Monday, July 29, 2013

I have been places!

Heeeeey everyone. I'm sorry I've been MIA this past week. Assuming you noticed.That's a little egotistical of me, thinking OF COURSE you've noticed my absence. Actually some of you may realize I was missing as I'm just now getting around to reading blogs and thus you're getting comments on things from last week. ANYWAY, I have been places that are not home, and thus I was not here.

Boyfriend+ and I went down to South Carolina last week to visit my dad and see Charleston. I typically only make it down there for Thanksgiving and Boyfriend+ had never been since he's normally working during the holiday because sports, sports, sports. It was nice to get to show him the house AND we got to use the pool. We ate lots of good food which is always fun and the main reason I vacation. The weather was nice but hot and other than some glitches getting down there, it was a good time.

Those glitches getting down there though. That sucked. Enough that Boyfriend+ put together an infographic because nerd. Would you like to see? Even if you don't want to, my blog
 SOME ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
If you're flying out of JFK, assume that every single person in the tri-state area will also be traveling at the same time, and also they've never flown before so the whole security process will be a new and exciting experience for them.

To explain the pilot outing us thing. So we were supposed to have a 2 hour layover. Except with all of those delays, we were going to be landing about 2 minutes AFTER our connecting flight, which does not do us much good. We asked the flight attendant for our options since the pilot was still doing pilot stuff and we didn't know when we'd actually be leaving. She told us we could get off and try to find a different flight from JFK so we asked to do that. I don't know how many other people asked the attendant the same thing, but not long after that the pilot got on and made an announcement about how we were ready to push off but someone now wanted to get off the plane so we're going to be delayed even further. So then lots of people around us started grumbling and THANKS A LOT, JERK. There was extra grumbling when we got up, but a BUNCH of people also got off with us since people were missing meetings connections so at least we weren't the only ones.

Before any of the mechanical problems and missed connections happened, JB told us they were going to be sending our bags right to our final destination, which was PERFECT. Except then they didn't do that at all and instead sent it to our connecting city. The one where we didn't go there cos we were going to miss the connection. Our bags missed the connection. THEN because my dad lives in the middle of no where, South Carolina, they were outside of the bag delivery area and told us they'd normally FedEx them overnight, which means out of our 4 1/2 day trip, we'd be without our bags for 2 days. There were some sad looks and they agreed to make an exception. And then the dogs swarmed the car when it came to deliver the bags and I bet they won't deliver out there again, even though the dogs are SUPER FRIENDLY AND THEY JUST WANTED TO SAY HI. Of course, I'm hoping that my bags don't get lost again, so hopefully this won't be an issue.

So I also didn't get a chance to do the minireadathon that was yesterday (except I'm writing this on Sunday, so today. But I'm going to post this on Monday, so yesterday. Time travel is confusing.) I was sort of around but we had to do all of the I've-been-away-and-need-to-get-back-to-reality-even-though-reality-is-lame and do things like buy food and do the mountains of laundry that have been accumulating. But I am going through and reading everyone's mini-readathon posts and please know, I am very jealous of your good times.

I will be around more this week and will hopefully have reviews to post and maybe I'll even finish Native Son (I will not).

Comments (21)

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That bag thing suuuucks, madam. And I was JUST considering flying jetblue. Hm. But I would like to put out that since three AMAZING MINI READATHONERS (who would be you, me and Megs) missed the minithon, we should do another one sooner rather than later. And make sure none of us makes silly "other" plans.

(p.s. did you go to Hyman's? because damn. also that one place Oprah recommended that had amazing mashed potatoes because THEY WERE SO GOOD I GOT SOME TO GO)
1 reply · active 606 weeks ago
I was so sad about our missing bags. Especially cos I wore jeans because AIRPORT COLD but then when I got to SC it was all sorts of hot and humid and that was lame. Though I've flown JetBlue a lot and this is the first time I've had problems like this. AND the people we talked to at JetBlue were super nice and helpful.

I did not eat at Hyman's but I did giggle every time I saw an ad for the place. I DID eat a place called Lizard's Thicket which I love a lot. It's sorta like a Boston Market (pick a meat + sides) but for southern food.

YES to another minireadathon!
That infographic was both depressing and effective way to stick with notjetblue. Glad that you got a bit o a vacay though, and yes I missed your reviews. I've never done a readathon before, so I'll have to join the next mini-one so I can ease into it :)
3 replies · active 606 weeks ago
I actually still like JetBlue and I'll fly them again. but this did suck, especially cos our trip was so short.

Join the next mini-readathon!! They're fun and not as intense as those 24 hour ones which I couldn't do
I must join! But I'm a newbie and have no idea how these things work. Do you like, eat mini foods and write mini posts after you finish each mini novel? Or are there specific questions you have to answer and/or books you have to read at certain times? *bloggerFAIL*
In this case it's mostly eating mini foods and reading mini things. How you define something to count as "mini" is sort of half the fun. (This book is short so it's MINI! This one is full of children, children are mini people so MINI!) I think some of the other readathons have specific times you post and what you post about, but this one is more "whenever you feel like posting something". Which I appreciate because I'm bad at following specific times/topics.
Travel issues SUCK. But it sounds like you had a great time in SC!
1 reply · active 606 weeks ago
Outside of the travel issues, things went well. And since I was luckily visiting family even though we didn't have our bags we didn't have to go out and buy toiletries or clothes since there was stuff we could use/borrow. Overall good time, if too short
I was always more of a Newark Airport lady myself, though that probably has a lot to do with living in NJ for the first 25.5 years of my life and I've got to say, when I left, I'm pretty sure all of the tri-state area was there. Apparently people are scrambling to get out? For real though, that sounds awful and also like every single flight I've ever had, minus the luggage issue, which I've never dealt with (knock wood). Welcome back! And yes, I noticed that you seemed rather quiet.
1 reply · active 606 weeks ago
I used to always leave out of Newark when I was in NJ but now that I'm on the LIRR and that goes to JFK I usually fly out of there. JFK and Newark are equally ridiculous to fly in and out of.

This is the second time my luggage has been lost. Both times I got it back unharmed, nothing missing, but it sucks every time. Back to carry on only!
I am so glad you are back! I missed you on the Twitter. And I think it's cool that you put the # of good JB employees on your infographic, because that shit is important!

Next minireadathon in... 5-ish months. Maybe 6. IDK.
1 reply · active 606 weeks ago
I missed hanging out on Twitter. My dad has limited internet (as in he can use a set amount each month. Because middle of no where living) so I couldn't get on often and it took FOREVER to do anything so I gave up and focused on playing with the dogs.

Boyfriend+ made sure to mention the awesome JB people to JB customer service. Because while all this shitty stuff happened, the JB people that helped us were so nice
So what I'm taking from this is that when I'm in America later this year I should plan to spend an entire day at the airport every time we're flying right? travelling, yay!!

But also yay for time away spending time away and getting to be in a pool and stuff. That's always good, airport trouble aside.

And of course we noticed your absence!
1 reply · active 606 weeks ago
When you are traveling if you can go all carry on DO IT. Of course you are traveling from far and traveling around a lot so you probably can't do this. But at least then when they mess up your flights, you have your bags with you. (I've flown JB a number of times and this is the first time things have been SO messed up).
I really do love the mental picture of a pack of misguided, overly friendly dogs descending upon a witless Fed-Ex employee. My dogs have forcefully befriended every mailman we've ever had, but I'm always worried they'll get Maced before they can prove their benevolent intentions. Because they sort of charge people? And that can be alarming I suppose. If you happen to overlook the furious tail-wagging.

I NOTICED YOU WERE GONE AND I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE BACK.
1 reply · active 606 weeks ago
No one pays attention to the furious tail-wagging cos my dad's dogs are 3 big black dogs. Clearly everyone is racist and THEY JUST WANT TO LOVE YOU. Not the dachshund though (dog #4). He will mess up your ankles, but he was not part of the FedEx welcoming committee so they have no excuse for their fear.

THANK YOU FOR NOTICING I WAS GONE!
Of COURSE we noticed you were gone! Glad the destination part of your vacation was good, if not the travel. And those dogs sound awesome and so does the pool and family.
1 reply · active 606 weeks ago
Awww thank ya. Yeah, the dogs are pretty awesome. They're just so friendly. To people. To things smaller than them that run away (cats, squirrels) they are less friendly.
Ugh, I hate when traveling (which is supposed to be fun), turns out like it did for you. Boo! One time Air Canada lost my luggage on a short, 1.5hr DIRECT flight. They did end up finding my luggage, but it was 6 weeks later. I have never flown with them again.

ANYWAY, this post made me think about a news special I just watched about credit cards. And they were talking about how most people don't use any of the benefits associated with said credit cards. Now, obviously, the benefits differ depending on which credit card you have and what level it is (gold, silver, etc), but they were saying that a lot of credit card companies have insurance for DELAYED baggage! (Which I did not know, so I'm assuming no one else knows this either!). They said if your baggage is delayed for 6 hours or more (and not even lost, just delayed), some credit cards will give you $500 to replace your essentials. Crazy, huh?

So, I know this does not help you in the slightest right now, but something worth knowing/looking into for the future! :) Glad you had a good time though! I've always wanted to go to Charleston.
1 reply · active 605 weeks ago
OMG 6 weeks??? I don't know what I'd do if that happened. I am never checking a bag again.

I did not know that about most credit cards. I wonder if AmEx has something like that. They do all sorts of helpful things that make me think I should probably get one of those.

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