So I suprised my girlfriend recently with a trip home to Orlando for her birthday. You know, see the family, worship at the altar of Mickey, and so on...
SBA-DFW-MCO. Sounds simple enough right? No chance of winter weather changing planes in Texas right?
WTF?
Now my girlfriend and I were already bored enough when we got to DFW for our 3+ hour layover...and even moreso when our plane (which we were repeatedly told was at the airport, but they couldn't find anyone to drive it over from the hangar) went missing for the better part of 6 hours...
So after waiting all day and being told that our flight was due to get going any minute (meanwhile all the other stranded passengers are re-booking and booking hotels), we are finally told after nearly 8 hours that our flight has been cancelled and to call an 800 number. And then every American Airlines employee in the terminal mysteriously disappeared. So what happened? We weren't able to get out of Dallas for TWO MORE DAYS!
Problem #2
But alas, American wasn't giving away luggage that day...so they stranded us...cold, tired, and irritated...for TWO DAYS! I usually have a sense of humor about such things, but their lack of service was unacceptable.
So we got a hotel...
...and tried to make the best of it...
it did have a nice view...
...and we were off to the suburbs for some clothes...
...welcome to Dallas...
I had photo sex with the Wells Fargo Tower
...after a big ass steak and a six pack or two...
----to add insult to irritation...at this point my 17-85 ISM lens decided to take a crap so I switched to the 70-300 ISM and my little Nikon point and shoot----
Let us away...please!
Downtown
North Dallas Forty
Plainspotting...
Tri-Jet!
Get me outta here...
Houston?
Dallas...on the way to MCO...
...or so we thought...
...after 1 missed approach at MCO due to wind shear, the pilot informed us we didn't have enough fuel to circle around and flew us to Tampa...which would have been OK, but he did a touch-and-go at TPA due to wind shear as well and had to declare an emergency...that was just about too much for us...so we got the hell off of the plane and drove from Tampa...
...smile and maybe...
...so we visited my Grandma's house, which is of course a double-wide on a golf course...
...and spent some time with her neighbor...
...and so I didn't get to see that much of Orlando itself (including skipping Mickey's house), but I did snap a few horrible shots from Lake Eola...
Bring it on!
In the end, not the best trip I've ever taken. Down a camera lens, the extra cost of hotels, taxis and clothes, and my girlfriend had to spend her birthday scared to death on an airplane (I wasn't so comfortable myself).
I'll say this...there's less to do in downtown Dallas than I ever would have imagined (and I've been there before)...and Orlando (what I saw of it) was suprisingly interesting in and around downtown (Thornton Park and Rollins College areas).
Let's hope that my next trip (as yet unplanned) works out a little better...
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