Travel Craziness Blog - Part 2

I got a little side tracked from finishing my story by this little thing called "The Inauguration". Loved, loved, loved it - but that will have to be another post.
Back to the story......After the kids went to bed, my wonderful sister in law and brother fed me and sent me on my way with their car. They were sweet enough to offer me one of their cars to use while I was in town. Thanks again guys!!
I made my way to my sister Heather's condo and then downtown to meet up with friends to ring in the New Year. To my surprise an old friend from my freshman year of college happened to be at the party. And after 8 years of no contact we were able to catch up. Here is Heather and Lindsey dancing theirs hearts out. After meeting many new friends and dancing the night away - New Years was a blast and I was so happy to spend it with my little sister. I spent the next few days visiting friends and family, going to movies, shopping, soaking in the beautiful mountains and of course watching the U of U bowl game. Go Utes!! That was a blast!!
On Saturday I was lucky enough to get together a wonderful high school friend I hadn't seen in years. Beth lives only a few blocks from my sister's condo, so that was great, since the snow/ice was getting worse. It was so great to meet her husband & son and catch up.
Then later that night I met up with a bunch of Chi Omegas for dinner in Salt Lake. Something I learned - Biaggi's Restaurant + 18 loud girls + funny memories + story telling + lots of laughter = dirty looks from all the other patrons at the restaurant. Oh well, we had a great time!!
Then after dinner, a group of us headed to Alexis's apartment. And what did she happen to have on hand?!? A flat of Diet Coke cans with tiny bows on each. Another thing to know - Chi Omegas + Diet Coke + 5 hours of more story telling and laughter + more Diet Coke = pure bliss. We had so much fun catching up and laughing til we cried. Then at 3am we called it quits and all headed home. That was definitely one of the highlights of my trip. I love my Chi-Os!

Diet Coke!

Heather & Alayna at Grandma's

On Sunday I was lucky enough to spend the afternoon with my brother Jared, sister Heather, niece Alayna and Grandma & Grandpa. I was in major need of some good quality time with my Grandma Denny. She is honestly one of the most amazing, intellectual, caring and influential people in my life. I truthfully don't know what I would do without her! She fills 4-5 roles in my life and I am lucky to have such a great Grandmother. We talked for hours and played with Alayna. What a treat! Then it was off to Layton to spend time with my second family "The Jones." Cara's house in Layton has always felt like a 2nd home to me. I feel more comfortable there than I do in my dad's house. Cara's sister Michelle has two of the cutest boys you could imagine and it was great to see them again. I loved spending time with Cara's parents and getting the dose of Jones love that I was in need of. I love you guys!!!Monday was my last day full day in Salt Lake so I met Cara for lunch and then I ran a few more errands before heading South to have dinner with my family. It had snowed quite a bit that night so only half of them made it. My brother Brian and his wife had just barely gotten back from their X-mas in California, so I was grateful to be able to see them.

Also my Grandma Suker has spent the last few months in and out of the hospital so I was especially happy to be able to spend time with her and my grandpa also.

I love my niece Alayna!

Matt got Toronto Maple Leaf socks for Jacob

Adorable Jacob

We ate dinner, played with the kids and then it was time to brave the snow again and head back to SLC. The next morning I was scheduled to fly out at 6:30am and Heather was so wonderful to get up super early and get me to the airport by 5am. We hugged goodbye and I headed to the check-in desk. As I waited in line, I checked one of the many screens on the wall to find this -

Yes, that flight to Seattle is mine - The ONLY flight to be cancelled the entire day!!! When I get to the desk I simple ask how long I will be stuck in Salt Lake (I was getting used to asking this question) To my surprise they had added an extra flight at 10:30am to accommodate us. So I tried my hardest to get some sleep and at 11am (yes, once again late) my flight took off. We ran into a bit of bad weather and our flight ended up landing an hour behind schedule. At that point in time I didn't think anything else in my travels could get worse - Well it did. I missed the last bus through the company I originally booked through, but was able to find another chartered bus company that had a bus going up to Vancouver later that afternoon. At 4pm (11 hours into my trip) I boarded the bus and we were headed North. By that time I wasn't sure that I would make the last North Vancouver ferry to the island. And by the time we made it to the border I realized that idea was hopeless. I began to think that if anything else went wrong I was going to loose my mind!!

I knew that there was a ferry leaving South Vancouver in a few hours, but this bus didn't go anywhere near there, so I didn't know how I could make it there in time either. At the border everyone on the bus has to take all of their luggage into the building and go through customs and then pack their luggage back onto the bus. Everything seemed to be moving really smoothly and all the luggage had been put away when I noticed that our bus driver was staying outside the bus doing absolutely nothing but stare off into space. This went on for 25 minutes as I was internally freaking out thinking - There is no way I am going to make it to the ferry and I am going to be stuck in Vancouver again!

I really thought I was going to loose it on the bus driver when our final passenger finally stepped out of the building. Apparently the border control people thought he was a bit suspicious so they took him in for additional questioning, before they would allow him to get back on the bus. By this time I had no idea if I could make it to any of the last ferries. I had to think quickly..... So, instead of taking the bus into Vancouver I decided to get out at the first stop just across the border. I called a cab and just hoped that it could get me to the ferry in time. Forty five minutes and $82 (yes, eighty two dollars) later I made it to the ferry with 13 minutes to spare. Just in time to find out that they only sell tickets up to the 10 minute mark before the ferry leaves. As I rushed to the ticket counter, I realized I was being helped by the slowest ticket person imaginable. As the clock ticked down and I knew I only had 1 minute left, the ticket man gave the guy in front of me the wrong ticket, so he had to do a refund and print him out a new one. AHHH! I just want to get home!!!! When it was my turn I couldn't even speak I was so stressed out. All I managed to say was "Nanaimo". I handed him my money and as soon as I had my ticket in hand, I ran as fast as I could (with all my luggage) through the corridors to the bay my ferry was departing from. I was (surprise, surprise) the last person to get on and they closed the gate right behind me. I realized that if my taxi driver had hit even one more red light I probably wouldn't have made it on the boat.

My dear friend Tara was so wonderful to drive 30 minutes and pick me up at 11:30pm and then drive another 30 minutes to take me home. So, I got home that night at around midnight. I spent 20 hours on Tuesday just trying to get from Salt Lake City to Nanaimo and I couldn't have been any happier to be home. Having not slept in a real bed in over 2 weeks, dealing with multiple flight cancellations, 5 delayed flights, 4 airports, 3 buses, not much sleep and spending over 85 hours of traveling I had had enough.

I don't know if I will be flying again anytime soon. But all in all our holidays were great and I was so glad to be able to see all of friends and family. I hope your holidays were less eventful than mine!!