The Trip to SD

Safe in sunny SD. :)




So...my trip here sucked. Major. Philadelphia to Detroit was okay. Once in Detroit, the plane door opened at 9:35. I got out and waited at plane side for my bags and once I had them, I read my next flight leaves at 9:45. So basically, I decided then and there that no way was I going to make it all the way to the other end of the terminal. But, my bad back pregnant butt ran as much as I could. I arrived to the gate just as they shut the plane door. She said too bad, cannot get on plane. So I sat down, out of breath, sore, sweaty, and tired for about 10 minutes watching my plane sit there and finally take off, without me on it. So, then, I talked to the gate people and they set me up a new ticket, where originally I would have gotten in at noon to Rapid City, I now will arrive at 5:40PM. She said once I get into Minneapolis I can try to get on a 3:09PM Rapid City arrival, but the flight is already overbooked. Great. Okay. So I make it to my plane for Minneapolis and I get in and my seat is in the very front next to the door with lots of leg room. I'm thinking this is okay. Then, as people are still loading, the bag lady comes to the flight attendants and says there is a pink and purple bag out here without tags on them. I heard them talking and said they were mine and they do have tags because I put them on from last flight. She said they are the wrong ones and that my bags would be checked and I would see them again in Rapid City. So I said I could just put them above my seat, because there was still room. The bag lady said I couldn't cuz the bins were already closed. (Okay, I'll open them how hard is that!?) But she wouldn't let me and proceeded to tag my bags. I was up at this time standing next to my bags and I said I just needed to get my purse out of my backpack because it has my id in it. She picked up my bag, looked at me, and threw it onto the carousal, even though we were not even ready to leave yet! I was furious. So bag already gone, with my money, id, pain pills and sick pills inside. I sat down and basically cried for half the flight, knowing I would more than likely have to sit in the Minneapolis airport for four and a half hours without even money to get food or my id to get myself into the USO. So I was furious. And the flight attendants didn't care. So after flight landed I got to the next gate and was already a mess so I shared my story with them even though they probably didn't care, and they basically told me no way it would happen, they overbooked by nine people. So again, defeated, I sat down. I had a major headache by this time. A lady gate attendant came over to replace one of the guys and she heard part of my story, so she came over to me and talked to me. She listened to my story and was nice and said it really isn't likely I will get on. She came back and brought me a meal voucher for six dollars knowing I needed to get something to eat. That was really kind so I took off to get something and come back to sit around and wait for stand by. As I was looking for a place, the gate lady caught up to me with another voucher for six more dollars. She said I probably will need it. So, I found a turkey sandwich, milk, and fruit cup for the entire cost. Then, I went and sat back down. The gate lady announced if anyone would give up their seat they'd get a 300 dollar voucher. Five minutes later she announced that someone REALLY needs to get on this plane and the voucher went up to 400 dollars. :) They loaded the plane and people kept coming in late and at the end, five stand bys were waiting. The guy came from the plane and told her there were two seats left. So she pulled up two ladies together and put them both on the plane. Then she asked me weird questions about if I came from an international flight, etc. etc. and I thought she was asking for me for the next flight. Then, she printed a boarding pass, as the other stand bys were watching, and quickly almost threw it in my direction, pointed at the plane and said, hurry up get on!



So THAT was my day. I then sat next to a seven month pregnant lady, which was fun cuz we talked the whole time about pregnancy stuff. :) I got into Rapid at 3:09 and was super tired last night. Slept ten hours and here I am, ready to go again!

Branding is tomorrow and there are at least six cadets that drove from West Point with JD, so it should be a highly entertaining time!