The "Grand Adventure" . . . OF DEATH!!!

Get comfortable, you'll enjoy this. Chad and I had planned a trip to AZ for Danica's baby shower over memorial day weekend. We had been looking forward to it for weeks! I was so excited we had a great weekend ahead of us and a fun relaxing day of travels to start it off. We would drive to Salt Lake and catch a flight to Denver where we would catch another flight to AZ and get there around 6. The drive to Salt lake was awesome, we stopped every few hours and walked around, going into fun stores and hitting up temple square. We found Sis. Desi Sanders and took pics and hung out with her for a while, then spent some time shopping at the Salt Lake mall which I decided is my favorite mall EVER! Things where looking good! We got to the airport early and got checked in only to be informed that there was a full flight and the chances of us getting on were slim, and in fact, they WERE slim, we didn't get on that flight, I was so upset, we wouldn't be getting into AZ til 8 now and that's if we got the next flight. I had no idea just how much worse things were about to get.

We didn't arrive in Denver till about 9:30 and the second flight we were supposed to catch had just left so they redirected us to the next flight gate. We trudged over to the next gate and sat waiting for the 10:45 flight to board. When it finally did we waited anxiously to see if there were two spots for us! after all the passengers boarded the started boarding standby . . . our names where not called, i wanted to SCREAM! Chad ran up to the desk as they started to close the gate and prepare for take off. For some horrible reason, they forgot to roll our names over and we were forgotten, there were seats ON THAT PLANE and we DIDN'T GET THEM!! There wasn't another flight until the next morning at 7 :45. Chad could see how upset and tired I was so he called Hotel.com and got us a cheap hotel for the night so we could sleep in a bed. We rode a shuttle over to the Ramada Inn and proceeded to check in, only to be greeted with another unpleasant surprise, the front desk had not received our reservation. Bleh! I was done crying so I went over to an uncomfortable lobby chair and pretended I was asleep while Chad shared some choice words with the front desk people. He called hotels.com three or four times only to be hung up on, I thought we got scammed! Finally our reservation was cleared and at 1 in the morning we got to sleep. We only slept a few hours because we wanted to be the first standby people there to be first on the list. The flights looked full but the airline told us that the best chance we had was the earliest flight because a lot of people miss their early flights so if we are their on time, we'll probably get on! And as luck would have it, the flight was delayed by almost 2 hours so anyone that would have been late, was there. Needless to say, we didn't get on. we checked the flights for the rest of the day, there was no way to get back to Salt Lake, there were only two flights and they were both over booked so we decided even if we got to Arizona and had to turn right back around, we would keep trying.

At this point, it was just funny! We are normally very lucky travelers, we always get good deals or special offers and lucky breaks so I think this is just an explosion of unluckiness for all the bad luck we've dodged. We started making friends, we wern't the only ones, yes we had been their the longest but about 10 others where on standby and missed that morning flight too. We met this awesome grandma and her grand daughter who where trying to get to phoenix too. They felt so bad for us! We just laughed about how totally ridiculous the whole morning had been. We traveled from gate to gate, waiting for a flight. We didn't get on 4 more flights that morning and by the 5th flight people were asking to give up their tickets for us! Of course the airline wouldn't allow that but it was a very kind gesture! There was a flight at 4 and a flight at 6 and then that was it, we would have to get another hotel. Were we destined to stay in Denver for ever!??

We sat our stuff down and took a look around, we got tired of doing home work and talking to family about how mad we were. I was livid! I was missing my sisters first ever baby shower, every time we talked about it I would start crying again and Chad was so good with me. He's learning that the proper response to me crying is not to stand their and look awkward. . good job baby, your getting better. He always would just remind me that it was out of our hands and that the family understood that and Danica would be fine, she had a lot of support! We walked around and took random pictures to pass the time between flight rejections! Yes, that me flirting with a man made of clay and yes, Chad's giving that older clay gentlmen titty twisters. so wrong hun.

I think we had spent just as much money on food there as we would have on anything else if our trip had gone as planned. We tried to stick to the cheap stuff but that's the thing about airports. . . there is no cheap stuff. After we missed our 7th flight, we caved and bought 2 cups of Ben and Jerry's which added up to a whopping 11 dollars . . . gross, I cant believe we did that . . actually I can, we were really needing some comfort food.

Denver is probably the worst place ever to get stuck for two days, its SO boring and the airport has almost nothing to look at and help you pass time, we walked around the whole area about 12 times and couldn't find anything that held our attention for more than 2 minutes. There was even a few rooms devoted to empty display cases...just to make you think there might be something interesting. And we were NOT alone, so many people were stuck there and were very vocal about it. This guy came up to Chad and I and this is how our conversation went...

Airline Guy: Hey guys are you flying with us today?

Me: Well I don't really know, I guess we are if they ever let us on the plane.

Airline Guy: Well, ok, would you like to fill out a card here and win a ticket to fly with us again?

Me: Are you guys selecting the winner today because that might get me home faster?

Airline Guy: Um no I think its online...

Me: Well then no thanks, to be honest I'll probably never fly with you guys again, We've been here for two days, no one cares that we have missed almost 11 flights and we've been forgotten about entirely 3 times, which has prevented me from being at my sisters first ever baby shower that ending in about 20 minutes, a much needed hair appointment and to top that Ive probably gained 2 pounds from airport food and stress...so no thank you... (smile)

Airline Guy: ok, well have a nice day...

ok thanks airline guy, I WILL!

Here was a girl who didn't make it, i don't know how long they let dead bodies lie around but that's probably the funniest thing we saw all day, all I could think was . . . she probably missed just a few flights more than us and just couldn't go on anymore! DENVER EATS PEOPLES SOULS!!!

I know I'm being just a little dramatic but honestly, this is the facts!

Finally we got a flight! It was 7:45 flight that put us in AZ around 9:45. When we got on board, we got the first two seats! It was AMAZING! It felt so good to know we were getting out of limbo! It was a fairly open flight so all our new-found standby friends got on too! They were so sweet to us all day... it could be because I had red watery eyes and a shaky voice whenever I talked about what we missed that day but all the same, they made sure that when they called for standby, Chad and I were the first to get a ticket! I love those guys! There was this hilarious Asian lady who kept teasing me and saying in her awesome Asian accent " I'm going to watch my back if I get a ticket, you crazy, you jump me for it, i just know it!" She started clapping along with a few others as we boarded the plane.

We got to AZ and Brennon was there to save the day, he broke into the 'restricted area' to get our bags that had arrived the day earlier. Danica was there too! I apologized for not being there and gave her a HUGE huge, it was weird because I hadn't seen her in a few months and that belly was so much bigger now! Yay Baby Stratton!! I was finally able to give Danica the mobile that i had been working so hard on the previous 3 months ( this picture doesn't do it justice) I was so happy to be there even if it was only for a few hour. We headed over to my parents house and sweet Kenna had waited up for us! It was so good to see everyone again! I missed my family SOOO MUCH! I cant believe it had only been two months er so. In the morning we had planned on heading back to the airport because we were flying standby again and if we wanted to make it back in time for mid-terms we wanted to start right away, knowing that the exact same fate of the past two days awaited us! I saw Tessa in the morning and she gave us a huge hug. I told her we couldn't stay long because we had a big trip to take back to Idaho. . . to my surprise she started crying, I asked her...

K: Tessa whats wrong, aren't you happy we're here?

T: I thought you were going to stay for a long time?

K: We were but we have to get back home for school, member? Thats where we live!

T: (crying harder) I thought you were just visiting Idaho! You have a house there??

K: Yeah! Do you remember the pictures I sent you?

T: This is your home! I want you to live HERE!

My little heart just about broke, we decided to stay and try to find another way home so we could spend more time with the family. We tried gray hound, train, another airline, but it just wouldn't work, then I had an amazing revelation! The Tingeys!!! They had responded to me a few months ago when I was asking for rides to AZ. They were coming back to Salt Lake on Monday! we could ride with them! They had room so we were able to stay the whole day.

Obviously the trip was a total DISASTER! But my dad would call every once and a while at the airport and check up on me, I'd just cry to him, telling him how crushed I was that I wasn't there and he kept saying the same thing "Kayla this is a grand adventure...just try to enjoy it" he proceeded to send me 2 or 3 e-mails of list of fun things to do in an airport! dad, your amazing! you always help me see you good in things and in this case at least laugh about all the crazy mishaps! This was such a crazy trip but it WAS like my dad said, a "GRAND" adventure!