Laid down on my cot for 1.5 hours then the army of people stormed us and told us to WAKE UP!!!! Not nice people!!
But it is 12 hours until my flight from Rome. I figure I will be up close to 34 hours before I board the plane. I better sleep!!!
Laid down on my cot for 1.5 hours then the army of people stormed us and told us to WAKE UP!!!! Not nice people!!
But it is 12 hours until my flight from Rome. I figure I will be up close to 34 hours before I board the plane. I better sleep!!!
Posted at 04:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Day 1: Ok, normally I would think day one of any adventure would be the first day of your actual vacation (arrive at the resort or final destination), but since this is I, Camille, my adventure starts with the flight out of DFW.
Mom was kind enough to pay my Super Shuttle ride to the airport. I was impressed that he arrived 8 minutes early. That is a good thing since he was picking up two other passengers and dropped them off at the Delta terminal first.
I arrived at the airport at 4:15pm and my flight wasn’t until 6:40pm so it gave me enough time to get through security and stop by the Admirals Club for a free drink or two. (Little did I know that I would be spending more time there and drinking an extra drink)
The Priority Access line to check my bag was a breeze. No one in line ahead of me. So far so good! TSA line for Priority Access was light also. TSA was a breeze too. Sweet! Or so I thought!
I headed up to the Admirals Lounge and they let me in because I had a first class international flight. I also got two free drink tickets. I sit at the bar and drink my two free drinks (Amaretto and cranberry) and then I sit at a table that has a plug to plug in my Iphone (darn battery). They now serve celery sticks, carrots, and little cherry tomatoes. I fill up a cup with celery sticks and spend an hour texting to all sorts of people.
At 5:45 I head to gate A19 and there is another flight there. I ask where my flight to Chicago was and they said it was delayed until 7:00pm. That wasn’t good since my layover in Chicago was only 50 minutes. I went back to the Lounge to speak to an agent and she tried her best but I had no choice but to take this flight and another free drink ticket.
Sitting in the lounge, managed to get the same table, I continue to update on facebook and text out of boredom. At 6:30pm I leave to go to the gate only to find out it was delayed until 8:00pm. Another trip to the Lounge, this time I just sat down out of exhaustion. No drink, no food. I did stop by the desk and the women who helped me twice before was trying her best to get me out of there. Then an announcement came over the speaker that our flight was now departing at 7:30pm. I went straight to the gate.
We started boarding the plane a few minutes late. And then we sat, and sat, and sat. The ticket agent managed to change my flight for me since it was clear that I was not going to make my flight. (I’m a little nervous because I was not assigned a seat.)
I don’t even remember what time it was but the captain came over the intercom and said it was mechanical mumbo-jumbo and it would be quicker to deplane and board another plane than to get the plane fixed.
So we walked from A15 to A39 via the sky link tram. We got to the gate and we couldn’t board the plane until the crew came aboard. Finally about 8:50ish (I’m guessing) we got to board the plane. Then we waited, and waited, and waited. The take off time said 9:10pm but we didn’t actually leave until 9:50pm because the gate did not have a ground crew to push the plane back. We were finally airborne at 10pm.
It’s now 10:45pm and we actually get to have dinner. The only thing I ate since 11am was the celery sticks in the lounge. I’m starving. At least I won’t have to look for food when I get there.
I would not recommend to anyone to start a vacation off like this. I won’t arrive in Chicago until midnight and hope that the gate agent can get me a voucher to spend the night at a hotel.
I would be on the Internet using Wi-fi, but this plane doesn’t have it. The broken plane did. Just my luck!
Well dinner should be served soon (sure J) At least you get those yummy heated up mixed nuts up here in first class to hold you over.
More later
This is later, it's actually 1:30am and I'm sitting on the floor next to a plug so my phone will not go dead.
I will post pics later.
Posted at 01:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
I needed to get to Platinum before the 15th (double miles on AA) so I went to see my brother and his family for the weekend. I think I did the same last year. My flight was on time, actually it was early and I took the train to Doraville where Joe and Lauren picked me up. Pizza was for dinner at Romeo's Pizza. It was a long day so an early evening was in order. Matthew and Lauren let me sleep in both days!! We went bowling on Saturday and I took Lauren to see the movie the Fantastic Mr. Fox. Michele cooked Saturday night and we watched holiday movies. Sunday we went to church, Trader Joe's grocery store, ate lunch and now we may go to MIchael's before I leave for the train station.
Here are some pics from bowling and them opening their gifts.
He tried! But the ball went the wrong way!
Matthew loved his "First gift of Christmas!!!"
Lauren was thrilled with her Mariokart for DS and she played it all weekend!
Posted at 01:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Going from 90 degrees to 50 and below degrees is a shock to your system! The first week back at work was ok and then Peter left for Germany yesterday for a mileage run with Raymond. At least he won't be gone for two weeks. He will be home tomorrow. 24 hours in Frankfurt. Crazy!
Last night I cooked Ground Shrimp on Sugar Cane (no sugar cane, so I used lemongrass). It was delish!! It was just like Caravelle without the cost! Except I can't make the dipping sauce. It didn't turn out right. I also made a soup with tomatoes and egg. That was good too but I think it was missing something.
Today is scrapbooking day. Or at least afternoon. I really want to finish my cruise scrapbook. I need MOTIVATION!!!!
Two more weeks until Christmas break! But before that I leave for Atlanta Friday afternoon to see Joe and his family for the weekend.
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Interesting facts about the Reunification Palace aka: The Independence Palace
The palace was built starting on February 23, 1868 by French Governor Lagrandiere in South Vietnam as the Indochina Governor Palace called Norodom Place. The architecture is Western. The palace was dedicated in 1871.Other facts about this city:
Saigon Central Post Office was built by Gustave Eiffel from 1886 to 1891. Does the name sound familiar?
Well it's our last day here. Not sure what we are going to do. Peter said he was going to the spa one more time. Packing anad last minute shopping probably. I didn't do as much shopping as I thought I would. I guess you see one thing you've seen them all. It's almost 8am here and we have to leave our room at 6pm but won't leave for the airport until 9pm for our midnight flight. Long day....nap is in order!!
I managed to get on facebook for one minute on my laptop, but couldn't upload my pictures. It froze on me.
Posted at 06:46 PM in Travel | Permalink | Comments (0)
Today we got an early start. I woke up at 4am for some reason and couldn't get back to sleep. Peter woke up at 6:30am so I decided to get breakfast and he would meet me down in the lounge. We finally started out day at 9am. First stop, walking of course, was the famous post office. I didn't mail anything but took pictures.
If you watch the Amazing Race this season, you would remember that the teams had to find their next clue at the post office.
Inside of the post office. There is a huge portrait of Ho Chi Minh himself.
Well I'm getting sleepy and they are going to kick us out of the lounge for the night. I will resume tomorrow. It's our last full day. Our flight doesn't leave until midnight!
Posted at 08:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)