How I survived 25 hours FLL to home in CA

[pcur]

At the end of my wonderful Vision of the Seas cruise last Monday, I arrived at FLL with plenty of time to spare for my 12:20pm flight. I was up early in the cabin, so by CA time I got up at 3am.

 

Well, Tropical Storm Betty (I think it was Betty), was lumbering through the Southeast US, and my flight was late leaving. Not to wory, I have a 1.75 layover in New Orleans.

 

The rest is downhill..................

 

Flight was delayed 1.5 hours, and my connection in NOLA left 8 minutes before I landed. I had my ipad hooked into SW's schedule, so I knew what was going to happen.

 

Got off the plane, headed to the nearest Customer Service Rep at the gate. While I was in line, another agent came running down yelling my name with 3 other people's, too. She had booked me on a flight to Chicago, connecting to LAX that was leaving NOW!!

 

Ran to the gate, got on the plane. Sat on the tarmac. I think this one was 1.5 hours late, too. Seems the storm was still lumbering it's way west.

 

Arrived in Chicago at 5:45pm with a long layover to 9-ish. Dinner, and then waited at the gate, because the storm was now causing lightening storms in Chicago. On the plane finally, and sat on the tarmac for 2 hours.

 

I arrived in LAX at 1:43am. I was originally scheduled to arrive at 4:40pm.

 

My husband made the 2 hour drive to pick me up so I wouldn't have to wait for the bus at 5am. He was really worried, because he didn't know what happened to my flight, so he parked and met me in the luggage claim area. What a wonderful sight!

 

My suitcase? It was in NOLA. I went home and fell into bed 25 hours after I got up on the ship.

 

How did I not lose my mind? I put myself in a "it's gonna be bad; just deal with it" zone. I had my noise-cancelling headphones that I finally wore in the terminals. Just too much noise non-stop all day. I listened to my ipad music, played solitaire on my ipad, watched two movies on my ipad that I had rented and downloaded for the flights, and read my book on my ipad (see the pattern here?). I can't sleep on airplanes, so 20 minutes naps kept me from becoming a zombie.

 

3 days later my wet suitcase and contents arrived home. I almost kissed the FedEx lady. She was my HEROINE!!

 

Mother Nature can really be a *%tch sometimes!!!

[Algebralovr]

Congrats on getting safely home. It is wonderful to hear the airline took care of you as well as they could.

[slidergirl]

SH%T does happen when you combine travel and bad weather. But, you seemed to have handled it without histrionics that I've seen on reality TV ;)

 

It sounds like you were well-prepared to self-amuse (the iPad, headphones), which is a very important part of travel. If hiccups do occur, you can take them on and just do what you need to do to get through it…

 

Glad to hear that you AND your luggage are reunited back at home!

[pcur]

SH%T does happen when you combine travel and bad weather. But, you seemed to have handled it without histrionics that I've seen on reality TV ;)

 

It sounds like you were well-prepared to self-amuse (the iPad, headphones), which is a very important part of travel. If hiccups do occur, you can take them on and just do what you need to do to get through it…

 

Glad to hear that you AND your luggage are reunited back at home!

 

Those headphones saved me more than once. I looked a little weird walking around 3 airports with my Bose headphones on not plugged into anything, but I was soooooo much calmer than the rest of those people. The Amazon Instant Video downloads were great. Since the airlines now let you keep your electronic devices on, I could just tune out.

 

Has anyone ever smelled wet beach shoes in a plastic baggie that never got dry before they were packed, rained on, and then sat for 3 days?????? You don't want to know. :D

[scottbee]

At the end of my wonderful Vision of the Seas cruise last Monday, I arrived at FLL with plenty of time to spare for my 12:20pm flight. I was up early in the cabin, so by CA time I got up at 3am.

 

Well, Tropical Storm Betty (I think it was Betty), was lumbering through the Southeast US, and my flight was late leaving. Not to wory, I have a 1.75 layover in New Orleans.

 

The rest is downhill..................

 

Flight was delayed 1.5 hours, and my connection in NOLA left 8 minutes before I landed. I had my ipad hooked into SW's schedule, so I knew what was going to happen.

 

Got off the plane, headed to the nearest Customer Service Rep at the gate. While I was in line, another agent came running down yelling my name with 3 other people's, too. She had booked me on a flight to Chicago, connecting to LAX that was leaving NOW!!

 

Ran to the gate, got on the plane. Sat on the tarmac. I think this one was 1.5 hours late, too. Seems the storm was still lumbering it's way west.

 

Arrived in Chicago at 5:45pm with a long layover to 9-ish. Dinner, and then waited at the gate, because the storm was now causing lightening storms in Chicago. On the plane finally, and sat on the tarmac for 2 hours.

 

I arrived in LAX at 1:43am. I was originally scheduled to arrive at 4:40pm.

 

My husband made the 2 hour drive to pick me up so I wouldn't have to wait for the bus at 5am. He was really worried, because he didn't know what happened to my flight, so he parked and met me in the luggage claim area. What a wonderful sight!

 

My suitcase? It was in NOLA. I went home and fell into bed 25 hours after I got up on the ship.

 

How did I not lose my mind? I put myself in a "it's gonna be bad; just deal with it" zone. I had my noise-cancelling headphones that I finally wore in the terminals. Just too much noise non-stop all day. I listened to my ipad music, played solitaire on my ipad, watched two movies on my ipad that I had rented and downloaded for the flights, and read my book on my ipad (see the pattern here?). I can't sleep on airplanes, so 20 minutes naps kept me from becoming a zombie.

 

3 days later my wet suitcase and contents arrived home. I almost kissed the FedEx lady. She was my HEROINE!!

 

Mother Nature can really be a *%tch sometimes!!!

 

depart FLL 1220 EDT (1620UTC)

arrive LAX 0143 PDT (0842UTC)

 

now maybe my math isn't the greatest, but I make that FLL->LAX in 16h22m not 24 hrs

[cruising cockroach]

depart FLL 1220 EDT (1620UTC)

arrive LAX 0143 PDT (0842UTC)

 

now maybe my math isn't the greatest, but I make that FLL->LAX in 16h22m not 24 hrs

 

Misleading title but she does say:

 

I went home and fell into bed 25 hours after I got up on the ship.

 

So not 25 hrs from FLL airport to her own bed as the title implies but from when she got up.

[FLACRUISER99]

depart FLL 1220 EDT (1620UTC)

arrive LAX 0143 PDT (0842UTC)

 

now maybe my math isn't the greatest, but I make that FLL->LAX in 16h22m not 24 hrs

Oh well, some folks don't have great math skills and some folks don't have good skills in reading comprehension.

[Globaliser]

I think that after dealing with (and posting about) these problems so calmly, pcur must be entitled to a degree of latitude!

 

Glad that it all worked out OK in the end.

[pcur]

Silly me, I thought the words in the title "home in CA" were self-explanatory. I should have been more specific and titled this thread "bed-to-bed in 25 hours from FLL to my home in CA", but that seems a little wordy to this English major!

[Keith1010]

So sorry you encountered this.

 

This is a reminder that if the reverse took place and you were flying to take a cruise not to fly on the day of the cruise.

 

Keith

[pcur]

So sorry you encountered this.

 

This is a reminder that if the reverse took place and you were flying to take a cruise not to fly on the day of the cruise.

 

Keith

 

My travel agent told me 17 years ago that she always sends her West Coast clients in the day before. I've been doing it ever since.

 

My friend's daughter cruised in early January when the BIG storm hit, and even trying to fly in the day before from CA, she made it to the ship the next day with about an hour to spare.

 

I was just happy on our cruise a few weeks ago that we didn't hit any bad weather on the cruise, so I paid my "weather dues" coming home I gues!

[Keith1010]

pcur, absolutely.

 

Even when I worked full time we always arrived on day early for our cruises and if flying aboard a couple of days earlier. Thankfully, the problem here was on the return flight but just a good reminder that things can happen.

 

Keith