my "vacation" - a natural disaster

literally. its been over 7 years since i have had a real vacation. just a few days dedicated to having fun and a little relaxation. a few days of not worrying about work, family, friends. a little block of time all about me. the aim and i had this discussion back in june. we both desperately needed to get away and wanted a fun getaway that we have never done before - a cruise. so we booked our 4 day cruise and quickly began a countdown. the aim had everything planned to a t. i just counted the days 'til we left for sunny florida. so to florida we left but the sun we did not see.

as we were about to board our fun song airlines flight to ft lauderdale, we got a message from carnival stating that our 4 day cruise to miami, key west and cozumel was now cut down to a 2 day cruise to nassau, bahamas due to tropical storm katrina. f-in katrina! i had a roommate back in buffalo with that name. i never liked that bitch and let me tell you, the katrina i encountered in florida wasnt any better. not only was our cruise cut in half but it was going to the one place i have already been too. during my last vacation! although the bahamas is a nice place to visit, this girlie was in the mood for something new.

now, as im the type of girl to just go with the flow, the aim wasnt having it. she was determined to get us on another 4 day cruise and was ready to fight. our fightin' efforts werent enough and a new cruise was not in the cards for us. so we were left cruise-less and stuck in florida, complete with a full blown tropical storm. i took my fathers advice and booked ourselves into a nice hotel. if youre going to endure a natural disaster, might as well do it in style. our hotel stay was nice as we lost power by 5pm, ate at the hotel restaurant with sweaty floors and freaked out during a fire alarm - it was a fluke.

the next day, we arrived at the airport hours before our flight was departing. not one to sit still, the aim put us on standby for an earlier flight. no use in staying in a state that we absolutely loathe any longer than we have to. then while waiting to see if we were able to hop onto our standby flight, i saw a familiar face and started to smile. i met my fave blogger extraordinaire and ultimate crush at the moment jake. after our perma-grin enducing convo, the aim and i heard our names over the loud speaker and were able to fly back a few hours earlier than expected.

got back to new york late afternoon friday and spent the rest of the weekend trying to forget that we were supposed to be on a cruise. got all dolled up saturday night and had a bar hopping night in nyc. the rest of the weekend was spent doing things i normally wouldnt do: visited the older sister with the sibs in yonkers on sunday and helped out jamie set up her classroom in queens today.

i return to work tomorrow. i didnt go on a cruise but i did learn a few things:
1. florida is the worst state ever
2. anything named katrina is the worst thing ever
3. high heels + bar hopping = a bad idea unless cabs are involved
4. westchester highways are confusing
5. being a teacher sucks

i feel like i should be wearing a shirt that says, i flew to florida and all i got was a crappy story about a crappier tropical storm. at least i got to end my "vacation" the best way possible - with a brand spanking new ep of laguna beach. if anything can make me smile, its the 'guna!