Vacation began as normal. I was packed and ready to go when my parents and Mason pulled up at 9 am on Friday, July 16th. First to be dropped off was Pecker, the bird. He had learned a new trick and was whistling his way into the boarders, as was Mason all the way to the vets. He was placed next to a bird who's favorite line was, "Oh crap." We were sure that Pecker would be returning with this precious new vocabulary, at this point it was our only worry. The three Musketeers: Jake, Daisy and Max were the next to be dropped off. They were heading to Doc's for the week, they are always spoiled and adored the entire time they are there. Max was whining and barking from the back. Daisy sat and shook and Jake sat proudly on his spot on the console of the car. With all the animals dropped off, we were headed to the airport and made it by 10 am, which is exactly how dad likes it. We had our bags checked in and we were heading to security by 10:15. Did I mention the surprise of the $100 fee we were charged by American Airlines for our luggage. $25 a bag + 4 bags = $100. Seriously? What is up with that? We already paid $500 for airfare for a weeks vacation. You have to bring luggage and we don't want to be the douchebags that try and carry on all our luggage and take up all the overhead bin space! We pay for meals, snacks, movies and taking up air on a plane, now we have to pay to bring luggage too! AMAZING! Anyway. We made it to our gate by 11 am. We were seating and eating our meal of Burger King and Cinnabon happily (it's vacation, we love to eat!). As a true believer in signs, I should have taken the next few events as hints to the upcoming doom and we should have turned around and left.
Now, the next part of this story is not meant to be racist or stereotypical, but just part of the story. No offense is intended. While waiting, Mom is doing what she does best, people watching. Every few seconds she nudges me to point out another fashion victim, an idiot with a giant wedgie, a nose picker, etc. I usually acknowledge her find and then continue on with whatever I am doing, in this case I was engrossed in my newest book. She soon points out a man sitting about 4 seats away from us. She says, "I hope he isn't next to me on the plane." I look over and at first glance I don't really notice anything off. He is wearing jeans, a polo shirt, and ball cap. He matched, he looked clean, so I continued on with just a nod. Mom kept up. "No, seriously. I do not want that man next to me." What in the world? Look closer she tells me, specifically, look at what he is reading. I do, and it happens to be a book about one of the top leaders in a middle east terrorist group. Seriously? I look closer at the man, and he is middle eastern. Now, I understand that people read books, and that just because the man was middle eastern and reading a terrorist book doesn't mean that he is one. However, in defense of America and what we have gone through...I might have rethought this action. Well, now I am obsessed with this. I know it's bad, but I was watching his every move. By about 11:45 he'd gotten up and left. Now, I can't tell you if he boarded a plane or if he moved places, but he was gone. The next thing I hear was an announcement over the intercom, "All boarding and departure of planes are stopped because of a security breech." What? Are you kidding me? I look over at my parents, and they are calm. I'm freaking out, but they are just sitting there like it's no big deal. Maybe I'm overreacting, it's unusual, but it happens.
Dad insists that it's time to go stand by the gate, it was close to 12:15. Of course, I had heard the announcement 2 more times by this time, so I was having a hard time understanding why we had to go stand when we were seated just fine, but I wasn't going to argue. Needless to say, after standing for a good 10 minutes, I asked them if they had heard the announcement? My parents, deaf, hear nothing. So, I shouldn't be surprised that they had not heard. Dad blows it off and Mom, like me, immediately looked around for the man observed earlier. I guess that apple didn't fall too far from the tree. Our 12:50 flight departure turned into a 2:00 flight departure. A small red flag has appeared. Next stop Dallas Ft.Worth Airport.
Landing was rough, take off was rough. We are late getting into Dallas, but it shouldn't be a problem because we aren't changing planes. Wrong! After all the people get off the plane, we all take this chance to stretch our legs and change seats. We aren't sitting together. Dad and I will be sitting several seats away from one another and 10 rows up from where Mom and Mason are sitting. Not ideal, but it's only a 2 hour flight, so we will be okay. We landed at 5:45 and we were supposed to take off again at 6:30. Hmmmwatch a complimentary movie. Well, considering most of us don't leave without our own headsets for our IPhone, etc, it's not quite the same...but, I'll take it.
The flight does go on without too many hitches. We are going to be late, very late getting into Orlando, but we will get there. It's just after midnight when we land. We are able to get our luggage quickly, with the plane switch I am almost positive ours is on top. My bag comes back with a tag that reads, heavy...that's rude, but it's time to go to the hotel. We have been to Florida almost every single year for the past 13 years. We have used the Magical Express for the past 5 years, yet, we get lost trying to find it. Why did I pack so much? I am regretting this as I drag a 50 pound bag around the airport. Oh, yeah and I'm sweating again. After 3 attempts, we finally make it to the bus. And again, we wait. We wait for 4 more people to arrive, and we are able to finally leave. It is well after 1 am by the time we arrive at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, Jambo House. We go to check in and they don't have a reservation for us? It takes 15 minutes to figure this out, and another 15 minutes to actually get to our hotel room...longest hallway ever! By 3:00 am we are in our room, and finally getting to bed. We are excited for the next day and are planning on heading to Epcot first. We figure our biggest excitement will be our dinner for the next night and possibly seeing Mickey Mouse. So wrong...
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