Okay so since I’m getting up at 5 hours, real quick recap story time:
Last summer, my sister Katelyn won a radio station contest (her 2nd won radio station contest!!) for a trip to Universal Studios’ Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Islands of Adventure. It includes 3-day passes to both parks, plane fare, transportation to/from the airport and 3 nights/4 days at the Hard Rock Hotel in Orlando. It was for her and three guests. She graciously picked me, our youngest sister Christie, and her boyfriend Jeremiah #2. It’s going to be fun! I’m going to have my brand new awesome camera with me to take lots of pictures and some video for Facebook and blogging purposes.
Because the radio station would only pay for everyone to leave from and return to the same airport and (100% understandably) Kate didn’t want to challenge that with my pain-in-the-ass self having to fly from Raleigh, I flew up to Long Island tonight and tomorrow morning we leave for Orlando bright ‘n early on a 7am flight! Originally, my plane was to return to LI with them, then drive straight to LaGuardia and get on another plane back to Raleigh 2 hours later but after an hour on the phone with Southwest the other day, they were able to switch my return ticket to Raleigh instead of Islip and I just had to eat most of the money on my American Airlines flight from LGA to RDU (idk why other airlines aren’t as “situation friendly” as Southwest is. I had to pay $130 difference for my ticket BUT that’s only because I waited until the very last minute to swap it. If I had done it earlier, it would’ve been much less.)
That’s pretty much the story. I packed twice last night and again this afternoon before I left, all in the name of trying to pack efficiently. I still ended up with a full suitcase that leaves zero room for bringing back any souvenirs! We’re staying at the damn HARD ROCK for goodness sake! My dream hotel for Comic Con is the San Diego Hard Rock. I had to make sure I had enough “night time outfits” (aka not t-shirts & sneakers) just in case the Orlando Hard Rock was just as rockin’ as the San Diego one was. They have FANCY BATHROOMS! Just ask Ralph, he knows!
I know I posted some Twitpics last night but Zoe was so adorable when I was trying to pack. I moved to a slightly bigger suitcase for packing attempt #2 and she immediately took the opportunity to make it abundantly clear that she was NOT okay with me leaving yet again:
Yes, she is inside the top part of the suitcase in the last two pictures. At one point, she rolled over on her back like she was in a sleeping bag. It was so funny. I left the suitcase out for her today to play in because I felt bad leaving again. I’m gonna miss Jay and Zoe 🙁 but I’m so fortunate that my sister has super awesome luck to counter my generally bad luck lol! Yay, watch out Hogwarts, here I come!!
