June 21-22, 2011

Siesta Key Public Beach, Sarasota, FL: Check out that beautiful green water against the blue sky!

The green flag says we are good to go - the lifeguard's sign says it is 88 degrees .. in the water!

We left Fort Myers in the morning and started making our way up to Tampa to fly back to Boston, via a stop at Siesta Key Public Beach in Sarasota, FL. Dr. Beach says it's one of the best beaches in the country, so we decided to check it out. Bonus points for the FREE parking (the main drawback to Lovers Key State Park in Fort Myers Beach which we visited the day prior, although that gains points for the private experience, and the peace and quiet.)  Unlike the sand in MA, the sand was rock and shell free. The water was like bath water but still cooler than air temperature. And there were waves, but nothing crazy. Crazy: the woman on her CELL PHONE with the water practically up to her chest and the PARROT that was on some guy's shoulder ... while he was in the water.

On the way up, Colleen received an automated call from United, telling her the flight from Tampa to Dulles was delayed an hour, putting the connection in jeopardy. Colleen called United, but they said there wasn't a delay, and the message must of been a mistake, only the agent didn't seem too concerned with the fact dozens of people could potentially have been told their plane was delayed six hours ahead of time.

The flight was in fact on time when we left (although our plane arrived a bit later than expected because of weather in Denver), but, once the plane was boarded, we were told there was a ground hold in DC and so we sat ... for two hours. I was worried about our connection, even though the automated voice called again to first tell us about our delay, and then the delay of the connection, and then to say we had been booked on an 8:30 am flight. Then it looked like we wouldn't need that rebooked flight after all because he plane for the connection was the one we were on, something we didn't know until we rushed off the plane around 11:15 and looked on the board behind us (nothing was ever said about "continuing service to Boston.")

At least that's what I thought until the gate agent came over the loud speakers and said we had to board the plane in 15 minutes or this crew wasn't going to be able to go because of crew rest issues. We all got on the plane... and then heard that fateful sound of the engines shutting off. Someone came on the loudspeaker and said we had to get OFF the plane ... and that they would see if another crew was available. Apparently the gate agent never should have boarded the plane, because instead of the, "Good night!"you usually hear when you get off a plane, there was a lot of grumbling and murmuring.

We waited a while before hearing that the flight was going to be cancelled (the automated voice actually called before the gate agent said anything, saying we were booked on an 8:30 am flight - apparently, they didn't have a flight to Boston before that.) It was now after midnight and I was split whether we should try to get a hotel or stay and try to sleep on the floor since by the time we got there, we wouldn't be there that long and we were still going to have to pay full price.

We decided to try for the hotel, but had to go to the baggage area to use the phones tapped into the hotels. The phones didn't work, so we used our dying cell phones, only to learn everything was sold out except for one that was going to run us about $200. After reconsidering once we realized all the chairs in the baggage claim area had armrests and, even trying to use our towels and clothes for padding, it wasn't that comfortable on the cold floor, we were out of luck -- that room was gone.

But, there is a positive to our first night sleeping on the floor of an airport: Had we not been trying to sleep on our clothes and balled up wet towels with jackets to cover us up, we wouldn't have borne witness to the Ethiopian Airlines passenger SKYPING with what sounded like an Irish priest (the computer HAD to be at full volume). He asked her if people were sleeping next to her and she said, "Oh, yes," (that would be us) and then he said he would PRAY for everyone sleeping at the airport!

The other highlight was when Colleen woke up from her on again, off-again 45 minute-or-so-at-a-time naps, only to see a gentleman sleeping next to us had left his two blankets behind. Having a blanket to lay on and another to put over her extended that sleep time to an hour!

--POSTED BY COLLEEN