My Totally Awesome Journey down to Argentina

Summary: This is a summary for all of those that may pass by my lil’ ol’ Blog.  This is a story of one ruggedly handsome, studly young man and his journey to a foreign land in the pursuit for his exotic latina named Maria.  This fantastic story has been edited for content.  :o)

March 17^th, 2011

5:00 am MST- A horrific, barren time of day.  I awoke to my iPod’s alarm in a king-sized memory foam bed.  Not only is it hard to get up at that time, but a memory foam bed is irresistible to leave.  With a huge yawn, I walked to the bathroom to take my shower before my great adventure.  After my quick rinse-off of a shower, I hurried and did some last minute cramming into two suitcases.  Then it was time to cram my two suitcases into the trunk of my car.  We then hit the road to the airport.

5:54 am MST- En route to the airport.  It was pitch black on the freeway as we prepared to exit into the Salt Lake City International Airport.  I think the “Int’l” in the photo stands for “Internal” because I’ve never known of any international flights to go through Salt Lake, I’m sure I’m wrong, but I’m just saying…

Instead of everyone being angry, I think they were all too tired to care.

6:16 am MST- I just get done checking in my luggage and getting my plane ticket from Skywest.  I go to sit down.  I had to take out two packages of Reese’s Buttercups, and wedding accessories to drop my luggage by a pound and a half to qualify for the free criteria.  As I sit on a bench waiting for my mom to go park my car, I pull out my “breakfast” which consisted of some dinner rolls, strawberries, and a sunny d all inside of my zip-lock sock bag.  My mother calls me as I’m eating a little breakfast.  She tells me that she’s already inside the airport standing in line for me because it is a long one.  I go and meet up with her.  I thought the line was horrific, little did I know what other unrulely lines I’d be standing in later on in my Totally Awesome Journey.

6:40 am MST- I start going through Airport Security.  I first got to walk through the big awe-inspiring X-Ray Machine.  It zap all kinds of radiation through my body as it attempted to find some kind of dangerous concealed weapon.  The only weapon I had on me was my intelligence!  I had forgotten to take off my money belt that hides under  so I had to get a pat down by a big black man.  That was scary on so many levels.  The Police Uniform, the white latex gloves, the darkness of his skin, the patting of my sides, take your pick.

7:35 am MST- I’m sitting on the plane waiting to take off.  I get the whole aisle and window seat to myself.  The plane takes off shortly thereafter.  The following are a few photos I took on the plane:

I thought the Sprite can was very artistic.

No worries the stewardess will bring you more water

I sat next to a guy that was very social when we took our first stop at Oakland. He told his story how he’d worked for Alaska Airlines for more than 15 years. He never specifically shared what he did, but he seemed to have plenty of experience in flying, as he told me what the plane was doing as we were landing, and identifying different landmarks in LA from the sky. I pointed out the Hollywood sign out in the distance and he treated it like I act when I see a buffalo at Yellowstone (something rather over-rated). He told me he was flying to Florida to pick up a car to drive it cross country then turn it into a dealership.

10:35 am PST- I am barely getting off the plane at the LAX anticipating a 4 hour layover, but still antsy to get checked in and wait for my plane. I had to go find my luggage at the baggage claim. It took forever for them to send the luggage to the baggage claim. I waited around for a while questioning if I had the right baggage claim, but I started to recognize people from my flight, so I knew I was in the right place. After what seemed like 40 minutes I finally found my suitcase and then it was on to my next adventure… checking back in.

I made it to an information booth to which some elderly people told me which terminal I needed to go. I was at terminal 1 and I had to go to 7. Fortunately there was a bus that came around every few minutes to drop people off. I got on and then enjoyed the ride through the other six terminals. I took an observation of all the different people. Some Asians, some Blacks, and some Hispanics. I was the only Caucasian on the bus. When I got off the bus I went to check-in into United Airlines, but it turned out that I was supposed to check-in at Continental. So I took my two suitcases and walked out the doors down to Terminal 6 to check-in.

At Terminal Six I typed in my confirmation number, and I got ready to check on my luggage. The attendant weighed my bags, fortunately they were still under the allotted weight. The attendant then told me that I would have to pay $30 for my second suitcase. I was rather confused needless to say. I attempted to reaffirm my understanding that international flights there was no charge for the second suitcase. She was stern on her answer, no. It felt like she was as heartless as a female mass murderer on deathrow, beyond any feeling. I paid the $30 then went on to security.

See any relation to the wheelchair and the statement?

After passing through security I promptly found my gate. As a convenience, Samsung had plugs to charge phones and iPod to which I took advantage. As I sat across from the table where my phone was charging, I took a picture of their remodeling process.

I thought it was pretty dang crazy that there was an electronic vending machine for Best Buy. It was crazy! I just thought that was worth mentioning.

2:43 pm PST- Finally on the plane getting ready to take off. I sat in an aisle seat at 25C. I was ecstatic to see monitors mounted on the back of the seats. Entertainment for the long flight! I watch a bit of Leprechaun on SciFi. After being in the air for about thirty minutes, the “free” service stopped. If I wanted to watch more, I’d have to pay $6 by sliding my debit card! Rotten crooks!

I sat next to an elderly on the plane. She told me she was from Buenos Aires. She told me how she came to the states to visit her daughter that had recently given birth two months ago. She told me this around seven times on the way to Houston. She also told me repeatedly that her other two sons were English teachers. She didn’t speak a lick of English, I translated the majority for her what was being said in English from the pilot. She also told me she was a Jew and that her parents came to Argentina from Israel. She was interesting to listen to, but needless to say, with her repeatedness, I rejoiced getting away from her when we landed.

8:28 pm CST- I’m running around in the airport trying to find a Wendys for a burger because I’ve been told that Continental is an extremely cheap airliner that charges for their dinners. I was believing it because I had to pay $30 for my second suitcase. I finally found a Wendys and bought my dinner and started walking back to my gate with my bag of food, and drink in one hand, and in the other I had my phone, talking to my parents.