Deja Vu, part II

Now we are at the counter of Gate 29 and we have just seen the door close to our dreams of making it to Myrtle Beach at our desired time.

My wife is loosing it and starts with the "John, I am so sorry, I don't know whahappntometomakme....(she was crying and apologizing at the same time). I tried to stay as calm as I could. Getting hysterical was not going to make things any easier. Even though in my head, I was close to hysterical.

I forgot to tell you that when we were in the plane, waiting for the doors to open, I called my assistant. I told her to cancel the car because there was a good chance we were going to make this flight to Myrtle Beach.

Remember, if we couldn't make the flight to Myrtle Beach there were some options.
I talked to the guy at the counter and told him our dilemma. (right before talking to the guy in a calm manner, I thought about the yelling option, "YOU KNEW WE WERE COMING YOU MOTHER "F"er, THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT TOLD US YOU KNEW WE WERE COMING. DIDN'T YOUR COMPUTER TELL YOU WE WERE ON OUR WAY. WHY DIDN'T YOU WAIT FOR US?) Man did I want to reach over the counter and ring his little neck. I told myself, not to get hysterical. There is only room for one hysterical person (and that was my wife, at the present time. I love you honey, I know my pillow and blanket will be on the couch. This is too funny not to tell).
Anyway, I am talking to the guy at the counter and he puts us stand by for the Wilmington flight which leaves in 35 minutes and it is right across the way. And then he books us for the Charleston flight that is scheduled to leave at 11:15pm.

We go across the hall and let the woman at the counter that we are here and will wait for your call right here. I then call my assistant who I tell what to do. I need you to get me a rent a car with a GPS so I can get from Wilmington to Myrtle Beach. BUT there is a small chance you will be cancelling that and getting me a car from Charleston to Myrtle Beach.
WHAT!!?
"Just do it" I tell her. And she does it. She understands the stress I am under and is a huge help. I know I will pay for it later but it is worth it.

Okay the Wilmington flight. It is a 50 person plane and we are 1 and 2 on the STAND BY list.
Wouldn't you know it but ALL 50 people show up for this flight.
This must be the first time in history everyone showed for a flight.
Also the first time in history three flights in a row, all on time. Are you kidding me? When have, in the history of the world, there been three consecutive flights on time?
At this point when the Delta person lets us know that everyone was on the plane, my wife is in full breakdown mode.
I assure my wife it is okay (I know if I am nice to her, there is a real good chance for lovin' later on in the weekend) and that we will get there. We knew we were on the flight to Charleston and we were going to have to do this.
Now I call my assistant back and tell her to cancel the car in Wilmington and go with the car in Charleston. She is loosing it on the phone. I am telling her if she thinks she has it rough, try being in our shoes.
So we are now at the gate for the Charleston flight and it is LATE. Can you believe it? The flight we are on and are there and it is late. Now if one of the other flights were just five minutes late we would not be in this predicament.
We then realize we are going to get into Charleston after midnight. More like 12:30 and that the car rental place probably closes at midnight. OH SH#$!%@T . We immediately call Hertz, and they assure us they will wait for us.
Now we are on a promise from a dude we don't know that is in a totally different state than the one we are going in.

There is another part of the story I didn't get into but I will bring you up to speed. In the Atlanta airport when we were on standby for Wilmington we met this guy. Turns out he missed the same flight to Myrtle Beach as we did. But his problem was the airlines fault, so he tells us he has a hotel voucher. We told him we have the same problem as him. I told him that we had a car if we wanted it but we were going to try to get closer and then drive. I hear him out of the corner of my ear say, "Well, I am game." (visions of Planes, Trains and Automobiles in my head).
He was trying to tell me that if we wanted to drive that he would split the cost with us and the driving.
For a split second, I entertained it.
We missed this flight and he was standby behind us and he obviously missed it too. We didn't say anything to him after that so we assumed we heard the last from him.
So off we went to the Charleston gate and five minutes later he was rolls up to this gate.
Then we went and got a bite to eat and guess who sits on the table next to us. Then he tells me he is a Gator fan and strikes up a conversation.
Now I am getting a little suspicious that this guy is a weirdo. He hears us talking about getting a car in Charleston and asks us about it.
Then my wife and I start whispering to each other about how he is giving us the creeps.
Then he asked about if he could get the number to the rental car company we used.
Then we moved on to the gate and he rolls on up and tells us he is also on this flight.
Now it is officially creepy. And he tells us that he was not able to get a car because they were closed.
Now I just start envisioning him stabbing us in our rental car that my assistant reserved with her credit card. That would suck for her.
So we then went into full avoidance mode for the next two hours.
Then we are in the rental car line and see him coming. We get the agreement and run out the door (looking behind us the whole time). Weird.

So we get to Charleston and the car is waiting for us. This was a Toyota Corolla with a GPS system in it. Plug in the digits and start our 2 hour journey to Myrtle Beach. Oh by the way it is 1:15 am when we pull out of the airport.

3:15 am we roll up to the Sheraton. I asked for a 7:30 am wake up call. We settle in and crash.
You know when you go to a nice hotel and they have alarm clock on the nightstand. Well we were at a nice hotel and they had one of these sweet alarm clocks. And guess what happens when the person staying in this room the day before sets the alarm for 6:15. You guessed it.
6:15 comes along and it goes off. Pitch black in the room and we have no idea how to shut this fancy alarm clock off.
Needless to say, I was up and never going back to sleep.
I am simple going to have to give my lecture on fumes.

I did it. I think it went great.
I was asked to play golf in the tourney and my team won.
Ruth's Chris for celebration dinner.
Things are all good in the Gammichia world.
Then back to the hotel for an early bedtime (this time with the alarm clock pulled out of the wall).

Crazy stuff,
Talk to you Friday.
john