Managua, Nicaragua

Current mood: optimistic

ATL/BWI/ATL/MGA
So my day started off with a bang. I didn’t sleep well and kept waking up confused of where I was and afraid I’d oversleep. I woke up at 6amish finally. I had a sign in at 10am. I met my crew and headed to the plane... My flight leader was a little high strung and I can deal with that until she did what she did. ugh! Before I get ahead of myself let me tell you how I started the day off with a bang. I was on my plane getting ready for the passengers to board and I check my safety equipment and get my little galley ready for this 2 hour flight to Baltimore, Maryland. There was a hot pot of coffee that was brewed in the galley but I wanted to get rid of it so I could brew a fresh pot when we got in the air. So I poured the coffee down the drain and kept on going about my business. As we start to board the captain comes in from outside checking the plane and takes me to the side and asked me if I poured hot coffee down the drain. Immediately everything I remember being warned about from training flooded back into my head and I remembered them saying never to do that because it will scald the captain or whoever is down there. Lo and behold I had hit a ground guy with my coffee! I was horrified! He said the guy was ok... but never to do that again... No worries... I will never ever do that again! Gosh!

So as passengers get on board we get some people that have tickets that say 19A, B, C & row 18 and row 7. Well on the regular Boeing 757 there are none of those rows... so the wrong 757 had been configured into the computer. So we had some angry passengers that had to go back up to the gate and get their tickets redone. This made us kind of late. It also made my high-strung flight leader even worse. She sent me to the back of the plane because of the wrong seats and told me to stay back there and help since it was about to be a nightmare. Well as I predicted it wasn't a nightmare... Everyone boarded and everything was fine in the back... She calls us in the back and tells the other girl that she needs me up front ASAP because she is getting hit hard.... I knew she was exaggerating already. So I made my way to the front and miss THANG tells me in front of passengers and the captain that she needed me up front because she "just can't do EVERYTHING alone" and she made it sound like I was the slacker. Psh... jerk. So she's already on my bad list. Then she yells at me that we need the overhead bins closed ASAP so we can depart on semi-time. So I hustle and get it all done...

... It starts to rain... literally...
The weather starts getting black and ugly.

We play the safety video and Ms. THANG again makes me angry when she asks me if I know how to run the machine... I may be new but I do know how to run a freaking VCR! DANG! Well then we taxi out and get word that the airport is closed due to weather and we are staying on the plane... and when the airport finally does open again then we are number 40 for take-off. Woah! So we hand out free headsets and go through with waters and show a movie. We hear that we are going to be sitting on the ground for awhile and people are being NASTY to us... so we do a full beverage service and they all expected free alcohol... sorry. no. We don’t control weather... if it were mechanical and the captain says yes... then that's a different story. So 3 hours later we finally takeoff... We get to Baltimore and immediately board... Guess what... the airplane was configured wrong again... so about 8 angry passengers have to get off the plane and get new seats. They were NOT happy! We close the doors and surprise! We are delayed on the ground again... At this point we don't know if we are going to make our flight to Nicaragua... none of us want to go... We are tired and we haven’t had a break or food. We've been dealing with the rudest people and we are just as irritated as they are. So yea... We stay on the ground on the runway for about an hour... We our almost out of drinks and snacks... we have just enough for when we get in the air so we go through with waters to keep the big babies hydrated. I was thinking we should just let them dehydrate and pass out and maybe it would be quieter. :) So, more free headsets and more movies. We finally get up in the air and make it to Atlanta. We had some very nice passengers that told us we made their day and we did a good job considering the circumstances... then there are others who just stomp their feet and hope that they get what they want... since when do they control weather?

When we get to Atlanta we had to go all the way to the E concourse and run to the Nicaragua flight that had been delayed 4 hours to wait for us... it's 9pm at this point. We have been working non-stop for 11 hours. We are tired, irritated and hungry. We get to the gate and get a HUGE applause and cheer from the crowd... apparently they had been filled in on our situation. It was funny but just a little embarrassing. When we get on the plane and start boarding we are informed that it is up to us if we want to go because we will be right at our 16 hour duty day by the time we arrive to Managua, Nicaragua. They also tell us that if we don't do this trip or get out exactly by 10 pm then the whole flight will just be cancelled. Of course none of us want to go... we did the math and at the last minute just decided to suck it up and go. I've never fell asleep so many times sitting upright before in my life.

There is only one other time that I can remember being that tired and it was when I first started waiting tables at the Piano Bar in Nashville and I had never waited tables before and they had us work 18 hour days... You get so tired that you just want to cry... sometimes you do cry. And yes... I AM a girl! Whatever. We finally get to Managua and its 2 am Atlanta time... and 12 am Managua time... the flight in the morning is scheduled to leave at 8:30 am... which means that we won’t get 8 hours behind the hotel door... which doesn't make us happy and its not what the rules say... We have to have a required 8 hours behind the door... SO.. they delay the morning flight by an hour and a half so we can at least get some sleep. I passed out as soon as I go to the hotel and off the phone with Rick... I was so tired.

It was all worth it when I woke up and looked out my window... I heard a familiar sound of parrots... I used to live in Costa Rica when I was 10. We had parrots and there were wild parrots always flying overhead... So I look out my window and see the ocean and the palm trees and see the parrots chasing each other and playing in the trees. It made me miss living in Costa Rica a lot. Brought back ALOT of childhood memories.

Back to the airport and we get on our flight with a few angry passengers because they were delayed and we are off... We had limited customs forms and I only had some Spanish customs forms... which means I had to help all the Americans on the flight to translate the form and fill them out. This one Jerk-hole asks me in a tone if we are heading to America and if the main language of "AMERICA" was still English. I told him yes but that we had a screwed up last 2 days and we are short on forms and I would be more than happy to help him fill it out and translate it. He gave me some attitude. I just rolled my eyes when he couldn't see because that makes me feel better. :) This crazy passenger walks to the very back of the plane from the first row of economy to get some rum and coke. He was really nice and we joked around with him... He gets his rum and walks all the way to the front of the plane again... a little later he asks my other crew member if he can order a wheelchair when we land in Atlanta because he can't walk. um... ??? What a crazy man.

Anyways... I'm landed... I think I sprained my ankle and my worst nightmare has come to pass...no high heals! Now with my job it’s almost mandatory that I wear at least some sort of heal so I need to go shoe shopping... I'm heading to San Antonio for a minute and tomorrow I go to Los Angeles then Guadalajara, Mexico. I have one more trip after that then I am making a secret little stop over in Nashville... I have to pack up my apartment... and I'm getting a head start before August when Hanna and Elin and Cale and Rick all come up. We are having a week-long pijama party in August. It's going to be fun. :)

peace out babies!