WonderWoman28
Disaholic
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2016
- Messages
- 88
F is for FINALLY Off and Flying High!
Here it is, the post you’ve all been hoping would come. And go. But, my Friends, it must be done. Because all good stories begin with a beginning. Unless it’s Groundhog Day and then you get more beginnings than you’d ever want. So, it’s a Beginning you shall have, but only one. And I can’t remember the last time I began a Disney Trip that I didn’t lose, forget, or break something along the way. Why would this trip be any different? I mean, I’m all about traditions! But that’s getting way ahead of myself so let’s take a look at why I was so antsy to find myself… well, anywhere else than home.
January 26th presented itself all wrapped up in white. That was a Wednesday, and I was scheduled to work at my other job, 30 miles away, on Thursday. While beautiful, and fairly rare for Western Oregon at lower elevations, we suck at driving in snow. No really. We suck. We don’t have the equipment to deal with it and we are ill-practiced at best. My shift was supposed to start at 6:30 AM and there was NO way I was going to drive in the icy darkness at 5:00 AM or earlier to get there in time. Beyond that, by Wednesday night there was already a multi-car pile up in my neighborhood and folks were having a rough time getting home. (I live 500 ft up a hill and that amount does make a world of difference.) So I made the executive decision to just head to the hospital and spend the night in one of the sleeper rooms there rather than risk a wreck. I did arrive safely, only to be told I’d been called off for my shift. Ah well, better safe than sorry- even if the normally 30-minute drive took me 90.
That brought me to just Thursday and Friday. Thursday brought some horrible drama to work (can’t give details-it’s still ongoing) but I did get off much earlier than expected on Friday. Beyond that, it’d been far too long since a real vacation that wasn’t filled with papers and homework. I desperately needed rest and a change of routine as for months I’d been working almost 50 hours a week at 2 jobs and often taking weekend call shifts. I was just plain tired.
I had planned to make the entire day on Saturday a “Pre-Trip Spa Day” but was able to shift some appointments around and take care of my nails, hair, and brows on Friday. Huzzah!!
All that was left was my lashes (eye lashes, not the 50 lashes I probably deserve) appt at 9:00. That taken care off, I felt amply beautified, and came home to load my bags and head up to Michaela’s for the night. In hindsight, I’d have added a day to our trip. Ah well, 20-20 and all that. That gave us the whole afternoon and evening to dink around.
We ended up at Target to grab some last minute junk- a hat for her, some sunscreen
, and some other stuff I can’t remember, then we went back to her place to cook some risotto for dinner, share a bottle of wine while we watched Palm Springs (another movie with beginnings ad nauseum) and Soul, and hit the sack on the early side. Had it not been for her dog scratching all night long, both of us tossing and turning with the usual pre-trip wiggles, too hot, too cold, is-my-alarm-really-set nerves, etc…, etc… I might have woken up rested.
I had to laugh at this guy while we were out. If you’ve seen Soul, you know exactly why that is funny.
4:00 came early enough and with a quick shower, last minute checks, and charging cord gatherings, we hit the road at exactly 5:02AM. Remember I’d booked a stay at an airport hotel? When Mik decided to travel with me, I cancelled the room saving the $169 and thought we’d take a $20 Lyft from her house about 30 minutes from the airport. Well, Mik(ki) (short for Michaela) did the math and decided that taking her car and parking was going to be cheaper than risking a Lyft surge. She got burned coming home from Vegas one time and spent over $80 to go 10 miles. Personally, I was elated at being spared from barricading my door at another airport hotel. We’d checked in early, but when you have to drop a bag, you need to visit the ticket counter anyway. Duly dumped, it was time to head through security… which was empty-ish. We breezed through in 10 minutes and were at our gate with plenty of time to spare for grabbing a latte. Because I don’t do mornings without one. I also took a requisite PDX carpet shot. It’s just what we do. Some people here riot, others take foot selfies. We also had packed some snicky-snacks for the flight so saved some money on a gut-bomb there too.
Believe it or not, we took off early! But even better we made up time en route too and arrived 40 minutes early into MCO. WOOT!! The short 5.5 flight was great! I slept for almost 2 hours, maybe more, of it and watched Mandalorian along the way. We sailed off the plane, grabbed our checked bag from the A side (did I mention how annoying this is?) (Did I also mention that Mikki put some of her stuff into the bag too?), trekked all the way back to the B side for ME, and were on a bus within 45 minutes of landing.
Palm Trees!!!
I had anticipated arriving to AoA at 5:30, but instead chugged into the lobby at 4:30.
It's tough to get a front seat anymore on ME:
While I was still in line at Check-in at 4:42 I got our “Room Ready” text. Obviously, they were waiting for us to arrive to assign the room. Guess what we got? I had a bunch of stuff to do at the desk including assigning the MB I brought for her, getting her set up with charging, and attaching her email to it, and confirming that MaryEllen was in our party and room.
By 5:51, we were on a private bus to MK…
OUR Magical Trip had officially begun!
The nails are adorable, the risotto looks amazing, yay for flights landing early, and WOOHOO to cars room! I love the AoA lobby, it's so colorful and smells amazing.
Also, congrats on the BSN! Such an amazing achievement. Here to follow along as you celebrate.
As long as no bones were broken, you can handle the rest!
Not sure if I'd go that far, but... dang, it sure is good!
So glad you're here and hopefully I can bring about some good cheer!
Yuck 
I plan something similar for winter months soon!
