this one time in Austin...

So yeah, this is a continuation of my travel saga post from yesterday.

If you missed it for some un-Godly reason, you should totally check it out first.

 

I finally learned to use my Kindle. It came in mighty handy what with all the time I spent in airports.

Anywho, I get off the plane in Vegas to learn that thanks to the GD snow my flight is canceled.

I maintained my cool as a cucumber composure and thought, "a'int no thang, I'll catch the next flight". As you can imagine my tardy for the party attitude has caused me to miss a few flights in my day.

So I go down to the ticket agent and am all, "yeah my flight is cancelled I need the next one."

To which he informs me there is no other flight until Friday night. Mind you it is currently Wednesday night and I am supposed to meet my mom in Texas Friday morning. "Umm that won't work, I need to be in Austin on Friday morning," I say. (I am still surprisingly calm and have not even gone slightly bitchy.)

I start racking my brain and think, hmm maybe Delta can just change my flight from Richmond to Austin over to Vegas to Austin.

So, I charm the ticket agent with my wit and good looks (and by that I mean he takes pity on me) and he is able to switch my flight so I will fly from Vegas to Austin the next afternoon. Sweet I think! I will stay over night in Vegas then fly out to see mom the next day.

And then it hits me.

My car is in Baltimore and my return flight is to Richmond (the airports are over 2 hours apart) and I am landing at like midnight, with an important meeting the next day. I freak the freak out and call manfriend. He calms me down and is all, well it will suck but just rent a car when you get to Richmond and drive it to your car in Baltimore.

ok, so that sucks, but at least I had a plan.

I get on my trusty cell phone and book a hotel room. All the while keeping a mental tally of all the GD money I am spending out of my own pocket for a job I probably won't get. But I decided to make the best of it, and was able to find a cheap ass room in Vegas that was surprisingly nice.

I check in, get some grub, and then fall asleep in my giant $47 suite.

The next morning I wake up and realize I have nothing in the way of clothing for my upcoming vacation in Austin. I was trying to cut costs so I did not pay for a carry-on on my Spirit flight to Denver. I had with me: a suit, a pair of jeans, some chuck taylors, one t-shirt, jammies, and one spare pair of undies. That was it.

So I did what any reasonable person would do and washed my undies in the sink, and dried them off with the hair dryer. I put on the previous days outfit and was just about to set out on the strip to find some clothes when I get a call.

And it was the job.

And they gave it to me, and then I was so happy!

So to celebrate I went to Caesar's Palace for coffee because I'm wild like that. I took this selfie:
 

I spent a fantastic, sunny day in Vegas walking around the strip and even bought myself a whole boatload of low-quality clothing at H and M for $65, so I was ready to head to Austin (a day early mind you, but whatver, I had clean undies and a new job at this point)

I went to the airport (by pure luck in a black Denali), flew to Austin via a layover in Salt Lake City, booked myself a super sketchy hotel room near the airport when I landed, then met up with my mom the next day.

I told her about my job offer, she cried, and then we proceeded to have a glorious time.

We ate a lot. I finally got my hands on Mexican street corn which I have wanted to try for ages. We don't have trendy food in my neck of the woods. Here is Sandy and her corn:
 

We went into a fancy hotel as I like to do when I travel:

That hotel had a fantastic Bloody Mary bar. Here is my creation:

We waited too long to get in line for the famous Texas BBQ at Franklins, so we did not have any. We had burgers instead and they were amazing.

At one point I steeped in some dog poo whilst wearing sandals. I washed my foot in the bathroom of a bar shortly thereafter:
 

If this is your bar, I appologize.

I love spending time with my mom:
 

She had her first fro yo experience after we paddled around in swan boats:
 

We saw a bunch of bats fly out from under a bridge:
 

We each rode a jackelope:
 

Sandy even danced with the doorman of a bar on sixth street:

The best part came when I got to the Austin airport and began dreading my hellish time getting back to my car (which if you recall was parked at a different airport than the one I was flying into). I decided to see if I could work my magic. And work it I did.

Lance, the kindly clerk at the Delta counter was able to switch my flight so it would be landing Baltimore...free of charge. The whole reason I was flying to and from Richmond to begin with was it saved my mom like 200 buckaroos on the ticket, so I was shocked they did this. #Ilovedelta!

And that my friends is how I managed to visit seven different airports in seven days, and got an unexpected trip to Vegas. I also did some dancer's poses with the Austin skyline in the background. Life you are so good sometimes.