Flagstaff 2011- Day Three- Part Two

Ok, time for me to sit down and finally finish writing about my trip.

So we met the guys for lunch at Galaxy Diner, a cute little 50s themed diner with yummy fries.



And after lunch, we had about an hour to kill before I had to be at the airport. Someone suggested that we go to a lookout point so off we went! What an amazing view!




Some man offered to take a group shot of us :)





After we took a few pictures, it was time for me to go :(

Rob drove us all to the airport. I thought it was really nice of them to not only drop me off (that would have been nice enough!) but they actually parked and walked in and waited with me. We sat at the bar for a few minutes, but then it was time for me to go through security. :(



I flew on that tiny little plane from Flagstaff to Phoenix. It was 80 degrees in Phoenix which was such a big difference from the Flagstaff weather. I waited in Phoenix for a couple hours. While I waited, I uploaded pics on Facebook. Thank goodness for Facebook! It can entertain me for hours!

Then I flew from Phoenix to SLO. The guy sitting next to me took up more than his fair share of space. Also, he could have benefited from taking a shower. I finished my book just as we started to land. (Hilarious book and a fast read! Perfect for my needs this weekend!)

Flying at night always reminds me of my first nighttime flying experience when I was in the 8th grade and we flew into Washington D.C. It's so cool to look down and see all those orange and white clusters of light.



To be honest, arriving at SLO was kind of depressing. I think arriving at an airport with no one to pick you up is one of the saddest experiences. I lugged my own luggage through the thick fog into the dark and dusty parking lot and drove myself home. I felt a heaviness in my stomach, and I just felt sort of bummed to be back.

But I don't want to end my story on a depressing note! When I got home, my brother was still awake. We immediately started playing our newest Wii game, Just Dance 3. I mean, I had that Wii controller in my hand before I even set down my purse! At first I sucked, but that's because Myles had all day to practice. Ahahaha. :)

Day 8

I shot up out of my bed at 3:00 a.m. after only 3 hours of sleep. I had been tossing and turning all night worried that I would sleep through my alarm clock. I tried to go back to sleep, but my heart was racing. I wanted to get started with my long journey home. I decided to go ahead and get going with my day.

I had arranged to have a taxi pick me up at 4:00 am to take me to the airport for my 7:00 am flight. But I was ready to go by 3:30 am. So I sat and waited in the dark lobby.


At 10 minutes til 4:00 am, the taxi driver dressed in a dark suit came into the lobby and loaded my things into the sleek Skoda car.

When we started driving away from the hotel, I told the driver "I'm so sad that I have to leave, I love it here." I don't think he understood what I said because he didn't respond at all.

I arrived at the airport a little early so I bought freshly squeezed orange juice and read my magazine. My first flight of the day was from Prague to Amsterdam. Our flight was 15 minutes delayed which sucked because I only had an hour between arriving in Amsterdam and departing to LA. I had a great seat next to the exit with lots of leg room. Unfortunately, this was only for my short flight.



When I landed in Amsterdam, I had to run from one end of the airport to the other. Luckily, I had printed out a map of the Amsterdam airport which I was able to study on the flight. I arrived at my departure gate just in time to board! Phew!

My flight was loooong. Ugh.

I was so happy to arrive in LA. It seemed like I couldn't get off the plane fast enough. JR picked me up. I was happy to have someone carry my luggage! We stopped in Ventura and Santa Barbara on our way home. I ended up at home around 5 p.m. and was happy to take a shower and relax for the evening.

Day 2 part 2

After I got my baggage, I had to figure out how to get to my hotel. It was about 1:30pm and the trip should have taken about 40 minutes. One option was to take a taxi. I decided not to waste like 40 euro on that so I took the bus/train/subway thing. Ok, let me just say that I suck with public transportation. Even in america. Even in Santa Barbara where there is only one bus system.

I finally found my hotel after 2.5 hours! Hahaha. When I walked into my hotel room, my roommate was there. I was on the verge of tears. It had been a crazy, long, tiring day.




I met with the tour group for an orientation that lasted about 2 hours (a little too long considering most of us had been traveling all day!). But we did get a lot of information on our trip and what to expect over the next few days.




After the meeting, I showered really fast and then we went on our bus to dinner in the city. Dinner was... okay. One thing I didn't realize was how cold it gets in the evening! I was freezing!





After dinner, I went back to the hotel where I chatted for a few minutes on skype, updated my blog, then quickly fell asleep.