Browse Day: August 23, 2008

Bienvenido a Miami!

Yep, we’re in Miami now.  Once we landed in Dallas, we were directed to the ticket counter and they offered us $5 vouchers (per person) for lunch, a flight to Miami in the afternoon, $10 vouchers (per person) for dinner, a complimentary overnight hotel stay, and a flight to Belize from Miami the next morning.

So, we’re at a Crown Plaza near the airport now and should be getting on the first flight out to Belize around 10 am tomorrow.  So, for dinner we had some tasty Cuban food at Miami International Airport and I got a hot shower after a long day of three security lines, two 3-hour flights, and sleep deprivation.  Despite all the run-around, I still feel like I’m on vacation.  I’m just not quite in the city I was hoping for but we’ll get there.  One more thing that helped our day run a little smoother was the fact that we didn’t have any checked luggage.  Phew!  Not only did we save $15 per bag but it was one less thing for us to worry about when we missed our connection.

Now what?

I ended up falling asleep around 2:00 am this morning and was awoken around 3:47 am to catch our 4:00 am cab pick-up.  It was pretty painful but we made it to the airport by 4:20.  We checked in at the kiosk to discover that our 6:00 am flight was delayed an hour.  Already?!  We were in doubt about making our connection so we called AA and they told us to go to the ticket counter to see if we could get rebooked on a different flight.  Well, we had to leave the security gate and stand in line for an hour (missing all the 6 am flights) and the ticket guy said that we would have enough time to make the connection.  It would be close but we’d have enough time.  So, we stood in line for nothing, went through security once more, and boarded our 7:00 am plane.  All was good again until the pilot announced that his co-pilot was running late and that he’d be arriving in 25 minutes.  What?!  All was lost by then and we were screwed.  We sat on the tarmac for an additional hour and didn’t take off until 8:00 am.  We just arrived in Dallas/Fort Worth at 1:00 CST and totally missed our 1:05 connection to Belize….the only flight to Belize for the day.  Boo…  American Airlines blows.

So, we’re going to figure out what’s next.  Stay tuned!

10 days

Ah…I’m officially on vacation and have solid 10 days off from work.  Seven of those days will be in Belize and I can’t wait!  This afternoon couldn’t go any slower at work as I counted down the number of patients I had and then the number of minutes I had left before hopping on the BART shuttle.

On my way home, I hung out at Embarcadero Station to meet up with my mom who was coming from SFO.  She was brave enough to take BART from SFO and did it like a pro.  We took Muni home together and she has settled in for a week in SF with Koa.  With just a few tips on how to turn on the TV, how to use Google Maps to get public transit directions, and where to find the Safeway, she is ready to go!

So, it’s about 1:00 am, our bags are all packed, and I’m in bed surfing the internet with the TV on.  We’re staying up all night to catch our 4:00 am cab to SFO.  Our flight is at 6:00 am and I’m planning to take a nap on the plane.  We’ll see if I manage to stay up or not.  In less than 12 hours, I will be in Belize, baby!!