You all know how I love a good travel story.  I’ve had a couple of winners over the years.  So, here is my latest installment.

Last week, Andy and I set out for a long weekend in Key West to visit family.  We left early from Colorado Springs, which was already not our norm. We always fly out of Denver, but the travel was a little more direct, and thus, it was a shorter travel day overall.  

We flew into Houston, did a quick layover with a bite to eat, and headed to the gate.  Since we had a few minutes, I ran into the ladies’ room before boarding.  Upon arriving at the gate, I realized they had begun boarding early, and my sweet husband had left me.  As I boarded, they informed me that we had been upgraded to first class. Andy, being in such a hurry, was not alerted to the change so he was sitting in the back and had to make his way up front against the flow of traffic.  

We left on time and the pilot informed us we would arrive bout 40 minutes early.  This trip was off to a perfect start.

As we approached the airport, we soon realized something was off.  We had suddenly taken a sharp turn over the Gulf.  Everyone began looking at one another, knowing this wasn’t right.  Shortly, the pilot announced that the Blue Angels were practicing for their upcoming airshow, and we would be circling the airport for roughly an hour before we could land.  Groans ensued, and once again the flight attendants passed out snacks and beverages for everyone.  

Everyone was frustrated with the poor planning of the air traffic, but knowing we would still be landing around our original time made it better.  About an hour later, we were told we didn’t have enough fuel to continue circling, and since they were not prepared for us to land, we would be taking a detour to Ft. Myers.

They managed to refuel within the hour and, roughly two hours after our first landing attempt, we found ourselves circling Key West airspace again.  During our final approach, landing gear down, our landing was once again aborted.  We found ourselves circling for yet another hour because now there were planes backed up trying to land at this tiny airport.

We circled for close to an hour when the pilot notified us that we might have to return to Ft. Myers because they only gave us a limited amount of fuel.  Fortunately, they did let us land.  Unfortunately, we proceeded to sit on the tarmac for close to 90 minutes because we didn’t have a gate, or shall I say, a ladder to disembark.

At this point, everyone was just grateful to be on the ground safely and not in Ft. Myers.

Exhausted, we made it to our family’s house 12 hours after leaving on this crazy trip.

We visited, had some dinner, and after a couple of hours, we decided to head back to our bed and breakfast.

If you know Key West, you know that Duval Street is the place to be at night.  Our B&B was basically on the corner of Duval.  I had driven because Andy decided to have a couple of drinks with dinner. I loathe being in an unknown area, driving in the dark, with lots of traffic, so tensions were high as I tried to find street parking.  As I passed our B&B, I signaled to get over so the guy who was riding my backside could go around me.  As I pulled to the side, he flashed his lights. This day was getting better by the minute, and it was already after 10 pm. All I wanted to do was go to bed, and now I was being pulled over with a massive audience I would like to mention.

The police officer came to the window and asked me for my license and registration.  I asked him why I was being pulled over.  He informed me that I was driving with tags that had expired 4 years ago.  What?  

I informed him that I had just picked this lovely vehicle up from the Avis rental lot 2 hours ago.  He seemed a little shocked and asked for my license and rental agreement.  

Suddenly, another police officer rounded the corner with his lights flashing.  Our crowd grew as they readied their phones.  Clearly, I was about ready to be thrown onto the roof of this car and cuffed at any moment, and they didn’t want to miss a second of this show.

Now both police officers approached and explained that not only were the tags expired, but they were not even registered to this vehicle. Was the car stolen?  Did someone steal the original tags? The investigation continued as they shone flashlights to view the VIN. This was getting comical at this point, and I offered to let them impound the vehicle if they would just let me check into my B&B.  They asked for our patience as they figured out what to do next.

Finally, they returned and told us that we needed to return the car to the airport the next morning and explain the situation.  He handed me his card and told me to contact him if we had any additional issues.  Much to the crowd’s dismay, we were free to go.

After finding a parking garage and a 15-minute walk, we finally made it to bed around midnight, happy to finally be done with the day.

So, how was the rest of our trip?  It did involve several more trips to the rental car place at the airport, a lost parking pass that came with a $250 fine, 4.5 inches of rain, and a cancelled fishing trip.  However, it also included lots of mojitos, sunshine, family time, sunbathing, shopping, late-night hangs with Andy’s brother, and a sunset cruise, so I think we still came out ahead.  We’re going to disregard the travel home, which involved massive delays, 2 missed flights, landing at the wrong airport, and another rental car.

The moral of this story is…be patient, hold your plans loosely, and by all means keep your sense of humor.