My morning started promptly at 4:00 A.M. when I heard my alarm clock go off....it was in my bedroom where my mother was sleeping...did she turn it off? Did she hit snooze at least? No! So, up I jump after a good 5 minutes of listening to the darn thing, run into my bedroom, kindly turn on the big light and turn it off! Mom was thankful, to say the least....
Up we went, Mom, Aunt Lisa and I were ready for the big day! Yesterday I moved to D.C.!
After hastily throwing our bags into the car and waking Zach up to be our driver, we were off to the big city! Once we got to the airport and unloaded our bags I realized quickly that maybe I packed a wee bit too much! But that thought was over quickly as I strapped two suitcases together (put my smallest one with my largest), put one of my two big suitcases in each hand to drag behind me, threw my laptop bag and purse over my shoulder and made my way to the baggage drop area. Are you forming a picture yet of what the three of us looked like at the airport?
Then Mom and I get on our first flight (Lisa flew on a different flight) and it went surprisingly smoother than I thought. When we landed, we had a brief 30 minutes before our next flight would be departing! So, picture this....Mom and I mad dashing from gate B36 to gate B6....on the other side of the airport! Geez...could they have parked our plane any further from where we needed to be??
We made it there with 10 minutes to spare and got comfy on our next plane, which resembled a crop duster, nevertheless, it was taking me to D.C.!
At 11:45 A.M. we arrived in Baltimore, Maryland and had quite the journey to go to get into the city. We went to the baggage claim and got our luggage and headed to find the stop for the Metro Bus that would take us to the end of the Metro Subway, which we would then ride into D.C.
Another mental picture: It's me, Mom and Lisa...I have two huge suitcases, laptop bag and purse, Mom has one huge suitcase, one small carry-on and purse, and Lisa has one huge suitcase, one carry-on and a purse....and we are trying to board a Metro Bus at 12:30 p.m.......
After making several people upset because of the number of bags we had, how long it took us to load them on the Bus and how much room we occupied on that bus, we were finally on the road. It was shortly after this when I realized we had boarded the bus with a lady who must have dreamed she had tried Nascar racing rather than settle for driving a bus. She was flying everywhere, I was trying to hold on to my 50 lb and 48 lb suitcases and my seat. I was unsuccessful. Around a curve we went and out of my seat I went, on top of my suitcase and landing right next to Mrs. Nascar driver! This traumatic fall was followed by Mrs. Nascar driver looking at ME as if I was crazy! I apologized, of course, and pulled myself back into my seat. This ride went on forever, really only 30 minutes, but it seemed like longer! We finally made it to the metro around 1:45 p.m.
Once we got to the Metro, I showed Mom and Lisa how to get metro cards to ride the subway and off we went with our 14 bags to get on the subway. By the way, escalators are not fun with 14 bags that have a total weight equal to your own body weight....but escalators are all over the subway....so, we had to brave them! Our metro adventure was alot better than the bus adventure....until the very end of the ride.
Keep in mind that I am from Arkansas and I don't have much experience with the subway....our stop finally came and I'm wrestling my weight in suitcases to get them off the subway before the doors start to close (which is literally like 45 secs). I get one out and am in the middle of getting the other off, when the other begins to topsy turvy (AKA falls over as I'm holding it). And then it happened.....the door shut on my suitcase, part of my body and my aunt's leg. And there we were, holding up the subway and hoping it didn't take off which us attached. As all the passengers started yelling at us "it's gonna keep trying to close! It won't open back up once it's closed!" Superman comes to the rescue. Yes ladies, he does still exist. He jumps in there, yanks the bag with one quick jerk, pulls me out and Lisa too! And just as he did all that, the doors do finally give and open back up. Every inch of me wanted to just look at the passengers who thought they knew the subway so well and say "Hmmmph. Learn something new everyday." But I restrained, thanked Superman (who quickly pointed out that we were not from here and welcomed us to D.C.) and exited the subway.
After meeting up with my roommate, we had about 6 blocks to walk with our luggage before we would arrive at my apartment. So, down the streets we went, taking up most of the sidewalk and looking as much like tourists as humanly possible. Mom and Lisa were fading fast, with nothing to eat since breakfast at 5 A.M. and remember it is HOT in D.C......I was about to lose them when all of a sudden I hear both of them laughing so hysterically that it startled me! I turned around only to find that Lisa had experienced not 1, but 2 "blowouts" on her big suitcase. That's right people, if you couldn't exactly picture how much we had been through to this point, you should know now. When BOTH of your wheels fall off your brand NEW suitcase after one trip, something is bad wrong!! We continued, with Lisa just dragging her suitcase and Mom just giggling the whole time. We finally arrived at my apartment in D.C. at 2:30 P.M. Whew! What a trip!
I unpacked, we all showered and off we went to see the Lincoln Memorial....passing Lisa's suitcase's tracks on our way! And that was "Collin's Move to D.C.," what a fun-filled day!
This morning we are up and ready to go! There will be more to come and pictures too! Stay tuned.....
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