced the flight would be late and we were super concerned we would miss the connection in Newark. D & D went to look for some food and I sat with the bags. We boarded the little plane and ate strange buritos as we took off.
2 hours later we were in Newark, although REALLY far away from the gate we needed to get to...ugh! SO we BOOKED to our gate and got there with a few minutes to spare. Our seats were together and after the stress of getting there with all our stuff, we settled in for a long 5 + hour flight.
I had the window for the end of the flight so I was able to see the bizarre dessert and then the mountains as we approached LA.
Dharia's sinuses were really bothering her and at one point she was howling in pain during the decent.
As we landed I called Dan who told me there was some kind of brown out at LAX and he was suprised we were able to land as they diverted lots of flights.
We found our luggage and looked for a taxi to Burbank to the Holiday Inn, about 45 minutes away.
This is D&D right outside LAX while we were waiting for a taxi. Notice the happy anticipatory smiles...oh, so innocent!
We got into a minivan taxi with a middle-aged middle-eastern-ish driver and were on our way. Nichelle called my cell but the battery died as we were talking.
The taki driver put on some mood music...musac versions of "Smooth Operator" and other bizarre tunes, silly enough to make us laugh out loud!!!
45+ minutes later we pulled into the Holiday Inn Burbank, a slightly outdated 18 floor hotel. Immediately something was up as the front desk said they only had smoking rooms. Let me just say our experiences with the front desk staff could be a novel alone, so I will just give you the basics...they were 2 very unapologetic people who can't read a computer monitor and after a quick threatening phone call from Nichelle (the travel coordinator for Uncommon Threads) suddenly our reservation was found, 3 non-smoking rooms, together and all for 3 nights. Miraculous. And one of the staffers had the nerve to ask Dharia to fill out a positive comment card for his good work. AHHHHHHHHH!!
So the rooms were fine - clean - the view was beautiful:
After settling in for awhile, we took a walk through "Downtown Burbank" and found a street with all kinds of shops and restaurants. We chose an Indian restaurant and ate dinner at about 9pm. It was super spicy but we were so hungry it didn't matter to me.
We returned and tried to do our nails and choose outfits. I tried to iron some clothes but we came to the conclusion the wardrobe person would iron our stuff for us. About 11:30-ish we finally decided to get some sleep.
After all the activity of the day, it was quiet and I started missing Ethan. I cried myself to sleep which drew day 1 to a close.
3 comments:
Ugh. A connecting flight! I told them that I wanted a direct flight both ways because I wasn't into layovers. I was exercising my "Princess Powers" there.
Sorry to hear that your day ended on a sad note. :(
I didn't cry myself to sleep THIS time. The first time I left Chloe (at 18 months, for, like, 2 days) I was pathetic! Every night holding her picture. Boo-hoo! How'd he do?
I think he was so busy he forgot that I wasn't here...
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