Oh, the places you won't go

Have you wondered where I have been?
Have you missed me?
Did you even notice I was gone?

Well, I am on a little (add sarcasm here )adventure and I can't seem to get off it. My adventure started last Saturday night when my family packed our bags for El Paso. I was excited to see our families in El Paso, considering it had been since Christmas. I had a great plan of staying until Thursday and then returning back to Houston for some fun. Well after 7.5 hours of trying to catch flights at the airport on 2 different airlines, I called it a day...well actually I called it a weekend.

Here is the story:
My husband is a pilot. One of the benefits of this lifestyle is the ability to fly on his airline for a mere $12.50 or on other airlines for a small fee or 10% of the ticketed price. Sounds fab, doesn't it? It is most of the time. But, we fly standby---which means if they have an open seat and no revenue passenger standing by for it, then they will give it to us. Holidays are a nightmare for standby travel and apparently Spring Break falls in that category as well. Usually bad weather, such as the fog Houston has been having, help out a standby passenger because the revenue passengers miss connections and get put on other airlines. But, if a flight cancels, then people like me become pond scum (the lowest of the low on the who's getting on the flight list). You see, when a flight cancels, they have all these revenue passengers to take care of. They are not going to be able to fit a non-revenue being on. So:

Spring Break + Flight Cancellation = Forget it you're not going!

So, I turned to Southwest Airlines. I had no better luck there. I thought I was going to cry if I heard Kiera say one more time, "Mommy I want to get on THAT airplane!" I kept telling her, "Me too!"

It then became clear that not only were we not going home that particular day, ALL the flights were full ALL weekend. When we finally called it a day, I told her we were going back to Grandma and Papa's house and we would get back on a plane another day. She said OK and we began the long walk down the terminal to the exit. When we reached the door out of the terminal, she said in her sweet little voice, "Mommy, are we going to El Paso again?" All I could say is, "Yes, baby we are!" :(

I have learned some valuable lessons from my misadventure:

*Never fly standby on a holiday or Spring Break again. Plane tickets are NOT that expensive.

*I have the best 2 year old in the world. Seriously, what toddler endures 7.5 hours in a small airport and doesn't whine or cry? Only mine and a few M&Ms.

*When you miss your first standby flight, ask the attendent to make sure your luggage doesn't go without you (in case you have to stay five more days.) Yep, mine went on the first flight, so Kiera and I got some new clothes!

*Sometimes being a pilot's wife isn't all it's cracked up to be.

*Never ever be afraid to ask someone if you can plug into his computer for a phone charge, but first make sure you have nothing on your phone to be embarrassed by. Yep, had to do this and the nice man saw ALL my pictures and info. Good thing I am not into porn.

*Always buy a bag of M&Ms when traveling with a toddler and be prepared to dole them out 5 at a time throughout the day.

*Never ever cry when a plane leaves the gate without you....there will always be another chance another day!