What a past couple of weeks. Currently I am sitting in the Palm Beach International airport waiting and waiting to make the next leg of our trip home from our vacation in Key West. I should have known things were going to be an adventure when our first flight out of Knoxville last Monday morning was delayed. Here's how things started:
Monday morning's 7:00 flight was delayed until almost 8:45 which put us into Atlanta with about 15 minutes to make our connection to Key West. We literally ran through the airport, skipped the tram, ran across the moving sidewalk, and skated up to the gate at the very last second. We were the last two people to board the plane. We made it to Key West, though, and things were looking up. The whole week went well-- we did a lot of beach and pool lounging, ate good food, took a 26 mile jet ski tour around the island, biked all over town, and sweated a whole lot. The hardest part was leaving Ella Kate at home with my parents-- I wasn't worried about her (maybe worried that she would run them ragged!), but we missed her SO much that for the first time ever we were ready to come home from our vacation early. Friday morning we packed up our things and stored our bags at the front desk and headed to the pool for one last day of relaxation. Around 3:00 we headed to the airport for our 5:12 flight. We relaxed in the air conditioning and had one last piece of key lime pie, then found out the flight was delayed to 6:00 b/c of weather... then 6:30...then 7:00...then they discovered the plane had issues with it's wing and couldn't make it down to Key West. By 8:00 they officially canceled the flight and here were our options 1) pay for our own hotel room in Key West (on a Friday night, yeah right! big $$$) and wait till the next (now over booked) flight out of KW on Saturday at 5:12pm 2) take a mini van shuttle (courtesy of Delta) with 8 people up to Miami (2.5 hr drive) stay in a Delta approved hotel (roach motel?) and fly out of Miami on first flight (again, around 5pm) or option 3) fend for yourselves!! We went with option 3. Here was our plan. Rent a car, drive to Nicole's house in West Palm Beach and get on a flight into Atl then hopefully make one of the already overbooked connector flights from Atl to Knoxville. Thankfully Chris gets a gov't rate at the car rental, so that part wasn't so painful. We hopped in the car and started driving, planning to look things up on our phones and my laptop as we went, but wouldn't you know it, batteries were dead or dying. Around 11:30pm we made it to Miami and stopped at an IHOP mainly to recharge the phones and laptop. We eventually made it to Nicole's house (who, by the way, wasn't home b/c she's on a family trip to Disney in Orlando!). We crashed immediately and actually got some good sleep. Our flight from West Palm to Atl was scheduled for 2:30 so we had plenty of time to grab lunch, return the rental car, and get checked in at the airport. All went well, we even met one of Chris' mom's friends at our gate, until they announced the flight is delayed. Here we go again. If things actually go as currently planned we will make it to Atl in time for our connection, but you never know..... Otherwise, we'll be renting another car to drive from Atl to Knoxville. I just want to get home to see my baby! We miss her SO VERY much!!!!
Views from the pier at our hotel and from our balcony
Wild chickens roam all over Key West- this one ate luch with us!
Riding bikes all over the island and eating a famous chocolate covered key lime pie on a stick!
