I'm kind of a big deal
UA customer service
Flowers :)
PS camera battery charge is in the checked luggage.. functioning mainly off of the ole iphone :)
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Sights
UA customer service
Flowers :)
PS camera battery charge is in the checked luggage.. functioning mainly off of the ole iphone :)
Ahahahahah
Ok, well I don't know how to begin to articulate the last 48 hours + of my life. My eyes are blood shot, I am as sleepy as ever, I have virtually no belongings here, and am jjjjeeetttllaggged... so here is my best attempt to recap...
2/13 8:15 am Carlsbad Airport -
On time
1 checked bag full of all my stuff
1 laptop bag with work and personal laptop and See's chocolate for our office
1 awesome owl bag with 3 books, 1 bible, makeup bag, jewelery, and purse
Normally I pack a back-up outfit, shoes, underwear, and deodorant. However, this time I was packing and I was like you know I waste space doing this everytime, I'm over it. So I packed back-up nothing.
9:30 am LAX -
About an hour until our flight to Tokyo leaves. I am preoccupied with collecting breakfast and lunch before our 12 hour flight to Tokyo. My biggest concern is the cougar wearing the same shiny spandex pants as me - ugh nothing worse than showing up to LAX and some chick wearing the same outfit as you.
11:40 am LAX -
Board plane. Awesome, I am in premium economy and no one is in the seat next to me. Life is good
12 pm LAX -
"attention folks we have no water pressure and are actually losing water". Mechanics run up and down the isles.
1 pm LAX -
"alright folks we are good to go, it was a value that was shut off. the mechanics fixed it up. Prepare for take off"
1.05 pm LAX -
Taxi back 5mm. Stop.
1:30 pm LAX -
"Well folks. we are losing our water from the back. We are bringing the mechanics back on". English speaking passengers - sighs of disgusts, rolling eyes, and nervous lip biting. Non-english speaking passengers - panicked looking around for a translation.
2 pm LAX
"Passengers of 891 please deboard the plane, take all personal belongings. If you have missed your connecting flight please consult customer service at 71B." We only had a 2 hour lay-over in Tokyo, we have missed our connector, off to 71B we go.
2:10 p.m :AX
In line at customer service 3 reps, approx. 25 people ahead of us.
2:40 pm LAX
2 service reps. 20 people ahead of us. Contact our travel department.
2:58 pm LAX
1 service rep. 19 people ahead of us.
3:15 pm LAX
Lay on the floor and commiserate with other passengers. Travel department responds that they have booked us on Thai airways departing at 9:30 pm but we have to confirm with UA at the airport (aka stay in line)
3:45 pm LAX
Situps in line.
4 pm LAX
Doing the plank in line, 60 sec intervals. Mical is embarrassed
4:15 pm LAX
Reading
4:20 pm LAX
Girl asks to cut us. Excuse appears reasonable and I feel bad, I say yes. 5 people ahead of us.
4:30 pm LAX
2 customer service reps. 2 people ahead of us
4:40 pm LAX
I approach the counter. to rep - hello, how are you? We were on flight 891 that was having problems. Rep - Please get back in line, i did not call you. Me (not out loud) - !?!??!&%^
4:45 pm LAX
Rep - next please. Me - you need to book us on flight 795 to Bangkok at 9:30 pm on Thai airways, now
5 pm LAX
Rep - well I can't confirm you are on Thai airways, you will have to go to the counter yourself and confirm. Oh and your luggage has been sent on to Tokyo. Mical and I - ahhhhhhhh kill us.
--
We eventually make our way to the international terminal, confirm our bookings with Thai Air which is a direct 1.5 hour flight to Bangkok, and settle into the bar/restaurant.
Then it hits us. We have nothing. Mical is scrubbed out and I am in shiny spandex and a volcom hoodie. My director recommends we take a taxi to the Nordstroms rack .5 miles away from LAX. Serious?!?!?! with the luck we've been having today, thank you but NO.
--
8:15 pm LAX
We make the final boarding call for flight 795.. we walkthrough the ticket check and walk out on to a bus. Mical has had it - "seriously, a bus, wtf, are we driving to Bangkok?" I am dying laughing. We proceed to drive across various tarmacs with no lights on and passing through "stop for planes" signs. Eventually we arrive at a massive jet. We board and taxi forever. It was soo long, I couldn't stop laughing. Mical had hit his "point". It reminded me of when we got lost on the way back from Kyoto in Japan.
... the next 17.5 hours...
I sleep a solid 12 of them. I pound some chicken curry, woke up for breakfast in an ambien haze which consisted of peas, potatoes, and egg (i think), and a funky lunch of which I can seriously not remember, still in an ambien haze.
arrive 7 am BKK (thai time)
We make our way through customers to the baggage claim customer service. We stink and we are exhausted but it's time to practice thai.
Me - Swandee Ka
Rep - Hello
Ok english it is. We carefully explain our situation.
Rep - Ok, so you originated from Carlsbad, New Mexico
Me - What? No, California
Rep - not Carlsbad
Me - No not New Mexico. Carlsbad, California
Rep - i don't understand.
!!!!!!!! We finally get close enough to an understanding. The rep assures us our bags will come, eventually. Rad.
--
Mical and I head for the exit and are pleasantly surprised to find a driver waiting to take us to the hotel, score.
--
Driver - You like club, you like small men, you go Siracco (no idea on the spelling)
Me - No I like tall men
Driver - hahaha, you like tall men
oh goodness, welcome to Thailand
--
Check in at the hotel. Mical and I agree not to shower, because really what is the point, we have nothing to change into. We drop our laptops in our room and head out for necessities. I smell. Deodorant and a toothbrush never sound so nice to me.
-
1 pm Bangkok
We managed to sort our toiletries out and head off to Chitsolim for apparel. We take the sky train which requires us to grab the bar above our heads to stabilize. I sigh to myself, thank goodness we picked up deodorant first.
We make it to Central World Mall and for me it was like an adult shopping in the children's section. Meh. We managed to find clothes that worked. i think.
5 pm Bangkok
We head back to the hotel, opting to walk rather than take the sky train. At this point it is 34 C and saying it was humid would be putting it mildly. I am glad we walked, because I had fun, but my word, hot hot hot, I have never seen so many sweaty people pass me by. Like literally people were soaked through their shirts... but maybe i am the pot.
5:30 pm Bangkok
I smell. Like really smell. And then we realize we were so focused on buying clothes for work tomorrow we've forgotten to get anything to wear tonight after we shower. We grumble, roll our eyes, and decide eating isn't worth it. We'd rather stay in our rooms then attempt to shop again.
6:30 pm Bangkok
The best shower ever. I also realized my shower only has two temperatures hot and hotter. Cold water doesn't exist. I also decided to do laundry in my hotel sink, oh wait, my detergent is in my checked bag. Ahahahhaah my life.
8 pm Bankok
Here I sit, ready to crawl into bed, but I am try to wait until 9pm... we'll see:)
That is it, for now:) Love you mom and dad! Ps. i also appear to be allergic to Bangkok mosquitoes like in Yosemite, good thing I brought the extra strength cortisone cream you gave me mom, oh wait.. that's in the check luggage... oh well, they only attacked my face :) Ahahahhahah :)
2/13 8:15 am Carlsbad Airport -
On time
1 checked bag full of all my stuff
1 laptop bag with work and personal laptop and See's chocolate for our office
1 awesome owl bag with 3 books, 1 bible, makeup bag, jewelery, and purse
Normally I pack a back-up outfit, shoes, underwear, and deodorant. However, this time I was packing and I was like you know I waste space doing this everytime, I'm over it. So I packed back-up nothing.
9:30 am LAX -
About an hour until our flight to Tokyo leaves. I am preoccupied with collecting breakfast and lunch before our 12 hour flight to Tokyo. My biggest concern is the cougar wearing the same shiny spandex pants as me - ugh nothing worse than showing up to LAX and some chick wearing the same outfit as you.
11:40 am LAX -
Board plane. Awesome, I am in premium economy and no one is in the seat next to me. Life is good
12 pm LAX -
"attention folks we have no water pressure and are actually losing water". Mechanics run up and down the isles.
1 pm LAX -
"alright folks we are good to go, it was a value that was shut off. the mechanics fixed it up. Prepare for take off"
1.05 pm LAX -
Taxi back 5mm. Stop.
1:30 pm LAX -
"Well folks. we are losing our water from the back. We are bringing the mechanics back on". English speaking passengers - sighs of disgusts, rolling eyes, and nervous lip biting. Non-english speaking passengers - panicked looking around for a translation.
2 pm LAX
"Passengers of 891 please deboard the plane, take all personal belongings. If you have missed your connecting flight please consult customer service at 71B." We only had a 2 hour lay-over in Tokyo, we have missed our connector, off to 71B we go.
2:10 p.m :AX
In line at customer service 3 reps, approx. 25 people ahead of us.
2:40 pm LAX
2 service reps. 20 people ahead of us. Contact our travel department.
2:58 pm LAX
1 service rep. 19 people ahead of us.
3:15 pm LAX
Lay on the floor and commiserate with other passengers. Travel department responds that they have booked us on Thai airways departing at 9:30 pm but we have to confirm with UA at the airport (aka stay in line)
3:45 pm LAX
Situps in line.
4 pm LAX
Doing the plank in line, 60 sec intervals. Mical is embarrassed
4:15 pm LAX
Reading
4:20 pm LAX
Girl asks to cut us. Excuse appears reasonable and I feel bad, I say yes. 5 people ahead of us.
4:30 pm LAX
2 customer service reps. 2 people ahead of us
4:40 pm LAX
I approach the counter. to rep - hello, how are you? We were on flight 891 that was having problems. Rep - Please get back in line, i did not call you. Me (not out loud) - !?!??!&%^
4:45 pm LAX
Rep - next please. Me - you need to book us on flight 795 to Bangkok at 9:30 pm on Thai airways, now
5 pm LAX
Rep - well I can't confirm you are on Thai airways, you will have to go to the counter yourself and confirm. Oh and your luggage has been sent on to Tokyo. Mical and I - ahhhhhhhh kill us.
--
We eventually make our way to the international terminal, confirm our bookings with Thai Air which is a direct 1.5 hour flight to Bangkok, and settle into the bar/restaurant.
Then it hits us. We have nothing. Mical is scrubbed out and I am in shiny spandex and a volcom hoodie. My director recommends we take a taxi to the Nordstroms rack .5 miles away from LAX. Serious?!?!?! with the luck we've been having today, thank you but NO.
--
8:15 pm LAX
We make the final boarding call for flight 795.. we walkthrough the ticket check and walk out on to a bus. Mical has had it - "seriously, a bus, wtf, are we driving to Bangkok?" I am dying laughing. We proceed to drive across various tarmacs with no lights on and passing through "stop for planes" signs. Eventually we arrive at a massive jet. We board and taxi forever. It was soo long, I couldn't stop laughing. Mical had hit his "point". It reminded me of when we got lost on the way back from Kyoto in Japan.
... the next 17.5 hours...
I sleep a solid 12 of them. I pound some chicken curry, woke up for breakfast in an ambien haze which consisted of peas, potatoes, and egg (i think), and a funky lunch of which I can seriously not remember, still in an ambien haze.
arrive 7 am BKK (thai time)
We make our way through customers to the baggage claim customer service. We stink and we are exhausted but it's time to practice thai.
Me - Swandee Ka
Rep - Hello
Ok english it is. We carefully explain our situation.
Rep - Ok, so you originated from Carlsbad, New Mexico
Me - What? No, California
Rep - not Carlsbad
Me - No not New Mexico. Carlsbad, California
Rep - i don't understand.
!!!!!!!! We finally get close enough to an understanding. The rep assures us our bags will come, eventually. Rad.
--
Mical and I head for the exit and are pleasantly surprised to find a driver waiting to take us to the hotel, score.
--
Driver - You like club, you like small men, you go Siracco (no idea on the spelling)
Me - No I like tall men
Driver - hahaha, you like tall men
oh goodness, welcome to Thailand
--
Check in at the hotel. Mical and I agree not to shower, because really what is the point, we have nothing to change into. We drop our laptops in our room and head out for necessities. I smell. Deodorant and a toothbrush never sound so nice to me.
-
1 pm Bangkok
We managed to sort our toiletries out and head off to Chitsolim for apparel. We take the sky train which requires us to grab the bar above our heads to stabilize. I sigh to myself, thank goodness we picked up deodorant first.
We make it to Central World Mall and for me it was like an adult shopping in the children's section. Meh. We managed to find clothes that worked. i think.
5 pm Bangkok
We head back to the hotel, opting to walk rather than take the sky train. At this point it is 34 C and saying it was humid would be putting it mildly. I am glad we walked, because I had fun, but my word, hot hot hot, I have never seen so many sweaty people pass me by. Like literally people were soaked through their shirts... but maybe i am the pot.
5:30 pm Bangkok
I smell. Like really smell. And then we realize we were so focused on buying clothes for work tomorrow we've forgotten to get anything to wear tonight after we shower. We grumble, roll our eyes, and decide eating isn't worth it. We'd rather stay in our rooms then attempt to shop again.
6:30 pm Bangkok
The best shower ever. I also realized my shower only has two temperatures hot and hotter. Cold water doesn't exist. I also decided to do laundry in my hotel sink, oh wait, my detergent is in my checked bag. Ahahahhaah my life.
8 pm Bankok
Here I sit, ready to crawl into bed, but I am try to wait until 9pm... we'll see:)
That is it, for now:) Love you mom and dad! Ps. i also appear to be allergic to Bangkok mosquitoes like in Yosemite, good thing I brought the extra strength cortisone cream you gave me mom, oh wait.. that's in the check luggage... oh well, they only attacked my face :) Ahahahhahah :)
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
ah,, the count down begins
brussels, bruges, amsterdam or paris, and london.
europe, i am ready for you.
the question is, are you ready for me :)
October 13th, ready or not here I come.
europe, i am ready for you.
the question is, are you ready for me :)
October 13th, ready or not here I come.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Tasmania, Australia
So despite everyone's long winded warnings, we still took our flight to Tassie, and I am so glad we did, it was truely beautiful. Very naturey and outdoorsy. I guess if you are looking for a vacation of boozing and clubbing you may need to look else where, but if mountain biking, kayaking, hiking, lounging at stunning beaches are your idea of fun, it's definitely worth the visit! We arrived in Tassie late on the 20th and hopped on you classic shuttle bus to the hostel. We decided to take it easy for the night. Plus it was super quite in town, like i said, not much of a night life :)
October 21st - day... who knows :)
Our first day out in Tas. Maria was a champ and picked up the rental car in the am. Then we headed up to mount wellington. Mt Wellington is just outside Hobart, the drive was easy there, except for battling windy narrow roads with tour busses. The view is awesome. Our day wasn't super clear, but still nice view... we also made stops along the way, also totally worth it.
Jules and I at one of the look out points along the way
There was still snow at the top!
View from the top, very panaoramic, my camera could not accomidate:)
Me with Hobart in the background
This was a random duder in the parking lot, and his hair is worth mentioning. He was touring with a band and had palyed the night before in hobart. We were so bummed we could have seen them :( But since he was so kind to take a picture with me, i want to send him some support, so here's the band he works with - Kimbra - http://www.myspace.com/kimbramusic - she's good, worth checking out!
After Mt Wellington we were going to go to Cascade Brewert for lunch and tastings, but sadly, they were closed, come to find out, Oct 21 is a holiday in Aus. So we opted for Bruny island.. which is on of the many little islands off of the island off of tassie which is an island off of Aus:) It was a pretty cool little island, lots of beachs for obvious reasons! We went to the bruny island cheese company http://brunyislandcheese.com.au/ OMG sooo good!
This was one of the many beaches we stopped at on Bruny. It was on the neck that connects the north and south parts. They had these amazing sea shells that we flat
we ended up getting home pretty late that night and just hanging out at the hostel and i actually did some laundry:)
October 22nd
This day we had an early departure for wineglass bay. Also a super neat drive, really got to see some off the variety in Australia's terrain. It was about a two and a half hour drive. It was an adventurous ride including a stop in Buckland and a near death collision with a turkey, which the close call with the turkey caused me to scream pretty audible because i thought it was an emu and all i could think was oh no, they really can do damage to a car, hahah, but courtesy of maria's stellar driving skills the accident was averted.
Wineglass Bay is located in Freycinet National Park. Which is stunning. I wish I could have spent just a couple days in that area. All and all it was awesome but we were slightly under prepared. First off, its a pretty intense up hill hike - easily manageable in shorts and a comfortable shoe, skinny jeans not so much.... And of course it was the one day when the sun is shinning and i would have killed for some shorts. Also, no water or food along the way, so pack lunches and snacks, we learned that the hard way, early morning breakfast, no lunch, and then a late dinner... although the fried sausage and chips with chicken salt tasted that much better because of it.
Anyways, you start your hike and if you have time look behind you, the view is phenom. When you get to the top, you have the stunning wineglass bay lookout....
Then from there, if you wanna get to wineglass bay (which of course you do, why do the hike without the beach), you head directly down to the shore. Totally worth it, it was sooo pretty. The hike down isn't too bad either, their jungle tropic style forest.
It was there we encountered a "wild" Wallaby... which he did live in the bush on the island, he just was super friendly with the people, which made him not quite wild in my book, but still equally awesome, as he let us pet him and feed him a banana skin
From there our group split, Maria and I huffed another half hour or so out across to Hazards beach and Jules and our friend from the hostel headed back to the car. Hazards was awesome, not another soul on the beach, literally, just maria and I, which was the perfect setting for a swim, at first, but then once in the water, the chill reality of how cold it was set in. haha still worth it
October 23rd
We stayed in Hobart and hit the local market - awesome and the local distillery - yumm!
October 24th - Last Day in Aus
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