The Trip, Part 2

I'll admit, I am a very frugal person.  When I booked our plane tickets for a return flight home I had two options: a) 8:50am for a reasonable price or b) 2pm for $80 more per ticket.  Obviously, I was willing to sacrifice a few hours more of sleep and enjoyment for the sake of monetary savings.  And yes, my husband knew I was like this before he got into the marriage. 

The entire group of us that had flown north together were all booked on the same flight early in the morning going south as well.  I realize that a 9am flight is not "early" by normal standards; however, considering the fact that it was the morning after a rowdy wedding reception which had been preceded by three days of "socializing", I'd say that I felt like I was going to have to work miracles to get everyone on that plane in time. 

Saturday night, while everyone was still coherent I collected room keys from the groomsmen staying down the hall.  I took a sharpee pen and wrote on their palms not only our room number, but the time that our rental car was leaving the hotel to go back to the airport.... just in case they got lost. 

Wes and I went to bed shortly after midnight and slept like babies.  When the alarm went off early the next morning I sat up, turned on the light, and noticed there were more than two people in the room.  Hmmmmm.  It turns out that some of the groomsmen wanted to be really sure I was able to wake them up the next morning so they pretended to be Wes and got a key to our room from the front desk.  Super.  I woke up our new roommates and preceded to make my way down the hallway to round up the rest of the troops.  Upon entering their room I politely asked a female occupant to gather her belongings and find her own room and had everyone still in their tux from the previous evening (there were lots of them) to strip down to their boxers after I exited and leave their individual tuxes in piles for me to arrange before departing for the airport.  I felt like a dorm mother that morning, giving instructions, leaving to check on the other room, and coming back every 10 minutes to make sure everyone was still on schedule.  Thankfully, no one was yet "feeling any pain". 

We finally made it to the airport, dropped off the rental car and boarded the aircraft.  Ahhhhhh..... my work was done.  I looked across the aisle at our once cheery traveling companions.  They had begun to turn a pale, greenish color and were searching frantically in the seat pocket for a tiny little plastic bag to be their lifesaver.  I tried in vain but could not contain my deep, malicious laugh that sprung from the deepest part of my belly. 

What a nice, perfect, fairytale ending to our Trip From Hell. 

The End.  Or, more appropriately, They Lived Happily Every After (once they recovered).