Worst Start Off Ever!!!!!

Well, so much for the perfect start to a great trip! Of my 10 years worth of self traveling, I have never had so much trouble on one trip. It started off all on the wrong foot. We left a little late for the airport and had just enough time to board the plane. So much for the luggage space, so we had to check almost everything. Then, there was a computer error or something wrong with the plane, so Delta had to “run to the store” to get the new part. An hour later we were off. As soon as we landed in Memphis, Tennessee, we found out that our plane had taken off without us on it to Mobile, Alabama.

Instead of freaking out right away, I went and got new tickets for all five of us (Me, Emmy, my mom, Elaine, and her sister Laverne). Well, here came another problem out of no where! We would not be able to land in Mobile until 4:00 pm… That’s the time that our Carnival cruise ship would pull out! We looked into landing at every single airport in the area and had absolutely no success. The Memphis staff could have cared less about what had happened to us. So instead of knowing that we wouldn’t make our cruise, we decided to rent a car.

We went with Avis car rental and I was able to drive all the way from Memphis, TN to Mobile, Alabama in a Dodge, Nitro (I think that’s what it was). It was fun, and needless to say, I broke the law many times trying to get in on time. Needless to say, we still missed the ship by about ½ an hour.

We then tried to talk to a Delta representative to get us a room for the night… she gave us a number to call… which happened to be wrong. So we ended up paying $105 + for one room. We were also told that to get us to Mexico to meet our ship would also be $415 + for each person… Not ok for us!

Today, we found out that we were completely ripped off on our rental car by about $300.00. Avis representatives could not tell us why either. When we went back to the airport to get a different rental car, I decided that I would pop over to the Delta desk and explain the situation.

Lucky for us, there were two top managers available to solve our crises so we wouldn’t be out on our cruise and everything else. They were able to get us out on the first flight tomorrow and get us in Mexico by 11am. Amazing! I don’t think I have ever prayed so hard in my life for something to work out for us. We were also hooked up with two bedrooms tonight at $150.00 each, as well as free transportation around Mobile so the others could run some errands while Emmy and I took a nap.

I am just so thankful at this moment. My mom almost cried when she found out that we were going to be going. She has been sick the whole time about this and has not been able to eat. She unfortunately even threw dinner up tonight because she has been so stressed out! I am also glad that this worked out for Emmy as well. When we told her that we missed the big boat yesterday, she cried herself to sleep. When she woke up today, she asked if we were getting on the big boat… try explaining this situation to a 2 year old. I am also glad because Elaine and Laverne finally get a trip together. Laverne recently had back surgery and is fighting off some bad depression. This trip was a giant confidence booster for her, so we were hoping that this would all work out!

Keep your fingers crossed for us, because we still have two plane rides to go tomorrow to meet up with the ship!

I will write a bunch more when we get back safely into Minnesota. I will also add some pictures.