i tried to post this 3 times from the hotel room on z's laptop but every time, i'd accidentally hit a button on his keyboard and lost the damn thing all three times. so maybe the 4th time is the charm.

we get to the orlando airport around noon, noon thirty. our flight leaves at 2:30. they start having us board the plane around 1:45-2. we're sitting on the plane and the stewardess comes on the intercom and tells us there is bad weather in d.c. so we have to wait to take off. she tells us we can leave the plane to get something to eat or drink, just don't wander off too far from the gate. several people do just that, including me because i was starving.

i get back on the plane, we sit for another 30 mins or so and the stewardess comes back on the intercom and tells us they don't know when we can take off so they tell us all to de-plane. every hour they give us an update that basically says they'll update us again in an hour. z and i keep checking the weather map on our phone and man, d.c. was really socked in with rain and thunderstorms.

finally about 6:30 they just flat out cancel the flight. sooooo, they give us two options. one, we could take a 7:30 flight to baltimore, but there was no connecting flight to d.c. they were like, "we'll fly you to baltimore but you're on your own to get to d.c."

not knowing the area well, or how the hell we would get to d.c. from there, i opted to take the same flight we originally were suppose to take the next afternoon. i call my sister and she puts my brother in law on the phone. he said flying into baltimore would be perfect because it is actually a little closer than d.c. dulles airport. i tell him i had no clue. so i go back to the ticket counter and ask if there is another flight to baltimore in the morning. he says yes and books us on that flight which is supposed to leave at 7:30 a.m.

now here is the rub. because it's an "act of god" and not mechanical problems on their part, they won't comp us a hotel room, which was sucky because the hyatt is quite literally in the main terminal of the orlando airport. we had no way to get home, much less back to the airport and it was less than 12 hours anyway until our flight was set to leave.

soooooo, z and i spend the night in the airport. the airport floor is not a comfy place to sleep and their chairs all had arms between each one of them, so there was no sleeping on the chairs. now the orlando airport is set up with a main terminal and then you have to take a tram/train to the gate terminal. so throughout the night, i would take that tram/train to the main terminal so i could go outside and smoke. the security lady knew me by name. and cold, oh my goodness, it was cold and luckily i had my pashmena to keep me half ass warm.

around 3, z and i head back to the main terminal and decide to sleep on a bench in a less lit area right outside of security. we actually slept better on that wooden bench (with the sound of the fountain lulling us to sleep) than we did on the floor in the second terminal.

i woke up about 4:30 to see the security line almost as long as it was the afternoon before. i wake z up, we go through security again and make our way to the gate.

so this is how it all played out. i joked that it was a lot of firsts for z. first time flying, first time having a flight cancelled, first time sleeping in an airport. we fly out of orlando, and land in d.c. my brother in law had given me the skinny on how to get to d.c.

so we land in baltimore (horrible, ugly airport) we take a free shuttle bus to the amtrak station. when we get to the amtrak station, we take a train called marc, which will take us into union station in d.c. the train cost 6 bucks a piece and the amtrak lady tells me that the state of maryland subsidizes the train and that's why it's so cheap.

i have to say i wasn't too upset by this. i always see union station in the movies so i thought it would be hellacool to see it in person. i was not disappointed. yet another first for both z and i...taking a train, seeing union station.

giora (my brother in law) tells us to catch a cab outside the station and he'll pay for the fare. cabs line up to pick up passengers. it cost nearly 2 bucks before we even got out of the parking lot.

come to find out the next day, we could have just taken the d.c. metro subway to a stop right across the street from out hotel.

we got in around 1-1:30 on friday. i was ticked, we missed a whole day of sight seeing. z crashed and crashed hard. i went out and explored chinatown which was just a few blocks away.

we stayed at the hotel monaco, a four star hotel in the heart of d.c. the hotel is on the national registery of historic places because it was the first post office in d.c. and the damn place literally took up a whole city block. apparently, jefferson is the one who started the post office and so there is a bust of him in every room.

it was a nice place and oh my goodness the beds were so fluffy and comfy. and we were right across the street from the smithsonian american art museum.

we made it...whew. and we enjoyed the complimentary cocktail hour which was only supposed to be beer and wine, but they did offer a "signature" drink, which was something called a "grape escape." not really my cup of tea though.