Me: "oh my god. How much farther is it?"
Stacey: "look--we're already halfway!"
Me: "oh, really? Halfway? Well, I'm sure that's absolutely fantastic when you're not carrying a heavy backpack and lugging this gigantic duffle bag."
Fast forward to the airport. We get there at 9:05. Our flight leaves at 10:05. I'm freaking out.
Stacey: "oh, don't worry. I usually get to the gate right when it's boarding."
Me: "...."
Stacey: "it'll be fine."
10 minutes later, we're through checking our bag and on our way to security.
Me: (as I write this) "What'd you say when we saw that huge mass of people in the security line?"
Stacey: "I would say whatever I could to keep you from panicking. Stephanie, yesterday was like getting through a war."
Basically, we got in a line that was about 700-1000 people long, and by the time we were halfway through, both of us wee visibly panicking enough that the guy behind us said "there's no shortcut, ladies." Perhaps he was trying to resign us to our fates. Perhaps he had overheard my complex plan to get us through the line faster, which involved a wheelchair, crying, and a possible seeing eye dog.
We finally made it to the front of the line, an Stacey got called to the side for an additional check, yelling "go! Tell them to wait for me!" I ran to the train that goes to each of the terminals, them ran down concourse C as fast as I could, dodging people the whole way. When I got there, everyone was already on the plane, and I collapsed onto the gate counter, trying to wheeze out that my sister was coming. They were still trying to figure out what I was saying when Stacey rolled up on one of those airport transfer cart-thingies. We made it onto the plane with four minutes to spare.
Somehow, Stacey ended up with a window seat on one side and I had the middle seat on the other side. While she was sleeping comfortably against the window, I hunched over my bag, tries to sleep sitting up, and eventually just let my head hang sharply down to one side.
I can't even get into everything that happened at Hertz rentals. It was a madhouse. If the whole trip was our Great War, then Hertz was our Argonne Forest. After standing in line for 90 minutes, I finally got one of those LiveAgent kiosk things. I went through the whole spiel, and at the end...
Agent: "okay, you're all set. Make sure you take all four documents that print out and thank you for choosing Hertz."
Stacey: "did you get it?"
Me: "well, she disconnected but there are supposed to be documents printing out here."
30 seconds go by.
Me: "what is happening? Did I miss something?"
Stacey: "no, everyone else's are printing out here."
Me: (staring at the machine as if I can will the documents into existence) "come on! Is this a joke? You stupid machine!"
Stacey: "go to customer service."
Me: "fine."
Me: "hi. I just waited in that line, had the whole conversation with the agent, she said thank you for choosing Hertz, and then my documents never printed."
Service Woman: "ahahahahaha. What's your name?"
Me: "Sefcik."
Service Women: "okay. You have to go stand in tht line again ahahahahahaha."
Me: "I will kill someone."
Service Woman: "hahahaha let me get your reservation."
Service Man: "what's going on?"
Service Woman: "She stood in that line and her stuff never printed out. Ahahaha."
Service Man: "ohohohoohhooo. Those computer agents aren't that smart."
Me: (grabbing papers) "yeah thanks."
Stacey: "Did you get it?"
Me: "yes. Those customer service people thought it was just hilarious that I didn't get my papers."
Stacey: "I was wondering why they were laughing."
Me: "let's get out of here. We've bad enough bad ju-ju."
Stacey: "which car is ours?"
Me: "Um, let me look. They said it's in a numbere spot...."
Stacey: "which number?"
Me: "Number....oh you've got to be kidding me. 9-1-1."
Stacey: "great."
After navigating through the hellish 405 traffic, we found sanctuary at our friends, Todd and Celeste's, house in Van Nuys. To make it even better, Rich and Cleary wee there hanging out as well. As bad as the morning was, that was how awesome the afternoon and evening were. We talked, played games, ate amazing food (thank you Celeste) and ice cream. Not to mention, their one year old daughter, Veronica, is just about the cutest baby ever. Oh, and their dog, Mischa, plays soccer with tennis balls, which was pretty cool, too.
Travel day 2:
Needless to say, we were not eager to repeat yesterday's performance, so we struck out early, arriving at the airport at 5:30 for an 8:50 flight. We ate breakfast and bought some pillows and Stacey bought a blanket ("I need my cozy").
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