CyberCJH's Blog

We’re back in the sunshine after spending 5 rainy and windy days in New Jersey.

Tuesday : We left Tuesday morning and flew out of West Palm Beach. The flight lasted 2 hours, 12 minutes. Emma was a very good girl on the flight. We sat in the last row of the airplane in case she got fussy, but she didn’t. I picked up our rental at Hertz, a VW minivan. I was disappointed because it was filthy inside. But, it’s Philadelphia – what can you expect? We arrived at the hotel around lunch time and met up with HL & HB  for lunch at the Marlton Diner. Then, Tina and Emma went back to HL’s house while I dropped my mom off at Ida’s. After that, we met up with some people we used to work with, Maxine & Diana, at Chili’s.

Wednesday : Free breakfast at the hotel. Fely got picked up by her sister and they went down to Atlantic City. We went to go visit my Grandmom and stayed there most of the day. After that, we picked up Ida and headed down Atlantic City. I met up with HL and Joe at Showboat for the French Quarter buffet for dinner. Then, we went to Caesars which is where we stayed Wednesday & Thursday night. HL stayed with us Wednesday night. I played a little bit and won about $70.

Thursday : We ordered breakfast on room service. Then, we went to the Pier One mall. After that, HL & I braved the elements and did a little bit of shopping at the outlets. That didn’t last long though because the weather was rotten. Cold, rainy and windy. We were drenched. Thursday night, we met up with my Aunt & Uncle for dinner at The Plate in the Taj Mahal. We were supposed to eat at the buffet, but it was closed. It took my Uncle quite a while to make the drive down to Atlantic City because the White Horse Pike was closed due to flooding. HL went home Thursday evening.

Friday : We had breakfast at the Bayside Buffet in the Marina because they were the only buffet open for breakfast. After that, we dropped Ida back home. Then, we visited by brother Adam for an hour or so. We went back to the Hampton and checked back in for the night. And, went to my (other) Aunt & Uncle’s for dinner. Also saw my cousins.

Saturday : Free breakfast at the hotel. HL came to visit with us before we left. Then, we had an uneventful 2 hour and 9 minute flight home.

So glad to be home.

written by cybercjh

Trip to Texas – September 2009

written by cybercjh

We’re home and back into our routine after spending this past weekend in Dallas while Christina attended the SAIR Conference.

We left on Friday evening for Dallas. The flight lasted 2 hours, 37 minutes. We had GoGo Internet on the flight. That was fun. Emma was very good on the flight over to Texas. I spent most of the flight standing at the back of the plane (where the engines were – it was loud) holding her so she wouldn’t fuss.

When we arrived at the hotel, we ordered dinner on room service. We were all too tired to go out and eat.

On Saturday, we went to the West End and had lunch as Landry’s. We also visited the Sixth Floor Museum. Later, we went to the Galleria. We had dinner in the hotel restaurant.

On Sunday, we went to the Grapevine Mills Mall for some outlet shopping. I didn’t buy anything except a Black Cherry Frozen Drink at Paciugo Gelato and lunch at the Corner Bakery Cafe. We had free dinner at the Hotel lounge - steak! Later on, Tina and I crept back into the lounge for some cookies.

Monday was a lazy day since we were leaving to go back to Florida that evening. We had free breakfast at the hotel and had lunch in the hotel restaurant.

Emma was not happy on the flight home. She scaaaaa-reamed from the moment we pushed back from the gate until we took off, which was about 30 minutes. Then, she slept the entire flight home, which took 2 hours, 19 minutes. We landed 5 minutes early.

We arrived back home at about 1:00am.

written by cybercjh

I was going through 2 old shoe boxes full of receipts and other various scraps of paper last night. I put most of it through the shredder, but saved a few things that brought back some memories. So, in this series of posts called The Old Shoe Box, I will post pictures of those things and the short stories behind them.

Spirit Airlines Handwritten Boarding Pass – Even in today’s world of modern technology, nothing beats a pen and paper when the computer can’t or just won’t do what you want it to do. When I flew to Atlantic City, NJ from West Palm Beach, FL on Spirit Airlines on March 12, 2006, I was issued a handwritten boarding pass. Whether this was standard procedure at that time or not, I thought it was a pretty interesting event.

Northwest Airlines Baggage Tag – Ah, the trip from hell. On July 1, 2004, we were scheduled to fly from Newark, NJ to Detroit to Charleston, SC. Our flight leaving Newark departed about 2 hours late which means we missed our connection in Detroit. So, we had to spend the night at a Best Western which probably was a Best Western in 1965 but now was just an Old Western. The rate we paid for the hotel was listed as Passenger Distress which really summed up the evening nicely. The bathroom was so small, you had to stand in the tub if you wanted to shut the door. By the time we got to our room, it was going on midnight. The only place to get food was a gas station at the corner. So, we walked to the gas station, in the middle of the night, in Detroit. Soda and a donut was about all they had that could have been classified as edible. The next morning, we were put on a flight to Charleston with an ‘inoperable bathroom.’ Coming back to Newark the next day, our connection in Detroit was late again.

written by cybercjh

To see pictures, go here.

Thur., 11/13
I left work early and we went to the airport for our flights to Charleston. Our flights were on Delta – 1528 (PBI-ATL) and 1034 (ATL-CHS). We had a 3 hour stop in Atlanta, so we had dinner in the Chili’s in Terminal A. I had the smoked turkey sandwich – it was really, really good (or, I was really, really hungry). We got into Charleston at around 11:30pm. We slept at June & Mel’s house.

Fri., 11/14
We had breakfast at IHOP. Then, we walked around Battery Park. After that, we have lunch at Hominy Grill. Then, we walked around what is known in days gone past as the slave market. It’s mostly street vendors now selling crafts, baskets, t-shirts and stuff like that. After that, we took a nap and then had dinner at Marie and Edwin’s house. We slept at Monn and Tess’s house.

Sat., 11/15
Monn cooked us breakfast and then we went to Fort Moultrie. After that, we had lunch at a Chinese Buffet and then we walked around the Tanger Outlets. I bought 3 shirts at Haggar. Then, we came back to Monn’s and had chicken adobo for dinner. After that, Tess came home from work and Moling came over. We stayed up until 9pm.

Sun., 11/16
Got up at 3:30am. Left for the airport at 4:45am and was at the gate by 5:10am for our 6:40am flight to Atlanta. I think we got here too early. All 3 of us are on flight 1540 to Atlanta. But then, Fely is on flight 1646 leaving at 9:40am back to Florida while Tina & I are on flight 1595 leaving at 11:58am. I asked Delta about changing Fely’s flight to our flight, or the other way around, but they said there is a $50 change fee. $50 for what? Ah well, all three tickets were purchased with frequent flyer miles, so I can’t complain too much. Actually, today’s flights mark the end of my Delta SkyMiles account. I only have 24,400 miles left. Just 600 miles shy of a free flight. (Well, I say that, but it’s damn near impossible to find a free ticket for just 25,000 miles anymore.) Maybe I’ll earn the 600 for the free ticket. But, I doubt it. Frequent flyer programs are the biggest scam going since the 2000 presidential election.

written by cybercjh