worst day of travel ever

7.00 am wake up and finish packing
7:30 am finish cleaning apartment
8:00 am type up random notes for Jason my dog guy
8.15 am take cali to the dog park
9.00 am head to the Oakley headquarters to exchange purse
9.30 am head to Trader Joe’s to buy dog treats and edamame to take home (frozen)
10.00 am arrive home and eat breakfast of champions, captain crunch peanut butter balls. love it. not good for you but so good.
10.30 am watch some tivo-ed episodes of grey’s anatomy and oprah.
12.15 pm walk cali around the apartment complex one last time
12.30 pm start driving to the Apple store where i am leaving my jeep in the hands of vince who has been claiming he’s going off roading while in possesion of my jeep.
1.05 pm arrive at the Apple store and hand car keys to vince, and leave apartment keys for jason with random dog toy i found in the jeep.
1.20 pm the cab arrives
1.20-1.40 pm most uncomfortable cab ride ever. not a single word spoken, the cab smelled like old sushi and apparently the driver had something against using the a.c.
1.40 pm check my bags and head to my gate
2.30 pm southwest staff member makes an announcement involving every airport east of las vegas saying there is ‘bad weather’ and flights may be delayed or cancelled and they won’t be serving drinks during this flight because of the expected turbulence. not a good sign.
2.35 pm board flight from orange county to las vegas
3.05-4.00pm sat next to a very large man who decided that the most comfortable way for him to sit is for his legs to be spread as wide as possible and his arms to be as far over to the sides as possible. he was not my favorite person.
4.00 pm landed in las vegas and noticed some dark clouds rolling in from the west.
4.10 pm arrive at gate C23 and stood in line.
4.15 pm my plane arrives and everyone de-planes and then the loud speaker came on “there is a mechanical issue we need to have checked.” (at this point, you should see where this is going)
4.35 pm as i’m standing in line, next to the tv that only plays the news, i notice that there is a ‘breaking news story’ regarding the las vegas airport. oh good heavens. more about this later, and oh by the way, it was a shooting.
5.00 pm (when my flight was supposed to be leaving) they announce they aren’t able to fix the plane where it is, they are pulling it away to a hanger to be able to fix it. really not good.
5.00-8.30 pm random messages coming over the PA system saying they were checking the brakes and changing the tires. are you kidding me? in the mean time, i have been on the phone with my mom and sister to figure out a better way for me to get home. initially my mom was going to pick me up but as time went on, it became more and more unrealistic. she has to work at 8am and boarding the plane at 8.30 my time meant i would arrive in chicago around 2.30 am, then we would drive two hours. not good. rental cars, no. flight from chicago to south bend, no. train, no. bus, son of a gun. to bad they stop running around 11pm and don’t start again until 7am. this is an issue.
8.35 pm (this is the time my flight should be landing in chicago) we start boarding the plane. we start boarding as a huge thunderstorm, lightening and all, surrounds the airport.
8.35- 11.35 pm (2.35 chicago time) uneventful flight, and by the way, the brakes worked so thats always good. the flight attendant was trying to tell me a story about how God killed someone's cow and when he asked why, God said, ‘it could have been worse, i was going to kill your wife.’ maybe i just haven’t heard that one but it freaked me out.
2.35 am arrive in chicago to a dead airport
3.45 am (current time) i’m sitting here typing about my travels in a corner of the baggage claim level hoping not to fall asleep and awake to all my bags being gone. has anyone seen ‘adventures in baby-sitting?’ i feel like i’m that girl who ran away and was stuck in the bus station but i’m not trying to buy a hot dog with a check and i’m not petting a rat. but i’m not far off.

so, here i sit, watching movies on my laptop and debating whether or not i should sleep. i’m hurtin. but here i sit. i’m bored and i want to sleep. AND by taking the bus in the morning, i won’t actually get home until around noon. odd how a two hour trip takes 4 when it’s on a bus, it kills me but, there you go.

so, about the shooting. apparently someone kidnapped their own child and drove to the airport. something happened where he shot a cop and they shot him back. who knows.

i think i’m going to sleep. i hope i don’t get robbed :)