Subtitled... Adventures in travel, maybe I should have stayed at home?!
It started with the restaurant reservation. I use OpenTable.com and made a reservation for four at a Mexican spot in National Harbor for about three hours after we were scheduled to land... or so I thought. But I made it for Thursday night instead of Friday night. When I missed the reservation, they banned me from the restaurant for 60 days. (harsh) So I made the reservation for Friday night under my pen name. The alias does come in handy.
Then we had the outbound flight drama. I thought I was on flight 1600 with BougieMom, I mistakenly booked 1900. A twelve hour difference. Thankfully, I was using frequent flyer miles for the flight so I could change flights with no fee. But I was >this close< to showing up at the airport to hop on a flight for which I had no ticket. Landing in DC, we found out that BougieSis missed her flight. She thought she was flying out of Ft. Lauderdale, she was actually fliying out of Miami.
Then the GPS unit got pissy on our way to the hotel. Turns out a slight right was a sharp left and we ended up driving through the middle of DC in Friday rush hour traffic. [Can you say cluster?!] Arriving at the hotel, I realized that I had not packed 1) a brush 2) the laptop charger 3) the camisole that went with my suit for Saturday. Threw off my entire wardrobe schedule.
Saturday morn we rose crack of dawnish to break our fast and drive over to Baltimore to witness the graduation of my cousin from the school where my Mom and Dad graduated over 50 years ago: Morgan State. The drive was easy, the campus lovely and the pride on BougieMom's face as the torch passed to another generation... priceless. The day was sunny and bright. Bump that - it was hell-like hot and sitting on those steel benches in the football stadium for three hours with no beverage and no shade was a tragedy in the making. Yes, my delicate ass got sunburned. Melted all to hell in my cute Michael Kors dress and turned tomato red. Thank God for the travel Noxzema. Bouge is not meant to be crispy-fried.
Driving around Baltimore I passed Bunny Colvin's house (from The Wire
), appropriate as some of those graduation attendees looked like they were straight off the set. I did love the HBCU of it all. An HBCU graduation is a fashion show. Some took it all the way there in the 5 inch heels and others looked like they just came off the Paris runway. An unfortunate group looked like they just made bail in time to make this function. Bless their hearts.
), appropriate as some of those graduation attendees looked like they were straight off the set. I did love the HBCU of it all. An HBCU graduation is a fashion show. Some took it all the way there in the 5 inch heels and others looked like they just came off the Paris runway. An unfortunate group looked like they just made bail in time to make this function. Bless their hearts.We hung out with the Balto branch of BougieFam (good times!) and then headed back over to National Harbor (a brand new area they created out of nowhere right on the Potomac. Gorgeous and very bougie). Anyway, three words: Saturday. Evening. Traffic. At one point we were literally parked on the Balt/Wash Expressway with the car in park. Bad travel juju strikes again.
Sunday we rose hecka-early again to drive to Virginia Beach. My godfather turned 78 and my godparents were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. 50 years of marriage!!!! I can't even fathom. The drive was long but good. The visit was excellent. But our hotel though... not like the picture. Not renovated. And definitely taken over by a large group of S.No.B. folks. We were too tired to care.
Originally, the plan was for me to leave DC and fly to New York. I knew last week that there was no way I going to make that last leg happen. So it was with no little bit of relief that BougieSis and I headed back to Reagan National to fly back to our respective homes. BougieMom stayed in Virginia Beach to visit with my godparents.
Flights to Miami were taking off left and right. Sis was back in Miami and ordering dinner while I sat clutching my useless ticket waiting for a flight that had been delayed six times. And then... canceled. Really? Seven hours in the airport and you cancel the flight? American Airlines broke off no vouchers, no "Sorry", nothing but a ticket and a "Good Luck." I'm typing this from a hotel in DC. I fly (supposedly) at noon central time Tuesday. I now feel like I need a vacation from my vacation.
Ever had a vacation/trip that was just wonky (technical term) from the start? How do you deal with travel drama? Do share...