I'm thinking day one needs a post of its own. It was a long one!
We got up at 3:30 so we could be at the airport by 5:30 as our flight was supposed to leave at 7:00 Saturday morning. Beth and I had checked in online Friday night and paid for our luggage at that time as well. My check in with bags went smoothly but Beth had a problem with seating because Harrison was going to be sitting on her lap. Apparently that didn't transfer through when she checked in online. That took about 40 min to straighten out. We then go through security with no problems and are waiting for our plane to board at our gate. We can see the plane there but it's after 7:00 and they haven't started boarding. They announce that there is a mechanical issue and are waiting on the mechanic. About 10 minutes later they start calling people one by one up to the desk. They have to re-route the entire flight onto other flights because the mechanic isn't even on site yet. So they switch our flight and give us food vouchers only good that day at any airport. We are now going through Atlanta instead of Memphis (no big deal…just a much bigger airport to navigate). We go across the terminal to the gate we are now flying out of and it's packed and pure mayhem! Beth and Josh get upgraded to first class….Jared and I get split up with me sitting in row 10 with Cole and Jared sitting in row 36 with Caitlyn over the engines which are loud and no windows. Really disappointing for Caitlyn's first flight ever. During the flight a woman started having seizures at the front of the plane, someone started yelling for a Dr. and it was a little crazy for awhile. But the kids did really well and we survived the first flight of the day!
The Atlanta airport and our layover was uneventful. We had to eat pretty fast to make our next flight but nothing earth shattering happened.
We land in Tampa at about 12:30 and let the kids play in the play area for a little while. We go get our luggage and head to the car rental area. Only to find that our rental company isn't located at the airport but we have to take a shuttle to get there. We go back over to baggage claim and just miss the first shuttle. We had to wait about 20 min for the next one. We get to the rental place and it's a tiny place in a strip mall with only room inside for people who are signing in. So we wait outside in the heat with the kids while Beth goes inside. Next thing I know she comes out and says they didn't have a mini-van available but were going to upgrade us to an Acadia. Yes, the Acadia has a 3rd row seat but with 4 adults and 3 car seats it was not going to work. There was no way we'd all fit comfortably. We weren't going to fit super comfortably in the minivan as it was. Beth told them that the Acadia may be an upgrade for some, but not for everyone. They were not accommodating at all. Then we find out that they wanted to charge an additional $10 a day for any additional drivers. Well Beth didn't want to drive all week so we changed the primary driver to Jared. While he was in there making that change a minivan came back and was available. So we got what we reserved in the end. The car seats were another debacle. During all this Caitlyn had to go to the bathroom and the rental place didn't have one. So I took her over to the Marriott to use their restroom. When we walked in I asked where the restroom was. They then asked if we were from the rental place and I said yes. Then they informed me that we couldn't use their bathrooms but that the Hilton across the street would allow it. I will never use Marriott again due to that. Are you freaking kidding me? I have a 3 year old with me who needs to go potty and you're going to make us go somewhere else? I was completely in tears at this point. It took about 2 hours at the rental place to get everything set up and car seats in the car and on our way to Christy's.
The rest of the day was glorious! We got to Christy's and got ready to go out for dinner. Jenna was a doll and babysat the kids so we could go out just us adults (and Cole tagged along with us). We went to a restaurant called Banana Cabana and it was wonderful! Christy says they have new owners and it wasn't as good as normal but since I have nothing to compare it to it was wonderful! So good. Then we went across the street to the beach with the sunset. It was beautiful! We even waded out a ways into the water. It was a perfect night to start out the vacation!
We got up at 3:30 so we could be at the airport by 5:30 as our flight was supposed to leave at 7:00 Saturday morning. Beth and I had checked in online Friday night and paid for our luggage at that time as well. My check in with bags went smoothly but Beth had a problem with seating because Harrison was going to be sitting on her lap. Apparently that didn't transfer through when she checked in online. That took about 40 min to straighten out. We then go through security with no problems and are waiting for our plane to board at our gate. We can see the plane there but it's after 7:00 and they haven't started boarding. They announce that there is a mechanical issue and are waiting on the mechanic. About 10 minutes later they start calling people one by one up to the desk. They have to re-route the entire flight onto other flights because the mechanic isn't even on site yet. So they switch our flight and give us food vouchers only good that day at any airport. We are now going through Atlanta instead of Memphis (no big deal…just a much bigger airport to navigate). We go across the terminal to the gate we are now flying out of and it's packed and pure mayhem! Beth and Josh get upgraded to first class….Jared and I get split up with me sitting in row 10 with Cole and Jared sitting in row 36 with Caitlyn over the engines which are loud and no windows. Really disappointing for Caitlyn's first flight ever. During the flight a woman started having seizures at the front of the plane, someone started yelling for a Dr. and it was a little crazy for awhile. But the kids did really well and we survived the first flight of the day!
The Atlanta airport and our layover was uneventful. We had to eat pretty fast to make our next flight but nothing earth shattering happened.
We land in Tampa at about 12:30 and let the kids play in the play area for a little while. We go get our luggage and head to the car rental area. Only to find that our rental company isn't located at the airport but we have to take a shuttle to get there. We go back over to baggage claim and just miss the first shuttle. We had to wait about 20 min for the next one. We get to the rental place and it's a tiny place in a strip mall with only room inside for people who are signing in. So we wait outside in the heat with the kids while Beth goes inside. Next thing I know she comes out and says they didn't have a mini-van available but were going to upgrade us to an Acadia. Yes, the Acadia has a 3rd row seat but with 4 adults and 3 car seats it was not going to work. There was no way we'd all fit comfortably. We weren't going to fit super comfortably in the minivan as it was. Beth told them that the Acadia may be an upgrade for some, but not for everyone. They were not accommodating at all. Then we find out that they wanted to charge an additional $10 a day for any additional drivers. Well Beth didn't want to drive all week so we changed the primary driver to Jared. While he was in there making that change a minivan came back and was available. So we got what we reserved in the end. The car seats were another debacle. During all this Caitlyn had to go to the bathroom and the rental place didn't have one. So I took her over to the Marriott to use their restroom. When we walked in I asked where the restroom was. They then asked if we were from the rental place and I said yes. Then they informed me that we couldn't use their bathrooms but that the Hilton across the street would allow it. I will never use Marriott again due to that. Are you freaking kidding me? I have a 3 year old with me who needs to go potty and you're going to make us go somewhere else? I was completely in tears at this point. It took about 2 hours at the rental place to get everything set up and car seats in the car and on our way to Christy's.
The rest of the day was glorious! We got to Christy's and got ready to go out for dinner. Jenna was a doll and babysat the kids so we could go out just us adults (and Cole tagged along with us). We went to a restaurant called Banana Cabana and it was wonderful! Christy says they have new owners and it wasn't as good as normal but since I have nothing to compare it to it was wonderful! So good. Then we went across the street to the beach with the sunset. It was beautiful! We even waded out a ways into the water. It was a perfect night to start out the vacation!
