There's No Place Like Arkansas!

So many of you know that I just got home from Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic...Let’s just say that I’m glad to be home! So why did I go? Well my friend Anna’s mother (Mrs. Becky) is a travel agent and every year she has to organize a trip for the FMC conference and they want “the travel” agent to go on the trip with them to make sure things run smoothly. (FMC is a farming company worldwide or something…) Anyway, so they asked me to go and help out with the 230 people going on the trip. Last year, we went to Cancun, Mexico for the FMC conference and Anna and I basically did absolutely nothing! Anna’s mom just wants us there to help out if she needs us. So here’s how this year’s trip started…I flew out of Little Rock and it went downhill from there…My flight was scheduled to leave at 6am last Thursday. Josh drops me off at about 4:30am and I make it to the gate. So just as it’s time to board the plane, they announce that we can’t board because the flight paper work wasn’t finished or something… So then about 30 minutes past our departure time, we finally board our plane. We continue to sit on the plane waiting for takeoff but little and behold they announce that there is a maintenance issue with the oxygen tank. So we get back off the plane and head back to the gate area. By this time, I have already missed my connecting flight in Charlotte and I can see some of the people from the FMC group are getting antsy. Keep in mind that these people have no clue that I am with the “travel agency” as I am hiding my “Travel Consultants” polo shirt under my jacket. So of course I felt obligated to help so I went over and found all the people that were with FMC group (there were 9 of them) and got all of our connecting flight tickets changed in Charlotte (assuming that we would be boarding the plane soon) I should of known better! About 30 minutes later they announced that our flight had be canceled. They made all of the passengers travel back out of the terminal and back to the front desk. I stood in this line for 3 1/2 HOURS trying to get ALL of the 9 peoples tickets changed, including mine!!!! To make a long story short, we were booked as a “group” and there were no flights into Charlotte on any airline with 10 seats available. The only flight we could do was the one leaving the next morning at 6am. The airline provided hotel rooms for the 9 people and so after I got them checked in at the Holiday Inn Express, I went home. My awful morning was repeated the next morning only this time the oxygen tank was fine but there was ice on the wings, yes ice! So 45 minutes later after we were “de-iced”, me and the 9 people were airborne. The departure delay was going to cut our connecting flight pretty close. When we landed in Charlotte I SPRINTED ahead to the gate to try and hold the plane for my travel mates only to find that they had changed gates. By the time I arrived at the correct gate I couldn’t breathe and I’m thinking that there is no way that these middle aged people are going to be able to make it…by now everyone at the gate is staring at me with sweat dripping down my face. I got the plane to wait and the FMC people made it so off we went to the Dominican Republic. I know….LONG STORY HUH? Well it’s not over just yet…we stayed at the Moon Palace in Punta Cana which was beautiful and huge! Downside = It was rainy and cold the whole time, we had a BAT in our room which took them 2 hours to come kill it (Luckily this happened the 1st night I wasn’t there but Anna had to take cover from the killer bat attack), the customer service was terrible because the employees didn’t speak good English therefore you never got what you wanted, the food wasn’t the greatest, I slipped and fell on the sidewalk and banged up my knee, etc. The last night there, Anna and I partied it up and danced until 3am (I guess this was our only highlight). We were both ready to go home! Luckily the trip back home was much smoother even though I didn’t get home until 1am. Let’s just say I won’t be going back anytime soon. Sorry it was such a long story but just about everything that could go wrong, went wrong! Oh yeah, I left out the part when I was the lucky chosen one for the “random pat down check” before I boarded the plane on the way there and on the way back home on my last flight, they double booked my seat and my name was announced over the loud speaker to be questioned whether or not I was on the right flight…..REALLY!!!! I guess the moral of the story is don’t fly US Airlines EVER and I’m so happy to be home….home sweet home!