& that's the way life goes

I’m flying out to San Diego today. My Michigan Bloggers have so graciously agreed to post for me while I’m away. Enjoy!

Today’s post is from Supergirl. I’m beyond jealous of her yoga skills and city living with no commute. Supergirl is doing this awesome Friday Foto showcasing the beauty that is in Detroit. What I love about her blog is that she is so real and down to earth. I wish she posted more Oh and she has some mad bowling skillz!

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Hi, Ria’s readers!!! I’m Supergirl, and am usually found writing secretly over here.

While Ria’s off in sunny SoCal, I thought I’d recount some of my fabulous travel stories.

And by fabulous, I mean utterly horrendous.

{via weheartit}

First, let’s take a trip way back to the days I lived on the prairie, a.k.a Kansas. I was in elementary school, and my aunt, uncle and cousins took me on their vacation to Worlds of Fun. Worlds of Fun is one of those cutsey little amusement parks that get kids hopped up on cotton candy and rickety rides.

We’d made an overnight trip of it and were staying at the Budgetel. The name alone should have been our first clue that this particular lodging establishment was no Four Seasons. Our second clue was when we walked in to the room and found dried lipstick on the pillowcases. My aunt immediately called down for fresh linens. While waiting, we turned back the bedspread, only to find dried blood on the sheets.

Yes, dried blood.

It’s at this point that my mind blanks on the particulars. I think there was much screaming, an equal amount of yelling, and possibly a moving of hotels. I honestly can’t remember. It’s like the temporary amnesia that happens after a traumatic experience – I just can’t handle the reality of the situation.

Lesson Learned: Avoid the Budgetel, spring for the Holiday Inn.

My other traumatic travel experience didn’t come for a couple decades. A couple years ago, a friend and I had planned a trip to Europe. It was my first trip overseas and to say I was excited is an understatement. We were to fly out of Detroit, connect in Dulles Airport, and then head to Copenhagen for a few days before going south to Italy.

Due to high winds at Dulles, our flight out of Detroit was delayed. We rebooked so as not to miss our international connection. We were then rushed back through security in order to make our new flight out of Detroit. In the chaos, my travel companion noticed that the times didn’t quite match up and it was unlikely we’d make our connecting flight. I brushed her concerns aside with this oh-so-sage wisdom: “even if we miss our connection, it’s Dulles Airport, a major east coast gateway. There’s got to be another flight out that we could get on.”

Needless to say, we did miss our connection and there were in fact other flights out, but there were also hundreds of people in the same situation as us. After 24 hours in Dulles Airport, and no less than 7 flights we thought we were going to get on, only to have the plans fall apart before our eyes, and a healthy dose of horrible customer service just for good measure, we had to cancel our trip, fly back home to Detroit, and re-book everything for several months later. Let’s just say when you’ve been looking forward to a trip for the better part of a year, only to have to postpone it a few months longer, it’s a painful experience.

Lesson Learned: On international flights, always go direct.

Other Lesson Learned: Always listen to your wiser friend who can actually do math and realize when flight times do not in fact add up.

These important travel lessons have stuck with me along the way and I hope they do wonders for your future travel situations. And as for Miss Ria, I hope she has a wonderful time in sunny San Diego!!!! Color us all jealous.

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