Friday, December 7, 2007

Crazy Trip To Invisible Children's San Diego Office

So I decided to write about what was going on with everything in San Diego, including my trip out. Each time I write something new, I broke it into a segment or part. Each one has a title which should give you an idea of what went on for today around those different time. It was a pretty crazy day. I'll hopefully be able to post more each day. Enjoy!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

San Diego (Part 1 - The Journey to...) 5:00am December 6th
So as I finally get my internet to work, the lady tells all passengers that we'll begin boarding in about 5 minutes. So I have 5 minutes for Part 1 of what will be my explaining this weekend.

I'm sitting here, waiting for my plane. They just called for Zone 1. I'm Zone 7. I've never flown before so this will be a first for me. I'm not nearly as nervous as I thought I would be. I'm more excited that I got this chance than anything else right now. I also haven't slept since I woke up this morning and am waiting for delirium to set in.

...any minute now.

Until then, I'll just keep listening to Ambitions.

So a brief review of WHY I'm going to San Diego. I have been a volunteer for the organization Invisible Children (www.invisiblechildren.com) for some time now and from Friday, Dec. 7th - Dec. 9th, they are holding their first ever conference for their volunteers. What's really cool about this is that it was invitation only! So now I wait to board my plane and head out to San Diego. First though, I have to stop in Philadelphia for a change of planes. I think my time is coming to an end though. I'll probably continue with Part 2 when I arrive in San Diego...or if I get bored on the plane. We'll see. There's not to much to write that I can think of in such a short span of time.

Time to go. See you soon!
--------------------------------------------------------------

San Diego (Part 2 - The Misadventure) - 6:00am
So, it would appear that I'm writing some more sooner than later. Apparently, there was a mechanical problem on my plane and therefore, they had to swap planes. This caused a problem for me because I have a connecting flight in Philadelphia that I need to be on in an hour. Not going to happen. So they switched my flight. My new plane leaves in about 2 hours. I need to find a way to kill time but haven't thought of much yet. I did bring 2 movies with me (Batman Begins and Ghostbusters 2). I could watch some tv shows online. I'm sure I'll figure something out.

What's really cool about this new flight though is that I get to fly with my friend who I'll be with all weekend. What's better is I have the seat right beside her now. What's even better than that is that she has no idea. Should make for a fun surprise.

It was interesting being on my previous plane for the little amount of time I was. I haven't really found myself getting very nervous yet. Heck, I started to fall asleep (why'd they have to wake me? Why???) The idea of flying isn't as scary as I thought it was going to be or...rather, the idea of flying seemed to be scarier than when I was actually ready to get into the air. I sat there (bored) and wondered why I hadn't brought a book to read. I wasn't thinking about what could go wrong, just how bored I was going to be if I couldn't manage to fall asleep. It's nice.

Well, I still have nothing very exciting to write. I'm just bored. Guess I'll start looking for something to watch. Later days!
-----------------------------------------------------

San Diego (Part 3 - Incompetency Airways) - 1:15pm
US Airways...is...killing me.


Incompetency surrounds me.

I just want to get to California. I'm stuck in Vegas (or have been, I'm leaving in 15 minutes) because US Airways is employed by retards. On a good note though, my flight out here was pretty cool. Not nearly as bad or scary as I thought it would be (if you're just joining us, yes - this is my first flight). It was actually fun. Seeing the Rockies and the desert from so high was so cool. I'm just glad I'll be landing in San Diego in about an hour.

Time to get on board. See you in San Diego
----------------------------------------------

San Diego (Part 4 - Southwest Rulz, US Airways Droolz) - 2:00PM
Southwest Airlines knows what's up! This flight has been awesome. I got a window seat this time and took pictures and it--s been really cool. Everyone has been nice and yeah. Flight number 2 is awesome.

I'm actually writing this on the plane right now. I think we arrive in San Diego in about 40 minutes or so (not entirely sure). It won--t be much longer than that.

The landscape is just beautiful. I've been in awe since getting up here and haven--t really stopped looking out the window. It just astounds me. All this beauty.

Ow, my ears--

I--m seriously just--amazed at this. I can--t understand how or why this is so captivating to me but it is. Maybe it--s because it--s new or maybe it--s just seeing --

Whoa--we--re landing. That was really fast. Okay.

God is love.
-----------------------------------------------

San Diego (Part 5 - The Arrival and Recap) 2:45am - Dec. 7th
So after many misadventures, we've finally arrived!

Some things that I was unable to go into earlier, I shall now. The reason I was stuck in Vegas was because our flight had a layover there. We were told that we would be flying again at 12:30, which gave us roughly 2 hours to do what we wanted (eat, drink, gamble, whatever) so Ashley and I decided to go and eat. We played a slot machine (I'm now minus $1) and we sat down and ate. I talked to some people at Invisible Children about some stuff for this weekend and updated them on where we were. While I was on the phone, Ashley, who had just finished her lunch, looked up at me concerned. She seemed bothered by something.

"Something's wrong. I can feel it," she confirmed. I asked her what and she wasn't sure but said we should head back to the plane. On our walk back, she started to freak out a little bit...which in turn started to freak me out a little bit. We arrived back at the terminal and sure enough - empty seats. The plane was ACTUALLY leaving at 11:35. We had just missed our flight by (literally) 1 minute. We weren't the only ones to miss that flight though. Due to a late flight, these two men also missed the plane to San Diego from Las Vegas. They were infuriated. They started to be real jerks to the lady at the counter. She was very polite however and took all of us to get a new flight. Since it wasn't our fault or there fault for missing this flight, US Airways was taking care of it.

We found a Southwest Airlines flight out of Vegas at 1:30pm. Awesome, except for that we were stuck with the two guys from the other plane who had to find their luggage and we had about an hour and a half to do so. Not so awesome. We hurried to the baggage claim and finally, something that goes right, the bags are waiting for them. Then we hurry our way through check-in at Southwest, get through security and make it to our gate in plenty of time.

Now as we are waiting, one of the workers tells everyone at the gate that someone left some Sunglasses on the counter. Sunglasses on the counter. They have them. Come get them if they're yours. The gentlemen who they belonged to finally realized they were his after they had already started boarding. He grabbed them and ran up to the line...and they started yelling "George, you can't cut in line! Come on, George, no cutting!" They were laughing the whole time. Once on the plane, we are told that the same man, had a bottle of champagne on the flight for him because it was his 25th anniversary with his wife. We're not sure who this guy was, but everyone seemed to know him. He seemed a little nutty though. He kept standing up and talking to all of us about nothing and would get up when everyone was asked to sit. While he's doing this, I notice the bracelet on his arm. It's the same one I got with my Emmy DVD from Invisible Children! (http://www.invisiblechildren.com/theMission/Bracelet_Campaign) He asks if we have the bracelet and I show him that I do. Ashley doesn't. He ends up giving her the bracelet. We were shocked. This guy was being so nice. He got the bracelet when he was in Africa. What a small world?

After that, the flight was pretty typical. I took some pictures on my computer while we were flying. They will be posted later.

Finally we arrive in San Diego. It's pretty dull at this point. Just waiting on our shuttles. I want to get online. Ashley wants to get to her room and sleep. Finally, my shuttle arrives and I'm off. The room I'm in is actually pretty nice. I end up napping. Ashley got a rental car here and since it's not out of the way at all, is driving me to the conference stuff. It's easier and she doesn't have to ride alone. Works for me. We decide, since we're the only people we know here right now (people at Invisible Children are busy doing work) we hang out and go drive around. San Diego isn't bad. It's pretty nice here. Don't know that I would ever want to live here, but I wouldn't mind coming here again.

We finished the night by going up to the Roadie/Intern house and hanging out with our friends after they were done working. We just sort of hung out, met people we didn't know and played Guitar Hero. Ashley wanted to go to sleep so we left and now I'm lying in my room writing this. Pretty eventful day. I think I might try to sleep now. See ya.