Weekend in Alexandria - Day 1

You guys. It's been a MINUTE. I've been so busy. In a good way.

I've been filling my cup by doing things I want to do. Anything I want. Without needing to consult anyone or care about anyone's feelings. 

There are a few of us at work who oddly have been dealing with similar life changes. One girl was with her partner for 8 years, has a just turned 2 year old and was going through a divorce. Her divorce is dragggggggginnnnngggg on and I feel terribly for her. But, we share that trauma and luckily we're both funny so we can laugh about it (a little). And then have a drink and cry together about it. 

And another girl and her partner who have also been together for almost a decade broke up. HUGE life changes for us. We were each others' support while at work. I've known one of the girls for probably 12+ years at this point and reconnected at this job. 

Anyway. After months of commiserating, we decided we needed a weekend away. One of the girls moved to Alexandria and invited a few of us to visit for a weekend and enjoy the DC area.

AND BOY DID WE HAVE FUN JESUS CHRIST. 

Let me say - if you're lucky enough to find friends at work...who you can share a room with overnight, hell share A BED WITH, you've made it. 

My travel down there was....interesting to say the least. While drunk in the hotel bar, we realized we had a dilemma. Well, two people had a small dilemma and we needed to figure out the best way to get everyone where they needed to be.

It was decided that I'd fly down one way and then drive my friend's car back to Rochester. The one who lives there, is actually originally from my hometown and we went to the same highschool, just 6 years apart, so we didn't know each other. She would be traveling from VA to another state for a work event, then fly home. She would, however, need her car while at home. So of course, it made sense for me to just drive her car home and connect with her here in Rochester so she could get her car. I love when things work out like that!

Only, they didn't. LOL. Of course. My life does not work out that smoothly. Ever.

The work trip was canceled. 

So my friend would be driving herself up to Rochester. And I would be left stranded in VA because I had only purchased a one way ticket.

Found this out on Tuesday. Flying out Friday.

Decided to canel my flight, take the $60 cancellation fee loss, keep the credit of $35 and drive down.

I stopped in Binghamton to see my BFF and to break up the 6+ hour drive. I spent the night down there and literally hit the road by 7am to make it down to Alexandria. 

Road trips when it's nice out is my favorite! I was JAMMING. 

Kings Street - a very busy, touristy area, but superrrr cute. Restaurants, shops, everything! And the waterfront is straight ahead. Such a gorgeous walk. 

Me and Sil on the way to the water taxi. He's the first friend Ashley and I met when we joined the bank 2 years ago. He's a young lad with a ton of experience. 

Water Taxi to the wharf

Me and my previous boss. I also worked with her 15 years ago! She's an absolute gem. 

Washington Monument from the water taxi

Beautiful ladies at dinner - we had Balkan food and it was SO GOOD. Ashley the brunette is the girl we're visiting. Gorgeous, smart and a beautiful soul. 

A Brandy-like liquor meant to be sipped. The second it touched my lips it burned like hell. No thank you.

That brought us to the end of day one. We ended dinner around maybe 9:30/10pm? We went back to Ashley's gorgeous condo and stayed up chatting well into the night. I think we headed to bed around 1:30am? Something around that. 

So many things planned for tomorrow - but what I love is that everything is completely flexible and if we feel like vegging in PJs, that's what we'll do. I love these people. 

So far, day 1 has been a blast. We all work remotely so we don't get to see each other often - only usually during work offsites and those are obviously work-focused. 

I can't wait to check out some history tomorrow. 

Take Me to Florida (especially in March)

Not gonna lie. 

I do not hate the fact that my client is headquartered in Orlando, Florida. 

Whenever we go there, I get to walk Disney Springs and enjoy a little bit of magic.

This time, I'm heading down to do some sales training with the front line sales and the next day, I get to attend the Arnold Palmer Golf Invitational. 

I am not mad at being in 80 degree weather in March when it's legitimately the WORST month when you live in Western NY. It's like the 90th month of winter. It's like how January feels like 50 days. 

Traveling to Florida in March when you live in WNY is a real treat. 

What's terrible is not having a direct flight (I know, I know, first world problems). But still. 

Having to go through CHICAGO to get to ORLANDO, from ROCHESTER is just plain stupid. At least take me in the direction I should be going.

When it comes to work travel (especially during a travel ban) I really cannot complain. It's not really up to me on the convenience of it all.

Regardless, the flights were easy and I had no issues. 

I made it to Orlando around 1:30pm and my boss was waiting for me at the airport. She had landed a few hours prior and just waited for me so we could Uber to the hotel together.

We got to the hotel right before she had to take a call. It was too early to check in. The lobby was way too loud and busy to take a really important client call.

So she found this adorable little pergola.

How freaking cute is this? It was perfect. Only two seats and super quiet. And just off the sidewalk, so no one was lurking.

Our view for the call

Seeing the biggest koi fish we'd ever seen

And a turtle!

Had to stop

We got upgraded to two bedroom suites (WE EACH DID)

I forgot to take a pic before getting into the bed

A ridiculous amount of space for just me. And my boss had the suite down the hall! 

My little friend

After my sales training on Thursday, we went to dinner with clients. We went to this little Italian Eatery called Enzo's Hideaway and it was really, really good. It had such a cool vibe. It was very speak-easy, it was in a basement. 

I got the eggplant parm. Delish.

And this drink. Also delish.

We stopped by a restaurant that also is known for their desserts. I got this Oreo Rice Crispy Treat and it. was. amazing.

I could barely take a bite.

Just a baby gator while waiting for my Starbucks

The day after the sales training was the Arnold Palmer Golf Invitational, Day 2. We had been invited and scheduled the sales training around it so we could attend.

I am not one who follows golf. 

But I like the sun. And warmth. 

It was mid 80's and absolutely gorgeous out. Hot and sweaty. Just how I like it.

This didn't taste at all like it had any alcohol in it. This on a boat would be a big problem. 

So like I said, I don't follow golf. However, I don't live under a rock entirely, so I recognized a couple of names.

Jordan Spieth

Mr. Rory McIlroy himself

Not gonna lie, it was very cool to see these guys up close. Like, really up close. 

We were at the 17th hole at the suite there, so we had food, beverage, bathrooms, etc. all right there. It was a covered tent with stadium style seating. No AC, but the shade made it LOVELY. The breeze, you guys. Ugh. So, so nice.

And, AND! We weren't allowed to take anything larger than a small bag, so we could not bring our computers. Which forced us to relax a little. 

AND TO TOP IT OFF? I met TWO WIENERS AT THE AIRPORT. 

The Longest Travel Day....EVER

I've had a busy couple of months with work travel.

The most recent trip was pretty awesome and I'm lucky to have been able to go. 

So I can't complain too much.

I really didn't complain while it was happening, which surprised even me. 

The way home made me completely forget about the way down to Florida.

I don't usually have any issues when I travel. Very few instances of being held on the plane, of being delayed, etc. And for as much as I travel...I know I'm blessed. 

On the way down to Florida, my connecting flight was delayed. So I sat in Atlanta for a bit longer than expected. We boarded the plane, only to sit there for a solid 40 minutes before the captain came on and said there was a minor issue that would be handled quickly and we'd be on our way.

About 20 minutes after that announcement, he came back on to let us know that we had to head back to the gate and we had to deplane. While they were fixing the first issue, they found something else. 

So off the plane we go.

Delta handled it very well, I think.

They gave us updates every 10 or so minutes and brought out a cart of snacks and drinks.

We were only supposed to be delayed like 30 minutes but it ended up being closer to an hour I think.

People CLEARED this cart out so fast. They brought out another full one and I grabbed some M&Ms and a water. 

We got back on the plane and off we went. Since it was my connecting flight, I wasn't worried about being late to anything. I just had to get to my hotel and settle in before the event at 6:30pm that evening. 

That was just on the way down there. 

The way back? So much worse. But again, I'm glad I didn't freak out. I easily could have.

My flight out of Orlando was at 7am. We planned to leave the condo at 5am to get to the airport by 5:30am. Me and my fellow coworker who I was traveling with had to check a bag (since we brought home way more than we went with). 

Then I had to wait in in the security line. She had TSA Precheck (which, I do, too, but there's been an issue since I got it and I haven't ever used it - needless to say I've tried to figure that out ASAP after this trip).

Welp, the sign that said 24 - 35 minutes for the wait was WRONG. I waited in that line (with a lot of cranky people) for over an hour and a half.

I knew I was missing my flight. Since there was nothing I could do, I just mustered up the patience and dealt with it.

I was grateful I was traveling alone. I can handle myself. 

I got to my gate at 7:02am to be told to head elsewhere to get put on another flight. Ok....off I go.

I go and wait in line with maybe 8-10 other people. Start chatting to pass the time.

I get put on standby for another flight at 11am. Ok - about 4 hours from now.

Let's go find food, coffee and a spot to sit and relax.

I'm watching at the gate with a bunch of other people...all standby, waiting for ONE available seat. 

I text my boss and ask if it'd be OK if I just booked myself a flight home and not worry about trying to fly standby. 

She immediately said to do it and to not worry. Just get myself home. I was double booked for a bit while I made sure I didn't make the standby flight. Which I didn't. I'm so glad I booked another flight home.

Again. I was grateful that my company paid for this flight and my other flight will be credited to my account for another, future trip (which I will absolutely take).

I realize that other people didn't have that luxury to just buy another ticket for $550. 

But now my flight wasn't leaving until 4pm. 

And I still had a connection in LaGuardia.

But I was still ok. I had my boarding pass and a seat. I just had to find another spot to sit, eat and relax while I waited.

3:30pm rolls around and I finally get to board a plane and make my way home.

My flight to LaGuardia is fine, except that I'm in an aisle seat. But I'm not complaining. 

I made it to LaGuardia! 

I was not looking forward to spending 3+ hours there - yes, my layover was THAT LONG.....but once I landed, I realized that they had renovated! The terminal where I landed was absolutely gorgeous. Brand new, clean. It was lovely. And it had the largest Starbucks I had ever seen in one end. It was huge. 

I found my gate, which was totally empty and settled in. This last leg would be short.

The flight was uneventful and I made it back to Rochester in like 50 minutes. 

I had to hunt down my bag, because my bag got on the 7am flight that morning. It was now 11:30pm. My bag landed at 1pm with the rest of the people who didn't miss that flight. 

I found my bag in the Delta Baggage office and finally made my way back home.

You think it'd be over at this point, right? Wrong.

As I'm driving, I'm thinking - God Damn, this fog. 

Well, I battle the worst fog of my LIFETIME the entire 45 minute drive home. 

At 11:30 at night.

I made it home around 12:25am, I think. 

I had been up and traveling for over 20 hours at this point. 

I then had to shower because the previous day, I had spent 16 hour at Disney and didn't shower when we got back to the condo at 12:45am. LOL. Yeah. It was a VERY long 3 days for me. 

I swear it took a good 3-4 days before my body recuperated from all of that. 

I have two more trips before the end of the year. One is personal (my BFF's baby sister is getting married) and one work trip back to Orlando December 3-5. <Update: I now have THREE trips planned before the end of the year! More to come on that).

I'm going to blog separately about the wedding in Kentucky because I'm flying FIRST CLASS for one leg of it. I've NEVER flown first class, but after my last debacle, I figured the $50 upgrade was worth it. 

Stars and Pars Fundraiser and Gala

I've mentioned before the work perks I get. 

One of them is traveling. I *have* to go visit my clients a couple of times per year for various reasons and my main client is located in Orlando, FL.

We were asked to sponsor an event that is near and dear to our main client's heart. It's Stars and Pars and it's a golf fundraising event, auction and gala. All to raise money for Give the Kids the World, which is a non-profit for critically ill children and their family to spend an all expenses paid, 7 day vacation on their property. Where their sickness doesn't matter. Where they are just like everyone else. 

We got to enjoy a tour, learn about the property, the facilities. The over 1,800 volunteers who are there each and every week to ensure these families enjoy themselves. 

Ice cream is normal at 10pm. 

Ordering pizza any time of day or night is totally fine.

Siblings are treated just as special. 

It was both beautiful and heart-wrenching at the same time.

While we were touring, there were several families walking around. 

Seeing them and knowing why they were there was so sad. But then again, happy because these kids were so damn happy. It was a week where they could forget about the hospitals, treatments and the constant reminders that their days are numbered. 

The Waldorf Astoria, where we stayed and where the Gala was held

It was a beautiful hotel

Give the Kids the World Village

Each area is named after a child who was a guest there

Cute themed desserts

Cake pops were in there

Always with lights

Each of those stars are named for a child who has their name on it. 

GTKTW celebrates Halloween every Monday and Christmas every Thursday. Santa is there every single week handing out gifts. 

This is to ensure the kids can enjoy the holidays during the week that they are there. 

After the sponsor reception and tour, my team headed back to the hotel for a late dinner.

The golf event and gala was the next day, Friday.