And I thought I was so smart

I got up Thursday morning and had a brilliant idea. Instead of risking my shampoo exploding, I would just carry my make-up bag with me instead of packing it in my suitcase like I normally do. It’s fairly small, no biggie. I was already wearing my comfy, yet practical shoes you can slip right off for the x-ray machine at the airport. I decided to not wear a jacket, but took a light one in my suitcase so I wouldn’t have to deal with it on the plane. I left in plenty of time to get to the airport. I parked and went in to get my boarding pass. When I got it, it was labeled “B” and suddenly I remembered that I should have printed it the night before. Oh well… at least I wasn’t in the “C” group. When I started going through security, almost up to taking my shoes off, I was reminded of the new travel rule concerning liquids. In my infinite wisdom of not packing my toiletries in my suitcase, I was breaking the rules. My stuff was more than 3 ounces and I didn’t have a plastic baggy to put them in. I didn’t want to throw away my big bottle of Mary Kay lotion I got for Christmas so I turned around, went to the gift shop to buy my 11 cent baggy and then went back out to the car to put up my shampoo, conditioner and lotion. I debated about the facial moisturizer because it was technically 4.5 ounces but it was only half full. I headed back in and lost the bet on the moisturizer and so they had to throw it out. I was lectured about not having all my liquid travel items in the baggy (I forgot about my saline solution and toothpaste… but is that really considered a liquid??). How ridiculous? I mean do they really think I’m going to make a saline-shampoo-toothpaste bomb using a tampon as wick? It’s almost not worth it to travel these days with all the dang hoops we have to jump through. I did make it on to the plan and got an aisle seat. I flew to Albuquerque first (strange to have to fly west to be able to fly east to Orlando) and I had a two hour lay over. I finished the book I started in Amarillo and then found out that our plane was broke and we were getting another one but it would be 30 minutes late. We had to change gates (because people start standing in line 45 minutes early) in our lines so I was at the back of the “B” boarders. I was lucky enough to get another aisle seat, but really wished I had a window seat because I was tired and I could have at least used a pillow against the window. I was surprised that we did get more than just peanuts on our flight – we got a snack box with dried fruit mix, a cheese/cracker handi-snack, and cinnamon crisps. I had started another book during the wait in Albuquerque and finished in on the plane. It was really, really good and a must read for all of you. I was crying periodically and trying to keep it subtle. It was a 3 hour flight to Orlando, then I had a 45 minute wait at baggage claim because one carousel indicated my flight number but of course after waiting for eternity I realized that it actually came out on another one! Then I had to get a shuttle ride to the hotel which was another 20 minutes. I finally got to the hotel and checked in without a problem – amazingly. It is a time-share resort type place so I had to have a ride to my room as well. I was starving by the time I got there, but still had to wait 2 hours before the others would get back from the gun show. I was also exhausted because I barely slept the night before. I tried napping, but it didn’t work. We finally went to dinner – a Cuban/Mexican restaurant. I had fajitas. We then went to Walgreens (thankfully) and I got shampoo, conditioner and moisturizer. We came back to the resort, I took a shower and went to bed. And that’s the end of day one.