Vegas Trip: Flight 2

Katie October 8, 2013 0 Comments

On flight 1 I learned just because you are dressed like a sharp business man, it doesn’t mean you have any common sense. Flight 2 also showed this to be true. The flight attendant said if the front bathroom was in use, there would be a red X.  Multiple people walked up to the occupied bathroom to say “I don’t see a red X”, but I guess they didn’t look because it was almost always occupied.

The pilot teased me on this flight as I got on the plane and ‘called me out’ because my bag matched my shirt.  Still keeping that note to self in my brain from the last post! I got situated and a husband and wife were next to me. I ended up dropping my pen (I brought a notebook to ‘old school’ blog throughout the trip because I didn’t bring my laptop) and it took me a good 5 minutes to pick the damn thing back up. Then I dropped it again! I can’t win.

The ride was much longer than I had anticipated but I tracked the flight on my Nook (that was free, WiFi was $8, no thanks!) Played a few games, read a book or two and tried to write a few blog posts (like this one).  We had a jet stream that meant we’d be getting in late (and I was still starving) and I wanted to nap but didn’t want to miss snack time!

After snacks I was able to nap and woke up to see the Stratosphere outside the plane window. We had arrived!  As we were departing a woman spilled her diet coke all over my pants – the only long pants I had brought for the trip.

I made my way to baggage claim and waited for Kim to meet me from her flight.  We got our shuttle tickets and 3 hours after landing made it to the hotel.  Midnight Vegas time, 3am my time… It was time to sleep!

Vegas Trip: Flight 1

Katie October 7, 2013 0 Comments

Last month I took a trip to Las Vegas, since we had some date changes I couldn’t allot blog time to the posts but all this month look for a second post on select days chronicling my trip.

Unfortunately due to the date changes, I couldn’t get a direct flight on the way there. I had to have a layover in Chicago.

I got to the airport super early and due to my leg brace got to have a TSA pat down. Usually they put me through the X-Ray machine with my shoes on and then wipe my shoes down but their policy must have changed.  Or it changes depending on who you talk to that works there.

I got to my gate to see that flight before mine was delayed. I had hope that wouldn’t be a sign of thing to come but I was able to preboard and the flight attendants were calling me miss orange. Note to self, don’t wear an orange shirt when flying with an orange suitcase! Everything was going fine until Mr Douche decided he wanted to sit next to me.

This guy was everything you DONT want next to you. FIrst he threw his newspaper and book down to his seat, hitting me.  Any kind of oops sorry? Not at all. Then he threw his jacket at the seat (and me).  He was mad the woman on the aisle got up when he approached her because he needed to put his bag up first.  I think she may have spoke a different language and didn’t understand beyond that he wanted to sit in the middle… Then he used both arm rests – leaned way too far into me when he was reading and I was reading a magazine (I was squished against the window practically) and closed my window shade without even asking me if that would be ok. Awful, awful seat buddy!

I fell asleep and missed snacks and drinks and was starving by the time we landed in Chicago. I had 16 gates to navigate (or 8, since it alternated on sides of the hallway) and every ‘fast’ food place had a crazy line and I didn’t have much time.

Flight 2 ended up delayed because of a medical emergency, I dont know if it was on the flight i was going to be boarding or one that was just blocking the tarmac and our flight from coming in, but we finally boarded about 10 minutes late.

Back from Vacation!

Katie October 1, 2013 0 Comments

I’m back from vacation, did you miss me?  You probably didn’t even realize I was gone, did you?  I made sure to schedule something every day to keep on pace with my goal of 1 post a day.  My intention was, starting today, to add a 2nd post per day with something exciting that we did on vacation.  (I was in Las Vegas for a week)  Except that the “real world” hit me hard.  I’m still adjusting to the time difference (I got home Saturday night and stayed up until 4am watching the DVR – was seemingly “fine” on Sunday and Monday but today I’m all sorts of confused and exhausted) and I’ve been trying to find some sort of plug-in to make it easier to look at my photos!  Lately I’ve been posting the “galleries” with photos but you can’t scroll through them.  That’s what I want to see and it’s probably easier for you too… but I haven’t found something that works.  I’m willing to pay – if the price is right and it does what I want! (Anyone know of anything? Please leave a comment!)  In addition to being back to work I am moving to a new place… there is just a LOT going on right now.

But I took my trusty One Direction Louis Orange Journal “on the road” with me and tried to write up blog posts every night (over 20, I think I am up to) as well as keep on pace with my book reading to keep those reviews coming at ya.  The details are all there – in my purse – staring at me… the free time?  Nowhere to be found.

So hang tight, help me find a good gallery plug in for WordPress and hopefully by the end of the month I’ll get to share everything I did in Vegas with you all 🙂

Tulsa Hanson Weekend

Katie May 11, 2013 0 Comments

Last weekend I went to Tulsa for Hanson’s Members Only Event.  I already posted a bit about the show, but now I’ll post about the whole weekend.  The Members Only Events used to only be the show, but last year they decided to make them yearly and are now trying to make them something bigger. This year they added on a dinner on Friday night (but I didn’t make it to town in time) as well as an album listening party and a documentary screening for their new album ANTHEM which will be out June 18.

Like last year, they also had a store which had all sorts of new merchandise being debuted for the weekend. The big hit were the pint glasses and coasters. I was nervous about getting the glasses home in my luggage so we hit up a UPS store so I could get them shipped. They arrived yesterday safe and sound!

The thing I was most looking forward to was the listening party – although now I am kind of bummed because there are 3 or 4 songs stuck in my head and I can’t hear them again for another MONTH! Ahhh.  The new album is really great. A lot different than what they have done before but really awesome.

The documentary talked a bit about how they really needed a break before recording the new album because they weren’t sure if they wanted to keep making music or not.  Fortunately after the break they decided that they would be making the new album!

They also did a 1 mile walk around Tulsa – we happened to show up right at the end of the walk and were able to take some pics of the guys while they were talking and got a photo with Zac afterwards as well.  In addition to donating $1 per ticket sold to their Take The Walk campaign, they will also be continuing to do the walks on this fall’s tour.

Sunday there wasn’t too much to do so we did some site seeing – made the trek (again) to their child hood home, the golden driller (my fave) and some other spots around town.

The show was great, seeing a bunch of friends I only see once a year was even greater!

Looking forward to next year’s trek!

The Mark Twain House

Katie January 26, 2013 0 Comments

Every year it is my goal to get all the Connecticut pressed pennies that there are.  Every year I fail, but in 2012 I did add another one to the list – The Mark Twain House and Museum.  At first, I had said that after my Mom and I both read The Autobiography of Mark Twain we would “reward” ourselves by taking a field trip to the house – but neither of us were able to make it through the book.  I ended up winning tickets from one of the radio station so one weekend in December we went to check it out!

Tulsa Trip #4

Katie May 21, 2012 0 Comments

May 11-14 I took my 4th trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma – the home of Hanson.  On Friday, I drove to Newark (and parked in the wrong parking lot – oops!) and met up with my friend Kim.  Our flight was scheduled to leave at 7:35 and as soon as we hung up after she called to let me know she was on her way – I got an email from United that we had been delayed to 8:40.  We were super early but went through security, got a bite to eat and hung out waiting for the flight.  The best part of the delay was when we got delayed from 8:58 to 8:59.  We finally got to Tulsa around midnight and our friends picked us up and brought us to the hotel!

Saturday morning we had to check in for the weekend and then we headed to the Dilly Deli for breakfast and then the rest of the girls were participating in the bowling tournament.  I tagged along and was the official score keeper. (I think this made our game go much faster as we were the first team done – no shuffling between bowling and keeping score at the same time to slow things down)

After bowling we hopped in line for the I Heart Hanson store – the line was not moving AT. ALL and we realized that the crew went to lunch from 12-1.  We waited *3* hours and I ended up spending $230. I got 3 shirts, a trivet, pot holder, clothes pins, buttons, pens, pencils, activity book, bandanas, pillow, trivia game and a poster (I think that’s everything, but probably not.)  Isaac rode by on his bike and waved while we were in line.

We headed back up to the bowling alley assuming things would be running late, but 20 minutes after it was supposed to end there was no sign of anyone. (Apparently Zac had showed up)  We decided to go to lunch/dinner/whatever at Mexicali and then my other group of friends picked me up. (It was crazy bouncing between groups so I had a chance to hang out with all my friends!)

With the other group I went to the Golden Driller – probably my favorite thing in Tulsa.  Then we got a tweet that Hanson would be having a beer tasting at McNellie’s and to meet them there at 8.  We were right around the corner when we got the tweet notification and ended up being one of the first groups there. We ordered a “Zac” beer and hoped the guys would show up.  Isaac and Taylor ended up downstairs and so we went down there to see PURE CHAOS. It was insane.  Somehow we ended up right by the door Taylor came out of and found ourselves in the middle of a mob. We got a photo w/ him and then they left. Apparently girls chased them – but I couldn’t see because 2 of my friends had barricaded me so I wouldn’t get trampled by everyone going nuts.

After that, there was a crazy fight (although I don’t believe it was Hanson related) and a bunch of girls waiting by the back door of Hanson’s office… and then I went back to the hotel for the night.

Sunday morning we went to the Tulsa Zoo – tickets were 50% off.  It was super, super hot out and I didn’t pack any shorts so it kind of made  things miserable (especially when we went in the rainforest) and a lot of the animals were just not interested in doing anything but laying in the shade (I cant blame them!)  I was able to get all 8 pennies from the zoo and we got to ride the train from one end to the other which was fun. And I got a blue raspberry icee 🙂

Then I switched groups again and hung out in the hotel for a bit before grabbing a (gross) bite to eat at quiktrip. We went to the block party outside of cain’s, colored a buffalo and sat down under a bridge in the shade until it was time to line up for the show. Major line drama and chaos ensued.

After the show (which Ive already recapped so no need to talk about it again) we went to Dennys for dinner – never again.

Monday we had a flight at about noon from Tulsa to Houston and then a 2 hour layover before a 3:36 flight back to NJ.  We got stopped at security – the Hanson trivia  game was too dense to see through and it also came with  a timer so it ended up looking like a black box with a timer.  Fortunately after a quick inspection of our luggage we were good to go.  Our first flight was no problem, I slept through most of it.  Then we went to find out gate in Houston only to find that it had been changed in the time we checked getting off the flight and made it to the other terminal.  We waited and around 3pm started boarding.

We started movies on the screens on our seats (I chose Happy Feet 2) and pulled away from the gate.  Then a lot of time went by and we still hadn’t made it into the air.  Apparently there was a problem with the AC that they were trying to fix but were having trouble.  Then they needed maintenance so we had to go to a gate. Then we had to leave the plane.  And then they kept updating us but it was never with good news.  Engine restarts didn’t help, replacement parts weren’t working.  They gave us $5 snack voucher to grab something to eat.  When we got back from getting a snack we were told we were getting a new plane. Of course then the plane had to de-plane, get cleaned, etc.  We ended up taking off about the time we SHOULD have been landing in Newark.  Instead of arriving at 8:20, we got there at 12:20.  I ended up making it home at 3am and was glad that I took Tuesday off of work! No way was I going to be fun to be around after going to bed that late!  (And they did offer us some sort of compensation. We had 3 choices to make on a special site  that the captain gave us the URL for while we were still in the air. Not sure I want to deal with United again though after delays both ways, we’ll wait and see.)

Ultimately, the weekend was a lot of fun and it was great to see a bunch of my friends that I don’t see nearly often enough and of course, my favorite band.

Travel Bucket List: Kefalonia, Greece

Katie May 11, 2012 0 Comments

I have a bit of a travel bucket list, places I would LOVE to visit and hopefully some day I will be able to!  I recently added “The Island of Dreams” to the list – Kefalonia which is located in Greece.

One of my ex-co-workers was Greek and ever since he showed me some photos of one of his visits to Greece I have wanted to go, and doing some research I found the small island of Kefalonia.

Kefalonia is one of Greece’s most beautiful destinations for a holiday and thousands of tourists flock there each year.

A great website to find out more about this great island is www.kefalonia.co.uk.  It tells you some background on the island and how it has become a big holiday spot in recent years and it also has a great search feature to help you plan your stay!  It has been developed to let you know everything that you need to know about your dream vacation to Kefalonia.

All of the resorts and villas look absolutely gorgeous – and the water is so blue!  We definitely don’t have anything beautiful like that here in the north east.  One of the villas said that the area it is in is sometimes the home to loggerhead turtles!  It would be so cool to see that up close.  I’m definitely going to have a difficult time picking out where to stay when it comes time to visiting Kefalonia.

Travelpro Sweepstakes

Katie November 23, 2011 0 Comments

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