Never Travel with Carly
… and not just because I’ve been known to wear a bright yellow ELTON JOHN sweatshirt that embarrasses the heck out of my kids (whether it’s the color or the fact that I wear an Elton shirt, I’m not sure). Traveling with me can almost certainly guarantee flight delays. I am a purely unlucky traveler. 
Case in point:
1. RWA Reno – left my house at 4 AM for a 6 AM flight. Stopover in Chicago then into Reno. I figured Chicago is a major hub and in the middle of the summer we’re not worried about snowstorms. Now let it be said along with room service, I am the Plotmonkey least likely to take a stopover flight. Unfortunately no direct flight to Reno existed for me that summer. I landed in Chicago no problem but apparently there were thunderstorms or something that ended up making me late, miss my flight, get stranded at O’Hare ALONE for ten hours, at which point I finally made my flight and by the time I walked into the hotel in Reno it had been almost 24 hours from the time I left my house (NY time). 
2. Plotmonkey Trip to Florida – To Disney, the happiest place on earth, according to Julie. Right. But you have to get there first. This story is a little hazy but the way I remember it, Janelle flew into Tampa the day before because she had a longer travel day. Julie and Janelle were going to pick me up at the airport and we’d drive to Orlando to meet up with Les. I arrived at the airport only to discover there was something wrong with the plane or the plane never made it in from its original destination … I can’t remember which. But we weren’t getting a straight answer and so I waited and waited. Janelle and Julie had manicures and pedicures, made a trip to the bakery, and went shopping. I sat in the airport.
In the end, to get a plane, the flight crew DROVE to a nearby airport to get the plane and fly it back to my airport at which point I finally made it to Tampa. Because this was hot on the heels of the horrible Reno trip, I remember breaking down and crying on this one. :cry:
3. Aruba 2007 – we’d passed the nightmare Valentine’s Day storm, we weren’t flying Jet Blue this year, and we’d sympathized with the poor people who were stranded for 11 hours ON a plane. The day of our departure was bright and sunny and we were SO THERE. Now you have to realize we knew half the plane and if we didn’t know them, they were all families like us going on vacation to Aruba. We met up with our family friends who we take this trip with (they have two boys sort of near my girls ages) and we had other neighborhood friends on the plane. What happens? The board changes from ON TIME at 8:30 to 9:00. At 9:00 we heard that there was mechanical trouble (are we sensing a pattern here?) and they’d let us know more in twenty minutes. Needless to say, there was NO OTHER PLANE anywhere to substitute for our plane and they were having serious trouble fixing the plane or the part or whatever. 
I’m having visions of LOST. I take a walk to the bathroom. I come back and I can’t find my family or our friends. I’m looking, and looking … I walk up and down, back and forth and finally I see they’ve taken seats in the back of the room – and are all LAUGHING at me for not being able to find them as nobody called my name to alert me. Why? They wanted to laugh at the idiot in the yellow Elton John sweatshirt. :biteme:
At 11:30 they gave us a $7 food allowance per person which everyone used to horde up on food nobody planned to eat, just on principle, (go figure) and then suddenly everyone was scrambling because THEY’D FIXED THE PLANE and we were boarding! 
Only 4 hours late. We board. We can’t take off because someone is in the rest room for too long. This should have been an omen I listened to because I got nauseaus on the plane.
Now understand 1) I’ve never barfed on an airplane and didn’t intend to now; 2) I would rather pass out than puke. Unfortunately I had no choice and just made it to the restroom. 
By the time we left the plane, I was so sick I had to stop before making it to customs to sit and put my head down so I didn’t pass out. 
Luckily it was a 24 hour thing and I was at the pool the next morning, not happy but at least marginally alive.
Alive enough to have written 40 pages during the week … maybe I should move there? 
The rest of the trip was pure bliss and paradise. 
Day …
and
Night …
So do any of you have nightmare travel stories or are you one of the lucky ones who flies without incident?
(Don’t forget to check back Saturday for my KELLY RIPA story)
Nope sorry Carly, no nightmare travel stories for me…yet. I do envy the heck out of you for going to Aruba though LOL.
Comment by Stacy ~ — February 27, 2007 @ 7:37 am
Oh yeah, I think anyone that travels (even a little) ends up with nightmare stories, especially if you’re traveling across country. I knew where your Chicago trip was going because I found myself in Chicago for 9 hours one time - thunderstorms.
I found myself in St. Louis for 10 hours with a 3 year old - snow storms. They had just put in the flat escelators, you know the ones that run through the center of the hallway to make travel faster? Well, they are also great for entertaining a 3 year old - at least for about 30 minutes.
Dallas - thunderstorms. I think that was only 3 or 4 hours, not too bad.
But, the worst I’ve ever heard of - and thank God I wasn’t in this one… We had a freak ice/snow storm hit the Raleigh area 2 winters ago. No one was prepared, the weather people missed it, the city was unprepared and there were people who sat in their cars on the beltline for 8-10 hours just trying to get home from work!!
My brother-in-law was on his way to Raleigh to catch a flight and he was one of those that sat in traffic for like, 6 hours. Something absolutely ridiculous. I think I would have said, “Screw the flight,” turned around and gone home.
Nope, Carly, you are not alone!
Comment by Jodie — February 27, 2007 @ 9:20 am
The only nightmare story was my honeymoon. I got food poisoning and spent the entire week in the bed or the bathroom sick as a dog.:doggie:
Other than that no problems.
Comment by Gigi — February 27, 2007 @ 10:27 am
Freak snowstorm when I was still living in Syracuse- I spent 10 hours on a public bus trying to get home to daughter. ick. I bought a car.
Little kid behind us on a plane from San Juan- screamed and puked the whole way. First class next time.
Comment by ev — February 27, 2007 @ 10:41 am
40 pages?!
That’s awesome … sorry about the travel hell. I’ve found the ipod, when I remember to charge it 
a great thing for dealing with random people, screaming people (adults (those w/ and without kids). Everyone I know lately has had travel hell stories so I’m sure I’m due for my turn soon. 
Oh, and it’s all about direct flights.
Comment by Yolanda — February 27, 2007 @ 10:47 am
I’ve only had two really bad flight experience. On the first my friends and I were all flying to New Orleans for my friend Fran’s birthday. We were on Southwest and there were delays for bad storms. The delays were so long that we ended up on an older plane and I had to fly backwards the whole way to New Orleans. Wouldn’t seem too bad, except I get car sick in the back seat, so I’m really not good flying/riding backwards for any length of time. Plus we had a really bumpy flight due to the storm. Luckily once we landed it was awesome. The other bad flight was from Chicago. We were delayed so long that everyone was given free drinks on the plane(you could even have more than once cocktail if you wanted). Only other bad trip was driving in the snow storm that hit Nashville a few years ago. I live about 10 miles from where I work and it took over 3 hours to drive/sit that 10 miles. I really wanted to kiss the snow covered ground when I finally made it home.
Comment by Liza — February 27, 2007 @ 10:48 am
I have never flown, so I don’t have any nightmare stories about flying. I could tell you some awful stories about long car rides. My husband and son both have motion sickness, this and long car rides do not work.
Comment by Patty L. — February 27, 2007 @ 11:35 am
Nothing is worse than being stranded with little kids! Ack! (Unless it’s food poisoning on your honeymoon, you poor thing, Gigi!)
Along w/the iPod I highly recommend noise cancelling headphones! Can’t live w/out them if you travel!
Comment by Carly — February 27, 2007 @ 11:57 am
Sorry no bad stories….I hate car trips, though. Hubby likes to work and get some miles under his belt before stopping for the first night. Hate that with three kids.
Comment by katie — February 27, 2007 @ 12:35 pm
OMG Carly, I’m just glad you made it home in one piece
And 40 pages thats great! From the looks of those photo’s I’d say it was worth it? And I love the Elton shirt!!
Comment by Tina Martinesi — February 27, 2007 @ 1:38 pm
Feb(?) 1965. My mom, 1 year old son and I were flying from MPLS/ST PAUL to PITTSBURGH for my great aunt’s funeral. I had a funny feeling about the trip and packed a separate bag with overnight stuff and carried it on board. Terrible storm out east, PGH airport closed, stranded in Cleveland overnight after hours of circling. Finally made it to PGH, bussed to downtown, cab to relatives who lived in area of town not plowed. Cab driver paid a kid for his sled, piled on the luggage and we walked over a mile - me in high-heeled boots… Son came down with chickenpox…
Comment by Karen B — February 27, 2007 @ 2:56 pm
Hey Carly, Since reading your blog last week about how you got published, I’ve been dying to ask you, and I know I’m getting off topic, but when they asked you to write under another name, did you get to help choose this name or was it selected for you?
Comment by Tina Martinesi — February 27, 2007 @ 3:23 pm
Carly sorry you have a bad travel vibe. :love2: My air travels & car travels are usually pretty smooth. One time when I was flying back from Colorado they boarded the plane & we sat there for a bit & then an announcement was made that there was something on the pre-flight check that they didn’t like so everyone had to deplane & be put on another one. There was another plane to San Francisco in an hour. The people that had connections to make were the most affected & they took care of them first & helped them reschedule etc. While I was standing in line for the next flight people were whining & bit$$ing
which I thought was dumb cause did they want to crash in the Rocky Mountains or the Sierra’s. It was only an hour & I’d rather fly on a plane that checked out ok. Just my humble opinion!! 
I love traveling by car or plane. I go with the attitude that I’d rather get there tomorrow than not at all & whatever happens once I leave my house adds to the adventure!! Oh yea, my luggage didn’t come in once with the plane I was on & I had to spend an extra hour at San Francisco airport, I was not happy! The luggage was on the next flight, thank heavens!!! So all that said, I don’t have any real horror stories. 
Comment by Donna M — February 27, 2007 @ 3:28 pm
Oh, Carly, you really are CURSED.
I have been so fortunate in my travels. Never any major horror stories. I did have a bad cause of “this water don’t agree with me” in St. Lucia, but otherwise, nada.
Sorry I’m so quiet today–finishing up this book and sending it off TODAY.
Comment by Leslie — February 27, 2007 @ 3:47 pm
I love my Elton sweatshirt. I got it with the plotmonkeys in Vegas!
Comment by Carly — February 27, 2007 @ 7:56 pm
I am traveling next week. I do not want to jinx myself. The airlines are good. They are on time. They fly high and land softly.
BUT…well, there was this one time when my daughter was about 3 that we planned a trip to Charlotte. My hubby went to a football game in Jacksonville, but was supposed to fly to Atlanta and meet us there for our connecting flight. I got to Atlanta with toddler in tow…and his flight had been delayed hours and hours and he was missing the connection. I had to lug said child and all her accoutrements (said with a French accent, of course) from concourse T to concourse A (those of you who know Hartsfield know this is a treck) with no stroller! And did I mention she was still flying in a carseat then? Heavy duty? Made of like steel?
We get to Charlotte and there is not a single skycap to be found. NO ONE. And no carts. It was after midnight and the toddler was asleep. I had to get all the luggage (including my husband’s), all her stuff and drag it to the curb. Finally a taxi driver took pity on me and helped me get the rest of my things while I held tight to my kid.
I nearly collapsed at the hotel. It was late and guess who didn’t have a bellman? I went and grabbed one of the carts and the desk clerk had THE NERVE to give me a dirty look. Well, needless to say, that desk clerk probably never made that mistake to any other harried mother ever again.
My husband made it to Atlanta and because we had a 10:15 am appointment the next morning to ride Thomas the Tank Engine in some teeny-weeny town two hours away from Charlotte, he rented a car in Atlanta and drove all night to meet us. He stopped for two hours at some hotel and paid a full night’s stay to get some sleep. Otherwise, he was wired by the time he met us.
THAT’s what you do for your child. She loved Thomas.
Comment by Julie Leto — February 27, 2007 @ 10:17 pm
My husband and I were on the flight returning from Las Vegas to Chicago. We were landing and I was able to read the billboards along the roads below when the airplane shot straight up in the air. Everyone screamed from fright. After we were in a straight line to once again, land, the pilot came over the intercom and informed us that when we were landing, there was another airplane on the runway. The alertness of the pilot saved all of us from what could have been a huge tragedy.
Comment by Margaret Garrison — March 2, 2007 @ 8:31 pm