Vacation Stories.
Jul 9th, 1998, 04:44 AM
#2
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At 8:00 in the morning, on the third day of a three day stay in Florence, our hotel owner informs us that we must leave the hotel; she's all booked up for that night! This after we checked in saying we were there for three nights! We demand that she find us another place to stay;she did so in five minutes, and the other place is MUCH better located and actually lower priced! Another tourist was about to leave (the shuttle bus was literally just outside the door) for an all-day, $200 boat tour; when we left the two of them were still arguing over this!
Jul 9th, 1998, 09:14 AM
#3
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Great story. glad it worked out. one of mine is, I went down to San Fransico in January for the 49er-packer game, rained all day, so wasn't in the best of moods. went to the airport, and my flight was cancelled. they shut down the Portland airport!!! I coudn't get home. I was able to get home in 2 days. now that this crisis is over, I smile about it.
Jul 9th, 1998, 06:22 PM
#4
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Wherever we go, we cause anomolies...mostly with weather. We went to Boston and they were in the midst of a heat wave. When we went to San Fransisco, the day we were there, they recorded a record high for that day for the century (97 degrees and we had taken sweatshirts). We went to Bermuda...they had just experienced 6 weeks of rain and the busses were on strick for the first time ever...if you have been to Bermuda, you know how significant that is. Last tradgedy is not vacation related...just another example of our family jinx. Went to Washington Redskins pre-season training camp one year...children had pictures taken with quarterback Joe Theisman. Later that year he got his leg broken and had to retire from football. Stayed away from camp for several years, finally went back, children had pics taken with quarterback Doug Williams...that year he got his leg hurt in the first quarter of the Super Bowl and had to retire from football. Know any place that needs a change of weather or quarterbacks? We're looking for someplace to go in August!
Jul 14th, 1998, 02:20 AM
#5
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On our first big family vacation we were headed to St John USVI. Our original flight was canceled when the airline went on strike. Our travel agent found us a route thru San Juan. The plane broke down in Philly,spent 3 hours there. Go to San Juan and saw these funny little planes at the far end of the airport as we raced to keep up with our skycap (luckily the agent had told us to get a skycap) it turned out we had to fly on one of those commuter planes to St. Thomas. Actually it was a nice flight but our luggage stayed back in San Juan for a few hours. We waited at the airport until our luggage finally caught up. Found a taxi driver who didn't believe us when we said there was an 8pm ferry to St John. .We had to go pick up his kid at the babysitters. Finally got to Red Hook Ferry where it was dark and drizzly. The 9pm Ferry left us on St. John but none of the cab drivers would take us to Maho because of the rain. We didn't understand that we could simply wait until one of the large truck/cabs would take us. Fortunately a lady from Atlanta came along and wanted to go back to Maho and sweet talked a cab into taking all of us. The only way we made it up the dirt road to Maho was because there was so much weight in the back (us and our luggage) of this little Toyota. She was a real good driver. If it hadn't been dark we would have been terrified of the switchbacks, etc. Ahead of time I had explained to our son who was in kindergarten at the time that on the island people would be speaking English but it would sound different. After all, we're from NH where here is a 2 sylable word! Our son told the nice lady from Atlanta that she spoke English very well. Of course, the rest of the vacation was fabulous but it was pretty scary sitting at the dock on St John all by ourselves in the rain and dark.
Jul 14th, 1998, 05:46 AM
#6
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I swear the following story is true.
On April 11, 1986, my wife and I set off for an 18-day trip to Europe. I was attending a conference in Monaco; we planned to use that as a jumping off point for stays in Paris and Vienna.
My conference went smoothly until the third day. On the morning of April 15, we turned on CNN (back then, a very unusual service for a hotel to provide) hoping to catch the Celtics score from the night before. Instead, we saw a newscaster with a worried look on his face, listening into his earpiece. Behind him was a map of the Mediterranean. "We've just received word that the last plane has landed safely," he said. My wife and I looked at one another: what's this all about?
The U.S. had just bombed Libya. We gazed out of our window overlooking the Mediterranean. Coming out of a tent somewhere to the southeast, a slightly dazed but very angry Muammar al-Qaddafi was probably also gazing out over the Mediterranean, wondering where he could quickly get his hands on some Americans.
The conference never re-convened that morning. Instead, armed guards appeared in the hallways and, in hours, the hotel was deserted. We took off for Avignon and Paris, carrying "Le Monde" prominently under our arms. Avignon provided a pleasant respite, but in Paris, bombs were going off everywhere as various factions protested either the bombing or France's involvement, non-involvement, or perceived complicity. When our sleep was shattered by an explosion less than a block away, we knew it was time to get out of town.
We drove up to Chantilly, enjoyed the royal stables, and had lunch at a fine restaurant. Love those Brittany oysters. That night, my wife said she wasn't feeling well. At three in the morning, she was violently ill. The oysters! She was gallant for a day, claiming she was feeling better. She wasn't. The next day, we hailed a taxi and asked to be taken to the American Hospital. Outside the hospital, French soldiers were running mirrors under every car and searching all occupants. Two hours later, we saw a doctor, who gave her the necessary medicine and shots.
Two days later, she was well enough to travel, and we set off by train for Vienna. That morning, I was feeling queasy. Somewhere near Munich, I was afraid I was going to die. Sixteen hours later, our oft-delayed train pulled into Vienna, and I was afraid I wasn't going to die; I felt that sick. For the next three days, I stayed in bed, whimpering.
Finally, I felt well enough to go out and enjoy Vienna in late April. We enjoyed three fine days, walking the Prater and sniffing the fine air. A Viennese gentleman explained that we were the beneficiaries of a "foehn;" instead of the cold wind blowing down from the north, we were getting a warmer, drier breeze from out of the east, from....
Chernobyl! Yes, three days earlier on April 26, unbeknown to the rest of the world, Chernobyl had blown up, sending clouds of radiation across the Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Austria. The morning we flew home, the Herald-Tribune featured a map showing who was getting the most fallout. Eastern Austria was right up there with Kiev. We were subjected to radiation checks in Zurich where we changed planes, and the geiger counter clicked away as we filed off of the airplane.
We were never so happy to get home from a vacation. What a disaster! The remarkable thing, though, was that with the passage of time, the humor of what had happened came through. How could it have possibly been worse? Here we were, chattering away in French to one another, trying not to sound like Americans. Who were we kidding? Viewed through a prism of twelve years, it now ranks as one of our most memorable trips anywhere in the world.
Now, did I tell you the one about the time we got caught up in the anti-American riots in Venezuela?....
On April 11, 1986, my wife and I set off for an 18-day trip to Europe. I was attending a conference in Monaco; we planned to use that as a jumping off point for stays in Paris and Vienna.
My conference went smoothly until the third day. On the morning of April 15, we turned on CNN (back then, a very unusual service for a hotel to provide) hoping to catch the Celtics score from the night before. Instead, we saw a newscaster with a worried look on his face, listening into his earpiece. Behind him was a map of the Mediterranean. "We've just received word that the last plane has landed safely," he said. My wife and I looked at one another: what's this all about?
The U.S. had just bombed Libya. We gazed out of our window overlooking the Mediterranean. Coming out of a tent somewhere to the southeast, a slightly dazed but very angry Muammar al-Qaddafi was probably also gazing out over the Mediterranean, wondering where he could quickly get his hands on some Americans.
The conference never re-convened that morning. Instead, armed guards appeared in the hallways and, in hours, the hotel was deserted. We took off for Avignon and Paris, carrying "Le Monde" prominently under our arms. Avignon provided a pleasant respite, but in Paris, bombs were going off everywhere as various factions protested either the bombing or France's involvement, non-involvement, or perceived complicity. When our sleep was shattered by an explosion less than a block away, we knew it was time to get out of town.
We drove up to Chantilly, enjoyed the royal stables, and had lunch at a fine restaurant. Love those Brittany oysters. That night, my wife said she wasn't feeling well. At three in the morning, she was violently ill. The oysters! She was gallant for a day, claiming she was feeling better. She wasn't. The next day, we hailed a taxi and asked to be taken to the American Hospital. Outside the hospital, French soldiers were running mirrors under every car and searching all occupants. Two hours later, we saw a doctor, who gave her the necessary medicine and shots.
Two days later, she was well enough to travel, and we set off by train for Vienna. That morning, I was feeling queasy. Somewhere near Munich, I was afraid I was going to die. Sixteen hours later, our oft-delayed train pulled into Vienna, and I was afraid I wasn't going to die; I felt that sick. For the next three days, I stayed in bed, whimpering.
Finally, I felt well enough to go out and enjoy Vienna in late April. We enjoyed three fine days, walking the Prater and sniffing the fine air. A Viennese gentleman explained that we were the beneficiaries of a "foehn;" instead of the cold wind blowing down from the north, we were getting a warmer, drier breeze from out of the east, from....
Chernobyl! Yes, three days earlier on April 26, unbeknown to the rest of the world, Chernobyl had blown up, sending clouds of radiation across the Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Austria. The morning we flew home, the Herald-Tribune featured a map showing who was getting the most fallout. Eastern Austria was right up there with Kiev. We were subjected to radiation checks in Zurich where we changed planes, and the geiger counter clicked away as we filed off of the airplane.
We were never so happy to get home from a vacation. What a disaster! The remarkable thing, though, was that with the passage of time, the humor of what had happened came through. How could it have possibly been worse? Here we were, chattering away in French to one another, trying not to sound like Americans. Who were we kidding? Viewed through a prism of twelve years, it now ranks as one of our most memorable trips anywhere in the world.
Now, did I tell you the one about the time we got caught up in the anti-American riots in Venezuela?....
Jul 15th, 1998, 11:58 AM
#9
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I can't say that the entire trip was a disaster. My husband and I along with my sister and brother-in-law went on a 4-day Carnival cruise in June 1997. Upon returning to Port Canaveral, disembarkation was a nightmare. I have heard stories about how inconvenient this procedure is, but I didn't expect this. Right before, we pulled into port, it was announced that someone on the ship had contracted the measles from either Nassau or Freeport. Other rumors started flying that everyone's luggage was being searched for marijuana! Anyway, if you know how disembarkation goes, every floor was to be called separately. People were in the hallways with their souvenirs, carryons and some of the most disgusted faces known to man. We were detained on the ship for four hours until the CDC in Atlanta gave the cruise line permission to let us go. Needless to say, we missed our flight back to Chicago. Tried to get on another flight - United was very helpful in doing this. Of course, we were not the only ones trying this. As it turned out, we had to stay the night in Orlando. Boy was my husband furious. I, my sister and brother-in-law didn't care. We were like, cool. United put us up at the Orlando Hyatt (in suites), gave us food vouchers for lunch, dinner and then breakfast the next morning and gave us our choice of flights back home. We weren't complaining. But my husband had a bug up his ass throughout the whole trip anyway. Upon arrival to the Hyatt for the evening, we found out that, not only were we given suites, but grand suites. Not bad for being detained on the ship. Anyway, like I said the trip was overall a good one.
Jul 16th, 1998, 07:37 AM
#10
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We tried to take a trip to Mexico when our children were 17 months and 4 1/2. We thought Mexico would be great because they love children there, so we booked a condo in Puerta Vallarta thinking we would be glad for the extra space. The nightmare began in the cab on the way to the airport when the baby threw up on me. She threw up two more times on the flight. I was able to change her clothes each time, but hadn't thought to provide myself with fresh clothes for the flight.
Then we got to the condo resort. It was stilll under construction in some areas, and our air-conditioning didn't work. It didn't work in the next condo they moved us to, either. We had brought a sassy seat to use in restaurants but the aprons on the tables in most of the colonial style restaurants made it useless. The resort had playpens rather than cribs for babies to sleep in, and every morning the baby would have a new crop of what I think were spider bites. The kids would run on the tile covering every floor and slip when they were wet, which was most times. The pool had no shade and the beach was unswimmable plus the kids were terrified by the waves. All the babysitters only spoke Spanish. The fruit juices tasted "funny" to the kids--only coke tasted like they were used to.
Most of this was our fault in underestimating our adaptability and level of adventure, but it was a very expensive lesson. We didn't attempt to leave the country again until the girls were 6 and 9!
Then we got to the condo resort. It was stilll under construction in some areas, and our air-conditioning didn't work. It didn't work in the next condo they moved us to, either. We had brought a sassy seat to use in restaurants but the aprons on the tables in most of the colonial style restaurants made it useless. The resort had playpens rather than cribs for babies to sleep in, and every morning the baby would have a new crop of what I think were spider bites. The kids would run on the tile covering every floor and slip when they were wet, which was most times. The pool had no shade and the beach was unswimmable plus the kids were terrified by the waves. All the babysitters only spoke Spanish. The fruit juices tasted "funny" to the kids--only coke tasted like they were used to.
Most of this was our fault in underestimating our adaptability and level of adventure, but it was a very expensive lesson. We didn't attempt to leave the country again until the girls were 6 and 9!
Jul 17th, 1998, 08:53 PM
#12
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I went with my fiancee to his brother's wedding in Albequerque, NM in July a couple of years ago. I had never been there, never met his brother, and my fiancee was his best man. His brother had a home with no air conditioning that we were to stay at and in July that was no mean feat. His brother dropped us off, and was going to pick up my fiancee in the morning to run last minute wedding errands. After sweating the night away with no air, no fans even, my fiancee promises to be back soon. Mind you, he promised to get me breakfast. Well, soon turned into seven hours, with literally no food, (this is a vacation house) except for one Hershey's kiss, no car, and no money and no air conditioning (later, after I removed my hands from around my fiancee's neck,we estimated temps to be about 110.) I just lay motionless on the linoleum kitchen floor, not moving, and dying from hunger. I swear I had hallucinations. I can barely remember that last three hours or so. Oh, we laugh about it now, but for a while there I seriously thought I would do bodily physical harm to him.
Aug 1st, 1998, 07:16 AM
#14
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We checked in a hotel near the train station in Munich and left for a day trip to Garmisch, a small mountainous town near the border of Austria. As we walked towards the mountain, we saw the funicular (cable car) and the ski jump that was used in the previous winter olympics. We immediately looked for the cable car station and boarded one of the 2- seater car. It was a bit wobbly and as we climb the steep side slope of the mountain, the view gets better and better. My sister was a bit scared since the car moves as I move to take pictures. It must have taken us 30 minutes to reach the top; we rushed out of the car and the view was absolutely breath taking. We scanned all over the site and can not have enough of the postcard scenery everywhere we look. We must have taken 40 pictures or more. By the time we decided to go down, the door of the station was locked. I noticed the hours posted on the door was 9:00 to 17:00 hrs and it was already 17:04 hrs. I panicked and realized that the cable & car had stopped moving. I yelled and knocked at the door to no avial. I jumped over the short fence to see if someone is still inside. Finally two men appeared and was giving us hand signal that the service is over. I tried to convince them to let us go down since we bought the round trip and that we got carried away by the magnificent scenery. We did not even check the time posted on the door when we get off the car. One of the guy was easier to deal with and told us that it will an exception to the rule to do such. We could not thank him enough and boarded the car with a big relief. Ten minutes down the slope, the car stopped in mid air and my heart start to pound as time goes on. We looked at each other and our eyes said it all. Did those guys punch their cards, shut off the switch and left us here? Or did the personnel down the hill wondered why the car is still moving after closing time and decided to shut it down. Five minutes later and we still are not moving. Holly molly! This is worst than being left on the mountain - at least we could descend down by foot and probably take us two hours to reach down. Now we are in the middle of nowhere 200 feet above the 50 degree side slope, I can not jump this high to get help, and even if I survive the jump, the ravine is so steep that I will be broken into 100 pieces by the time I landed on the ground. Every single minute seems like eternity, the car is still stagnant and my sister began to cry. I tried to calm her and explained that there's no way they will leave us in such predicament. They will be responsible to whatever happen to us and the whole tourist industry will go down the drain. Yeah right? I said to myself, but this is Germany. Million of thoughts came to my mind, My god! we did not even have the right clothings to spend the night here. What if it becomes too cold and we'll die of frost bite. I could not think of any other solution but to yell HELP!!!! HELP!!!!. Soon my sister was yelling with me and I looked around, we are in the middle of the jungle there's no one can hear us here. I prayed inside and concentrate communicating from within. Then the car started moving again in a very slow pace and we must have sat there for at least 10 minutes that seems like 10 days. My sister was holding her breath looking behind her shoulder and making sure that the cable car has actually reach the bottom. I don't know what happened up there if those guys above played a dirty trick on us and laughing their ass off as our lives hang on a balance. I was just glad that it's all over and after talking to the men down the station. One of the guy said that it's no big deal to be late by 4 minutes and this thing happens occasionally. I cheered my sister and laughed at the whole experience and assured her that all of these will be funny to her sometime later....
Aug 1st, 1998, 10:06 AM
#15
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1962 or 63. My parents take 7 kids from Chicago to New Orleans in a VW microbus. We arrive at a beautiful state park across Lake Ponchartrain from N.O. and can't figure out why there is no one there. Step out of the car and we figured it out quick. It was the worst year for mosquitoes that Loouisiana had ever had.(They still occasionally show the old film clips of Dan Rather reporting the news on location while swatting mosquitoes repeatedly). We were eaten alive in minutes. Parents decide it's probably not healthey to camp so we pack up and head into town. On the way across the 26-mile-long causeway across the lake, our engine block cracked, limiting our speed to about 10-20 mph. Mind you, this was when the causeway was only one lane in each direction. We had cars backed up behind us into Mississippi, I'm sure, and seven hot, sticky, miserable kids in the car, ages 6 mo.-10 yr. We stayed at the same hotel my parents spent their honeymoon at, just a block from the VW dealership, and us kids remember it as the vacation we spent entirely in the pool. That was the only place to get away from the mosquitoes. The guy told us we were lucky not to have been there the week before, when they were so thick they clogged up all the air conditioners.
Needless to say, my mom was not as impressed with my own recent vacation disaster story. (For those of you who missed it in the Europe forum--Air France Strike, rerouted via two different airlines, three cities, arrive in Copenhagen after 24 solid hours of travel to find that the automatic car we were promised repeatedly by the rental agent was broken and I had to learn to drive stick--sleep-deprived, jet-lagged, and in Danish. On the positive side, there were only three kids in the car and no mosquitoes.) Happy travels everyone.
Needless to say, my mom was not as impressed with my own recent vacation disaster story. (For those of you who missed it in the Europe forum--Air France Strike, rerouted via two different airlines, three cities, arrive in Copenhagen after 24 solid hours of travel to find that the automatic car we were promised repeatedly by the rental agent was broken and I had to learn to drive stick--sleep-deprived, jet-lagged, and in Danish. On the positive side, there were only three kids in the car and no mosquitoes.) Happy travels everyone.
Aug 1st, 1998, 12:51 PM
#16
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About twelve years ago, I took my mother and her two sisters(all in their 80s) on a three week car tour of Britain. On our flight from London to New York, we were notified our flight was going to be diverted to Newark Airport because JFK was flooded from too much rain. We landed and sat on the runway for SIX hours...this was hot, humid July. They opened all exits and doors, served no food, water and after six hours flight time, bathrooms were a mess. The reason we were on the runway so long...Newark was just opening their international area and they only had one customs area and we had to wait in line...even the people that wanted to get off in Newark could not leave the plane. During this time, no one told other flights not to come to NY because the airport was closed, so all those flights came to Newark also. When we finally got through customs, it was very late and dark. I decided not to join the throngs of people waiting for hotel vouchers, but went to the bank of hotel phones and called for a van from a nearby motel. The guy picked us up, took us to an absolute hole of a motel...no lobby, just a plexiglass shield with a little tiny slot to push your money through...$30.00 for four, so you know how bad it was. We wondered who had slept in the sheets the night before. At 5:00 am, I got everyone up and we looked out and saw the van, motioned for him and went back to the airport along with another couple...all we could do was roll our eyes with horror. We entered a totally empty terminal and got sent home on Eastern Airlines, first class. One thing I learned is ,next time, I would just leave our luggage on the revolving baggage place and let them just send it to us eventually...having to handle our luggage was the worst part. Although it did make a terrific barrier for our motel door.
Aug 3rd, 1998, 10:16 PM
#17
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It all began on the Thru Train from Hong Kong to Guangzhou (on mainland China) when our tour guide asked us if we can declare his television sets as ours at the border. He said they were for his relatives and we would not need to do anything. We were like "Sure, why not?" Suspicious but hey, we were going to be in this guy's hands for the next week. At the border, 2 mean looking custom officers with rifles detained us and took us to a room.We told them the tvs were for our relatives in China. They asked for the address of our relatives. This really threw us! We were terrified! This was our 1st time in China, what the heck does an address look like?! Our silence prompted the officer to straight out ask if our tour guide had put us up to this. With a sigh of relief, we said yes. They released us and confiscated the the tvs.
A few hours later, we boarded a China Air flight to Beijing. I had an ominous feeling when the flight attendants starting giving the passengers gifts. One was a paper fan. It was July and hot and we were told the a/c on the plane did not work unless it was in flight. We sat on the runway for 2 hours and just fell in love with that paper fan!
The next day in Beijing, I realized that as much as I tried not to, I must have managed to drink the dreaded water in Guangzhou. I was OK at the start of Tianamen Square, but by the time I reached the Great Hall of the People, I was not so great. I managed to get a hurried glance of Mao's mummified body ( my vote is it's wax). The catacombs were a dark blur. However, I did manage to visit almost every one of the public restrooms in a 5 mile radius! And I figured out what the 2 foot prints besides the hole in the ground was for!
The rest of the week made this one of my best trips. The history and beauty of the Great Wall, The Forbidden City and the Summer Palace are awe inspiring!
A few hours later, we boarded a China Air flight to Beijing. I had an ominous feeling when the flight attendants starting giving the passengers gifts. One was a paper fan. It was July and hot and we were told the a/c on the plane did not work unless it was in flight. We sat on the runway for 2 hours and just fell in love with that paper fan!
The next day in Beijing, I realized that as much as I tried not to, I must have managed to drink the dreaded water in Guangzhou. I was OK at the start of Tianamen Square, but by the time I reached the Great Hall of the People, I was not so great. I managed to get a hurried glance of Mao's mummified body ( my vote is it's wax). The catacombs were a dark blur. However, I did manage to visit almost every one of the public restrooms in a 5 mile radius! And I figured out what the 2 foot prints besides the hole in the ground was for!
The rest of the week made this one of my best trips. The history and beauty of the Great Wall, The Forbidden City and the Summer Palace are awe inspiring!
Aug 4th, 1998, 06:57 AM
#18
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Most of you will probably remember the blizzard in the Spring of 1993. It was the one that torrentially hit the east coast all of a sudden in March, while many were on college spring breaks. I happened to be one of those spring breakers. Anyway, eight of my friends headed off to southern Florida that year for a relaxing and enjoyable Spring Break. Everything was fine while we were down there; however, the way home was a different story!!!
On our last night in Florida, we partied pretty heavily. We awoke to potentially threatening storms right on the coast where we were staying. The wind was blowing so hard, it almost blew out the all glass windows we were surrounded by in the condo. Four of us needed to catch a flight out of Ft. Lauderdale. The other four were driving back home (Cincinnati, OH). I was one of the ones that was flying home. A college roommate and I were on the same flight home. (The other 2 flew different airlines, using frequent flyer miles). Anyway, my friend Steph and I were very nervous and scared when we took off out of Ft. Lauderdale. The wind was blowing so incredibly hard, I thought it would take the plane off the ground just sitting there stationary!!! We did end up taking off and we were en route to Charlotte, NC where we were to take a connecting flight into Cincy. Well, this is where the real fun began.
After sitting in the Charlotte airport for close to 8 hours, and sitting through numerous announcements of cancelled flights, it began snowing real hard outside. They finally put us on a plane (can you believe this? One of those little puddle jumpers -- I felt safe...) The flight attendant couldn't get the door shut because of the layer of ice that formed on it. Then, after sitting in there for like 45 minutes, we were finally told that the Cincy airport was closed because of "whiteout conditions". Then, in the same sentence we were told that the Charlotte airport was now closed and "good luck" getting a hotel room, because every single one in the area was booked due to the ACC tournament. Nice. Great. Just my luck!
Well, my friend Steph and I just chalked it up that we would be sleeping in the airport. Well, we were both terribly beat and tired from partying it up the night before, that we wanted to at least try and find a hotel in the area.
On the way to the phones, we met up with 2 guys we sorta knew by face but not by name from our college. They were a couple years older than us, and were in the same predicament we were in. They were also coming home from Spring Break and were stranded! We decided to join forces and look for a hotel together and split the cost. (we were all almost broke after a week of Spring Break -- thank goodness for credit cards!!!)
Well, I took it upon myself to find a hotel in the area. I must've called 12 hotels with no luck. Well, then I tried a hotel that I had never heard of...something called the New Heritage USA. Hmmm... I thought...that's a new chain, I guess. Oh wow! They even have an airport shuttle service! Score! So I called, and they had rooms! Yeah! We were all excited...oh boy, but it gets better!
The New heritage shuttle arrived at the airport to pick us up, along with another half dozen people, and off we went. I sat up front with the driver, who obviously had never driven in snow before. I was very scared. He was loving it, driving and slipping and sliding...he thought it was great fun! (I don't think Charlotte gets too much snow, ever, if any.) Anyway, someone in our shuttle was bitching and moaning and just wanted to get to the hotel and have a nice stiff drink and relax after this hellatious day. The driver just remarked, "ha, ha, hee, hee" with a smirk on his face. Then I started to second guess where in the heck we were going and who this guy was that was driving us. I finally asked him how long it would be until we got to the hotel and he said, "it won't be much longer until we get to the campus". I thought, "Campus? Are we going to a college or something?" Oh no, much better...
After a half hour of driving, we finally pulled into a very long, long driveway that wound around through some woods and past some construction on a new building. The driver commented, "that's the building that was never finished when they through Jim in jail". I was really questioning now, where the hell we were, and who was Jim?
Well, we were dropped off right in front of the lobby. The four of us reluctantly walked into this place. And then found out where we were -- THE JIM AND TAMMY FAYE BAKER ESTATE HOTEL!!!! Oh boy...the first sign we saw was "alcoholic beverages on the premises are deeply forbidden". So much for a nice stiff drink. We paid for our room (which ended up being pretty nice) and then walked around to check out this once-in-a-lifetime experience. We rode the totally glass elevator up and down checking out the different floors and were even invited to some bible story to "find the holy spirit" later that night. (no lie.) The guys we were with wanted to rebel and ride naked up and down the glass elevator. (that didn't happen!! but they wanted to!)
Anyway, we were all starving to death and didn't want any of their "weird" food there, so we pulled out the yellow pages and just called every pizza place in the book. Of course, the whole city of Charlotte had shut down due to the snow, so there was no luck there. If we had gotten a hold of someone open, we were going to tell them there was a "cash incentive" for picking up a case of beer for us on the way in, on the sly. No luck there!
We ended up settling for a $2.00 value meal of a hot dog and a coke. Yum.
Next morning, we were back on the shuttle headed back to the airport, and glad we were out of that looney bin. We ended up getting out of Charlotte on a fairly early flight and were never so happy to see home!!! The two guys that we once only knew by face, we now knew very well after that experience! We partied with them for the rest of the school year and laughed repeatedly about the whole experience -- wondering if all of it was just a bad, bad dream!!!
Oh by the way, my friends who were driving home made it back a WEEK later than us. Can you believe it? They even had a rougher time than us..they were stranded on a CLOSED stretch of I-75 and were forced to sleep in their car for a few nights. Then one night spent the night in a Hardees or McDonald's or something like that!!!
All in all, what a year for college spring breaks!! I will never, ever forget that experience for as long as I live!!!
Thanks for listening!!! I've enjoyed everyone's stories -- this was a good idea for a forum!!!
On our last night in Florida, we partied pretty heavily. We awoke to potentially threatening storms right on the coast where we were staying. The wind was blowing so hard, it almost blew out the all glass windows we were surrounded by in the condo. Four of us needed to catch a flight out of Ft. Lauderdale. The other four were driving back home (Cincinnati, OH). I was one of the ones that was flying home. A college roommate and I were on the same flight home. (The other 2 flew different airlines, using frequent flyer miles). Anyway, my friend Steph and I were very nervous and scared when we took off out of Ft. Lauderdale. The wind was blowing so incredibly hard, I thought it would take the plane off the ground just sitting there stationary!!! We did end up taking off and we were en route to Charlotte, NC where we were to take a connecting flight into Cincy. Well, this is where the real fun began.
After sitting in the Charlotte airport for close to 8 hours, and sitting through numerous announcements of cancelled flights, it began snowing real hard outside. They finally put us on a plane (can you believe this? One of those little puddle jumpers -- I felt safe...) The flight attendant couldn't get the door shut because of the layer of ice that formed on it. Then, after sitting in there for like 45 minutes, we were finally told that the Cincy airport was closed because of "whiteout conditions". Then, in the same sentence we were told that the Charlotte airport was now closed and "good luck" getting a hotel room, because every single one in the area was booked due to the ACC tournament. Nice. Great. Just my luck!
Well, my friend Steph and I just chalked it up that we would be sleeping in the airport. Well, we were both terribly beat and tired from partying it up the night before, that we wanted to at least try and find a hotel in the area.
On the way to the phones, we met up with 2 guys we sorta knew by face but not by name from our college. They were a couple years older than us, and were in the same predicament we were in. They were also coming home from Spring Break and were stranded! We decided to join forces and look for a hotel together and split the cost. (we were all almost broke after a week of Spring Break -- thank goodness for credit cards!!!)
Well, I took it upon myself to find a hotel in the area. I must've called 12 hotels with no luck. Well, then I tried a hotel that I had never heard of...something called the New Heritage USA. Hmmm... I thought...that's a new chain, I guess. Oh wow! They even have an airport shuttle service! Score! So I called, and they had rooms! Yeah! We were all excited...oh boy, but it gets better!
The New heritage shuttle arrived at the airport to pick us up, along with another half dozen people, and off we went. I sat up front with the driver, who obviously had never driven in snow before. I was very scared. He was loving it, driving and slipping and sliding...he thought it was great fun! (I don't think Charlotte gets too much snow, ever, if any.) Anyway, someone in our shuttle was bitching and moaning and just wanted to get to the hotel and have a nice stiff drink and relax after this hellatious day. The driver just remarked, "ha, ha, hee, hee" with a smirk on his face. Then I started to second guess where in the heck we were going and who this guy was that was driving us. I finally asked him how long it would be until we got to the hotel and he said, "it won't be much longer until we get to the campus". I thought, "Campus? Are we going to a college or something?" Oh no, much better...
After a half hour of driving, we finally pulled into a very long, long driveway that wound around through some woods and past some construction on a new building. The driver commented, "that's the building that was never finished when they through Jim in jail". I was really questioning now, where the hell we were, and who was Jim?
Well, we were dropped off right in front of the lobby. The four of us reluctantly walked into this place. And then found out where we were -- THE JIM AND TAMMY FAYE BAKER ESTATE HOTEL!!!! Oh boy...the first sign we saw was "alcoholic beverages on the premises are deeply forbidden". So much for a nice stiff drink. We paid for our room (which ended up being pretty nice) and then walked around to check out this once-in-a-lifetime experience. We rode the totally glass elevator up and down checking out the different floors and were even invited to some bible story to "find the holy spirit" later that night. (no lie.) The guys we were with wanted to rebel and ride naked up and down the glass elevator. (that didn't happen!! but they wanted to!)
Anyway, we were all starving to death and didn't want any of their "weird" food there, so we pulled out the yellow pages and just called every pizza place in the book. Of course, the whole city of Charlotte had shut down due to the snow, so there was no luck there. If we had gotten a hold of someone open, we were going to tell them there was a "cash incentive" for picking up a case of beer for us on the way in, on the sly. No luck there!
We ended up settling for a $2.00 value meal of a hot dog and a coke. Yum.
Next morning, we were back on the shuttle headed back to the airport, and glad we were out of that looney bin. We ended up getting out of Charlotte on a fairly early flight and were never so happy to see home!!! The two guys that we once only knew by face, we now knew very well after that experience! We partied with them for the rest of the school year and laughed repeatedly about the whole experience -- wondering if all of it was just a bad, bad dream!!!
Oh by the way, my friends who were driving home made it back a WEEK later than us. Can you believe it? They even had a rougher time than us..they were stranded on a CLOSED stretch of I-75 and were forced to sleep in their car for a few nights. Then one night spent the night in a Hardees or McDonald's or something like that!!!
All in all, what a year for college spring breaks!! I will never, ever forget that experience for as long as I live!!!
Thanks for listening!!! I've enjoyed everyone's stories -- this was a good idea for a forum!!!
