Kanalah's Honeymoon Adventure

[Kanalah]

...in which basically everything went wrong!

Part 1: Background (sorry!)

Hubby and I met online, which according to my family makes him something between an imaginary person (mom still talks about my imaginary computer friends) and a space alien. He's also a little older then I am.

For my 19th birthday, he flew out to OK for a week to visit. Mom found out and called the police on him. 6 months later, he packed up all his stuff and moved out to OK and proposed to me. Mom found out and kicked me out. We were already planning a wedding - we kept the reception plans in May intact and went down to the Justice of the Peace in April and got married. (fun fact: 10 year anniversary this year, woo!)

Hubby and I paid for his mom, oldest brother and sister to come out for the reception. (Rest of the family was too chicken to come out to what they still refer to as Indian and Cowboy country) We also paid for everything - since my family backed out on me.

It was actually a nice reception, we rented a room at a fancy hotel downtown and had a lunch buffet. It was a mainly informal thing, we ate yummies and shared our awesome cake (chocolate with real buttercream frosting). Some people brought gifts. Mom sat and pouted the whole time, while my dad showed up in jeans and a t-shirt to protest.

The day after the reception, the in-laws were flying back home and hubby and I were leaving early in the morning for our honeymoon. Hubby had planned a caribbean cruise. We thought if we flew out early enough in the morning, we'd certainly make it to Florida in time for a 5pm ship departure. What happened instead turned into an adventure. I'm glad I had hubby with me, otherwise I think I would've had several hundred panic attacks.

[Seraph]

And you got miffed with *me* for doing cliffhangers? Shame on you, Kana! LOL

[Kanalah]

But but but I'm getting them all written up and posted now.

*cries*

[PepperElf]

For my 19th birthday, he flew out to OK for a week to visit. Mom found out and called the police on him.

I'm surprised the cops didn't rip her a new one for making a false call

[Kanalah]

Well she lied to the police and said he was a dangerous person, she also called all the local hotels and found out the one he was staying at.

Hubs is still mad about that because basically she did - "Hello is anyone staying at your hotel from *state* with a first name of *hub's name*?

She also insisted that I go to the ER for a rape kit. That was a fun time.

[Kanalah]

Part 2: Day of Departure (morning)

So the plan was: Catch flight #1 to Memphis, Catch flight #2 to Miami, Catch cruise boat before 5pm.

If I was smart and knew about foreshadowing I would've backed away right then.
The month before, the passport office lost our paperwork, which meant that we took a 7 hour drive down to Houston to get our paperwork turned in, grabbed lunch, picked up our passports, and drove 7 hours back home.

Okay so here we are, all packed and ready to leave, taking a cab down to the airport at 6am. I should make a note here that flying makes me have panic attacks. It just makes my skin crawl. But I had hubby to help keep me calm. Also I should note that for some odd reason, the airport is packed. I have never seen it so busy. There's a line from the counter clear to the outside doors. We tried to check in our bags at the outside counter, but were we told we couldn't because of a security issue. We strug and drag our bags behind us as we wait in line.

Because Hubs is smart, he gets on the phone with the cruiseline. The very nice rep (seriously they were awesome!) told hubby to go up to the counter and tell them we had a cruise to catch. This airline had an exclusive agreement with the cruiseline and part of that was that they guarenteed that you wouldn't miss your cruise. Hubs went up to the counter and the airline reps told him to stuff it and get back in line and wait our turn.

So while we're waiting in line, we get to talking with some of the other people. Turns out a lot of them are flying out for a 3 day cruise with another cruiseline. By now it's 8am and we're still in the middle of the line. Hubs calls the cruise line again, letting them know what's up. They told hubby to again go to the front of the line where the airline rep tells him. "I don't care!" It was loud enough for everyone in line to hear. The cruise ship rep heard this and decided to call the airline counter directly, they refused to answer the phone.

[Seraph]

Oh snaaaaaaaap! <gets popcorn> I sense someone's job is gonna be TOAST after this!

[PepperElf]

and to share too

this is getting interesting.

[RealUnimportant]

I'm betting the airline had an exclusive deal with both cruise companies, which meant that they couldn't prioritise you over other people already being prioritised... Not that this in any way diminishes my desire to read pt3.

I love these serials, they keep the boredom at bay here at work!

[Kanalah]

Part 3 Day of Departure (still!)

It's now 9am. We've been at the airport for over 2 hours, and we're still in line. Word comes down through the line that the airline had no clue about all the cruise people showing up today and had MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER overbooked. As in overbooked by an entire plane. Did I mention our original flight was leaving at 9:15am? Yeah, and hubs and I were getting stressed.

Cruise rep called us back and told hubs to take the phone up to the counter so the rep could talk to the counter people since they refuse to pick up the phone. The counter people told the rep that if Hubs had come up to the front of the line and *told them that he was catching a cruise ship* that they would be able to help him. Uhm hello, we did that over an hour ago! More arguing and then hubs came back to where I was waiting in line with the luggage.

As he was catching me up, the airline reps made an annoucement that if you were booked on the 9:15 flight to come up to the counter right now because they were holding the plane for stragglers. Cue a mad dash to the front! We get up there and find out that we were the lucky ones that were supposed to have our bags searched. (this was in 2002, so 9/11 was still recent memory) So the airline folks decide to let everyone else go ahead of us, then check us in and search our bags. It was really weird watching someone rifle through my things. I'm kinda a neatnik when it comes to packing and they just shoved everything around and crammed it back in.

Finally we had our bags checked in and we ran for the gate. Only to find out that the plane was overbooked (surprise, surprise) and we needed to go back to the ticket counter and book for the next flight, which leaves at 11:15. Cue another mad dash back to the huge line. Hubs calls the cruise rep again. We're now on a first name basis. We catch her up on what's going on and she reassures us that as long as we make it to the port and get through customs by 5pm, we're golden. Awesome. So more waiting in line, and we made it up to the counter, told the people again that our bags were already checked and we were trying to get to Memphis. We'd already missed our first connecting flight, but were hoping we could sort it out later. We were put on standby for the 11:15 and actually made it onto the plane.

Only to find out that we're not sitting together. Okay I can handle this. I can totally control myself and not have a panic attack next to a total stranger. She looks really nice, and we start making small talk. I did mention that I was on my way to my honeymoon, and that hubs was sitting several rows behind me.

The captain makes an annoucement that they need to check the plane because there's a screw missing on one of the landing gear! Nice lady gets up and goes to trade seats with hubs. We sit and talk for an hour or so, until the captain annouces that they need to send the plane in for repairs and we all need to re-book our flights. Cue another mad dash for the front counter again.

[Redbeard]

Hubs is still mad about that because basically she did - "Hello is anyone staying at your hotel from *state* with a first name of *hub's name*?
.

Woah now!
You need to contact the corporate/head office or the owner of that hotel NOW.
What they did is a federal level breach of confidentiality that could have cost them big time if anything untowards had happened to hubby.

Edit: I just got to the point where you put the date at 2002. d'oh!

[Kanalah]

Hubs did rip the hotel a new one.

He told them that they were damned lucky that nothing had happened to him, what they did was very verboten.

He wrote a letter to corperate, explaining what happened. He didn't ask for any kind of compensation - just better staff training.

We've never again used that hotel chain. The exact hotel is still there, but under new management now.

[PepperElf]

So the airline folks decide to let everyone else go ahead of us, then check us in and search our bags.

Part of me wonders if that was really "random" or just revenge on part of the ticket agent.

I say this cos... sometimes my tickets have specifically been marked and other times I was just randomly selected (once I think it was cos I had a santa hat on). I was pretty use to it already though cos in order to get onto my ship we had to be wand-checked and bag-checked every time we boarded.

I'm glad the nice lady switched with you. Last time I was on a flight, on the first leg, I ended up switching so that a man could be with his son. (ironically yes i was checked on that flight too!... made the TSA do a double take when I reattached my two bags together and lifted them onto my back)


and yes omg yes for the hotel.
cos what if it had been a stalker looking for the victim?

[Kanalah]

We couldn't check our bags at 6am when we got to the airport because they were pre-selected for searching.

So I'm pretty sure it wasn't intentional for the ticket people.

Edit: Yes my mom was stalking hubby. >.> She still hates his guts.

[Redbeard]

It reminds me of flying out of Salt Lake. Every time I wore my kilt, I'd be "randomly" chosen for a full search and baggage search.