Home from Arizona
OR another Carly Travel Story …
Julie thinks Disney World is the happiest place on earth. I think it’s Arizona. Seriously. I don’t know why but as soon as I step off the plane there, I’m at peace. I love it there, so when the great folks at the Desert Rose Chapter of RWA asked me to be their luncheon speaker, I jumped to say yes. Thank goodness I didn’t know who was the keynote speaker at the time I agreed or I might have changed my mind. Sherrilyn Kenyon is one hard act to follow. Not only is she talented, classy, friendly, fun, and a wonderful person, she can do a speech that has the audience in tears - and all because her story is heartbreakingly true.
I hope you all get to hear her speak one day. Good thing I know who I am - and though Sherrilyn and I come from different worlds, we can each bring a unique perspective to romance writers, so people said we were good bookends. I hope I gave people inspiration at my luncheon speech.
Backtrack to the travel story.
Picture this: Long time readers know it’s never a good thing to travel with Carly on an airplane, right? So this time, I took my daughter and it was pouring in New York Friday morning. Still, we arrived in under an hour at JFK and sailed through security. At this point, I forgot I’m a hazard to travel with. We boarded the plane on time. Did I mention we were only going Friday - Sunday? One full day in Arizona. Here’s our luggage … this is us traveling light: 
Now let me say up front I AM NOT A BAD MOTHER. When I upgraded to first class, I was traveling alone. When I asked Jackie to join me last week, it was $1400 for her to fly first class. NOT Happening. I asked if she minded and she didn’t, so we kept things as they were. But I can just hear people saying, did you hear Carly PHillips flew first class and put her daughter on coach? NOT! Not exactly, anyway. I’d never intentionally book it that way if I’d known ahead of time.
OK back to my story. We board the plane … and we sit. For an hour. Now it’s not bad enough that I cash in all my Am Ex points for miles, right? But when I take the carry on that I have been traveling with for years in Coach and try to get it under the seat, it won’t go. I’m shoving and shoving and grumbling, “But it fits underneath in coach!” The gentleman beside me says, these seats have an extra barrier beneath and they’re really low. Old plane. GRRRRR. I redo my bags so my purse is under the seat and the carry on is going up top and I am loading things into the seat pocket in front of me. OK I’m handling things. And then they announce, the first class bathroom is out of order. Why? The smoke detector is broken. OK first off, you can’t even get through security with lighters anymore, can you? So what is the point? Someone said this, but they said they couldn’t allow anyone in there. It was a big plane. And the bathrooms were ALL the way in the back. On an almost six hour flight. But I’m a big girl. I can deal. Except, I cashed in all my points, so it really annoyed me on principal not laziness. This is US Air, by the way. So then we’re sitting on the open runway, inching forward, seatbelt signs on … and suddenly the flight attendant comes on and says, (you really aren’t going to believe this) something like, “Ladies and Gentleman, if you insist on getting up and using the lavatories, we are going to have to get out of line and lose our place. As of now we are twentieth on line for take off and whoever is in the lavatory is holding us up and planes are going ahead of us.” I kid you not. So whoever was embarrassingly in the bathroom, probably walked out red/shame faced. I couldn’t see them because the bathroom was all the way in the back.
The rest of the flight was fine. Just very very long. We arrived, were picked up by a Desert Rose Chapter member, and had a nice chat on the ride to the hotel. That night was a Meet and Greet, where I caught up with Vicki Lewis Thompson 
and her daughter and assistant (all in one) Audrey. Love them! That night was also the dinner where Sherrilyn did her keynote. As I said, extremely moving and she deserves all good things life can bring her … and she treats the world like gold.
The next morning, I had the AM free before my luncheon speech. I am on a Wheaten (terrier) Loop and one of the people on there lives in Arizona and she offered to drive to the hotel with her wheatens and spend some time with us if we were free. I agreed, and she did. We had a blast hanging out at the hotel on the lawn outside with her and the dogs. 
Just great. Of course my daughter says to me that morning, “Mom, you do realize we’re meeting up with someone you met on the Internet.” Bad Mommy thing here … I said, “it’s different.” She asked why, “because they have wheatens?”
OK so I taught her well and my own words came back to bite me. Bad Mommy. Great woman and dogs. No stalker/serial killer there. Whew.
I think my luncheon speech went well. I hope it did. Then I had a great catch up session with Mary Jo Putney. 
Fantastic author and wonderful person. I met John, her significant other, and he came to my workshop. I really enjoyed them both!
My workshop later on, wasn’t as breezily done as my lunch talk. Well it wasn’t terrible, just that I didn’t check my pages after they spewed from the computer and they were out of order. I didn’t catch it until I read a full page and realized it didn’t fit with the page that came afterwards. OOPS! Had to backtrack and start over. Oh well, LOL! It was fun, everyone seemed to understand and laugh … since Sherrilyn had coke spilled all over her keynote, I really wasn’t alone. Just human! 
Onward to a booksigning … OK honestly? If you’re going to sign books, don’t sit next to Sherrilyn, the woman with the cult following and readers who travel far and wide with tons of books and a camera just to see her. Only kidding. DO sit beside her. It’s an awesome experience. HQN sent copies of SUMMER LOVIN for the luncheon and everyone who attended received one, so most people asked me to sign that, which was great. I gave out HOT PROPERTY … OOPS that’s for the end of this blog. You know I have to make you keep reading!!!
Jackie and I had dinner with Vicki and Audrey, at a great Italian restaurant. At this point I had traveled the entire day Friday, done the lunch speech, the workshop, the booksigning and more and had to wake up at 5 AM to go to the airport the next day. I was FRIED. But I really had a great weekend and no mishaps traveling home.
Oh no, that’s a lie. A car service picked Jackie and I up at the airport. I fell asleep on the ride home and woke up IN ANOTHER TOWN. The driver went to the right street in the wrong town. There’s two of my streets on the map. Sigh. So I had to direct him home.
Tomorrow I get the doggies back from the kennel. No, hubby and younger daughter couldn’t quite manage to keep their schedule, so I decided to board them where they’d be better off until I came home.
So THANK YOU Arizona Desert Rose Chapter! And I hope you enjoyed yet another Carly travel horror story, LOL.
******
AND NOW, AS PROMISED LAST WEEK ……. HOT PROPERTY NEWS!
HOT PROPERTY bookmark is ready!
I’m making them available to Plotmonkey readers first. The only other people who have them are those who attended Desert Rose in Arizona.
So. You know the drill.
Send an SASE with ONE stamp to:
Carly Phillips
Hot Property Bookmark/Plotmonkeys
PO Box 483
Purchase, NY 10577
******
Happy Monday!
That’s some trip Carly, and overall it sounds like you had a great time. LOL on the internet stalker conversation with your daughter. Don’t you just love it when they ignore the “Do as I say, not do as I do” speech?
And that would be me traveling light too.
Comment by Stacy ~ — April 7, 2008 @ 6:18 am
Sounds like it turned out okay.
Comment by katie — April 7, 2008 @ 9:04 am
Sounds like you had a wonderful time. Thanks for sharing everything with all of us. I seem to always be on the delayed plane everytime I travel, so don’t feel like it is only you.
Comment by Liza — April 7, 2008 @ 9:07 am
Sounds like a busy, but fun time. Those are the best. If you didn’t have travel horror stories, you wouldn’t have anything to write about.
I do not know what Sherrilyn’s story is, but I love her books. someday I would like to attend on of the RWA thingys.
I am beat. gotta find envelopes though. Back to my recliner.
Comment by ev — April 7, 2008 @ 9:28 am
Carly, glad you had a safe and fun trip. The travelogue was too funny. I’ve heard that Sherrlyn Kenyon has a heart-rending, gut wrenching story. I’d love to hear it sometime. She definitely deserves every good thing the publishing world and life have to offer. You’re right about her fan club. At the literacy signing at national, you can’t get near her table.
Coming back from Boca a couple of weeks ago, there was a child with a severe peanut allergy on board–which the flight attendants announced–then they started handing out granola bars. Hello!!
And about 30 minutes before we landed there was a medical emergency on board–not related to the kid with the peanut allergy. Boy, did they get that plane in fast. Instead of slowing down on the approach they speeded up. We were like a rocket coming down. And instead of slowly taxiing to the gate, the plane hooked at 50 mph! Thankfully, there was a doctor on board who started an IV before we landed. I didn’t know they had IV kits on board.
Julie, so so sorry again about the “precious” thing. I promise I’ll ask first next time before I open my big mouth.
Hope I’m still welcome here…
Cher
Comment by Cher — April 7, 2008 @ 10:00 am
Oh, one more thing. Great pictures!
Cher
Comment by Cher — April 7, 2008 @ 10:02 am
Oh, for Pete’s sake, Cher, don’t apologize! It’s just a running joke I have with Brenda…I think Precious makes her sound like a poodle.
But I love Rhonda, Jen and Vicki, so if they want to call her a sweet little nickname, that’s their perogative. But it’s also my perogative to crack jokes about it.
Comment by Julie Leto — April 7, 2008 @ 10:16 am
Karen, great post…Arizona isn’t even in Disney’s league, but I do love it there and wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to visit.
The BEST margaritas are to be found in Arizona. I swear.
I’m jealous that you got to spend time with so many of my favorite people–Vicki and Mary Jo. (And you, but that goes without saying.) I’m so glad that your travel wasn’t quite as eventful as normal.
Although, I did fly with you from California to New York without incident. Maybe you’re bad luck has run out!
Comment by Julie Leto — April 7, 2008 @ 10:19 am
Carly, I was in Arizona the week before you and I actually thought about you on my flight home. I don’t fly well (not without good prescription drugs like Xanax) and our flight was bumpy and one of those speed up/slow down flights and for some reason you popped into my mind. I laughed when I got home and the next day you mentioned you were going out there - must have been an ESP kind of thing.
I really miss living in the desert and I always describe it as “open.” When you said you feel peaceful, I thought, “Yep, she gets it.” I think everyone is so nice because most everyone is from somewhere else (my oldest is one of the true Native Arizonans) and it’s like a huge melting pot. The sun shines all the time so what’s not to be happy about. And it’s the one place where I can truly be myself and not feel like anyone is judging me.
I’m glad you and your daughter had such a great time!!
Comment by Jodie — April 7, 2008 @ 11:12 am
Okay, Julie. Thanks
The poodle reference is funny!
I bet Brenda thinks it’s funny too.
Cher
Comment by Cher — April 7, 2008 @ 11:30 am
I forgot to add, I MET JODI from our plotmonkey jungle. So sweet! I really had fun!
Comment by Carly — April 7, 2008 @ 11:31 am
Meeting Plotmonkey readers would be the upside of any trip!
Whose going to be in San Francisco this summer? We need to plan something.
Comment by Julie Leto — April 7, 2008 @ 11:39 am
I’ll be in San Fran, fly in on Wednesday. I look forward to seeing all the Plotmoneys.
Cher
Comment by Cher — April 7, 2008 @ 11:46 am
Whoa… what an adventure, eh, Carly? Thanks very much for sharing it with us, and so glad you had a great trip (travel nuttiness aside!)
Comment by Fedora — April 7, 2008 @ 12:21 pm
Carly…thanks for sharing!! I would have loved to have been there!! A favorite person of mine, Mackenzie McKade, was there. And I’ve met Sherri and heard her talk many times…she someone you just love…she’s so warm and real, and funny.
I loved reading about your experience, so glad you blogged about it!! Thanks!!
Comment by Melissa — April 7, 2008 @ 12:34 pm
I love Arizona! I’ve been trying to get Husband to move us there for YEARS! The conference sounds great and LOL on the flying stories. Maybe one day I’ll blog about the time I flew when I was six months pregnant, had a child in a car seat, and the plane was taxi-ing and neither of us were sitting down or buckled in and no one would help us.
Glad you’re home.
Comment by Amy Addison — April 7, 2008 @ 12:44 pm
Carly its sounds like a great time!
Comment by Tina Martinesi — April 7, 2008 @ 12:46 pm
Glad you made it home safe and sound, Carly! Good thing you woke up…imagine the surprise of the people who lived in the house you might otherwise have ended up at?
Comment by Leslie — April 7, 2008 @ 1:08 pm
Julie:
I can’t make it to SFO (I am not a writer), but, seriously, when you come up to visit Janelle….I am taking all four of you out for drinks. You have to work that into your schedule. Yes, I will arrive with See’s candies just for you!
Comment by katie — April 7, 2008 @ 1:49 pm
katie, it’s a date! You don’t have to even bring chocolate…drinks trump chocolate in my book.
Comment by Julie Leto — April 7, 2008 @ 2:14 pm
Great travel story, Carly. Those runway delays can be killer! It sounds like overall the trip was a big success & nothing terrible happened on your actual coming & going. Did your daughter have a good time?
I’m planning to come to San Francisco to the book signing & hoping to meet the Plotmonkeys & any other readers or people that I can! I’m sure that sentence is full of grammatical errors!!
I’m only about 70 miles north of the city, my hotel is booked & expensive! I couldn’t get a room in either of the RWA hotels but I think the one I am in is very close. I think the location is why it was so much as most things in the city are!! Anyway I am so excited to come & get a chance to actually see some of my favorite authors & others that hang out on the blogs I visit & at eHarlequin also. Keep us posted on any plans. I’m staying in the city all night so I can hang out & have fun before & after the book signing! :pray: 
Comment by Donna M — April 7, 2008 @ 2:47 pm
So glad to hear we’re going to be meeting some of you guys in person!
We’ve talked about having some kind of informal Plotmonkeys get together…and we’re thinking of a few other fun things we can do. Stay tuned!
Comment by Leslie — April 7, 2008 @ 2:52 pm
Carly, I’d love to travel with you sometime!
Comment by Susan — April 7, 2008 @ 2:59 pm
Carly sounds like you had a great time. I think Disney World is the best and would love to go back there really soon. I keep trying to talk the hubby into moving there and working for Disney. He thinks I am nuts.
Comment by Brenda M — April 7, 2008 @ 3:30 pm
Loved your story….now I need to find a stamp…darn drawer.
Comment by Debbie — April 7, 2008 @ 3:41 pm
Glad you made it home safe and sound, Carly, even if you had a slight detour on the way,
Thanks for posting the picture. Audrey and I had such a great time with both of you. A terrific mother-daughter dinner!
Comment by Vicki Lewis Thompson — April 7, 2008 @ 3:46 pm
Sounds like you had a great time!
Comment by Estella — April 7, 2008 @ 3:58 pm
Oh, man, I’ve been thinking and thinking of a way to get to conference. If you guys have a Jungle Party I’m gonna be crushed to miss out on that fun too. But maybe you’ll do it again at the ‘09 conference.
Comment by Jodie — April 7, 2008 @ 4:22 pm
We’d like to start a tradition!
Comment by Julie Leto — April 7, 2008 @ 4:28 pm
Julie: It’s a date! That means that you need to have a retreat in Oregon AND build in an extra day.
Comment by katie — April 7, 2008 @ 7:25 pm
Glad you enjoyed your time in my hometown. I’m not a member of Desert Rose, but if I ever decide to try to write adult romance, I’ll be sure to join. The conferences sound like fun.
Comment by Celise — April 7, 2008 @ 7:41 pm
Hi Carly! Your luncheon speech was great! I really enjoyed it. It was great to see you, and Jackie is adorable. My travels home were anything but smooth sailing, but I made it. I’ll be in San Fran this summer too!
Julie, my very long travel day yesterday did mean I got to read most of Phantom Pleasures and I love it!
I’m going to finish it tonight!
Comment by Robin — April 7, 2008 @ 8:32 pm
look s o much fun.
Comment by kim h — April 7, 2008 @ 8:46 pm
Welcome back Carly….sounds like you had a blast…I love AZ too, I will be there next month…one of my friends is graduating from UoP. When I went for the first time last summer, it was awesome…I wished I was able to go to Sedona though…maybe next time…I am glad you had a blast…these conferences sound like a lot of fun…c u all 2mrow…
Peace and love,
Paula R.
Comment by Paula R. — April 7, 2008 @ 9:21 pm
I’ve been out all day and I’m just now getting a chance to stop by and post! Carly, you know I was laughing my butt off reading about your plane adventures to Arizona.
And I’m so glad that Jackie went with you 
Katie, my plan is to get the Monkeys up to Oregon for a plotting retreat as soon as we’re settled up there. After visiting last week, I can’t wait to move up there. Seriously. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted as far as moving out of California, and so much more. It’s absolutely gorgeous up there, the people so friendly, the area so clean, no smog, etc. How close are you to Portland?
Comment by Janelle — April 7, 2008 @ 9:42 pm
Sounds like you had fun Carly! And thank you for signing a book for me!
Now I just have to get my friend Angie to actually mail it to me. :giggle:
Comment by Jaci Burton — April 8, 2008 @ 10:14 am