Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Finally Kept My Promise (Vermont Day 1)

I made a promise to my friends in Argentina that we would see each other again and have a great time. I finally lived up to my promise to a few of those people this past week. I got to hang out with Brad, Ferron, and Ashley once again!!

I loved my time in Argentina, and I knew I had awesome friends there. Visiting with them this past week made me realize even more how awesome they are to me. I realized it has been nearly five years since the four of us were together, but as soon as we saw each other, nothing was different. We were immediately best friends again, and it was as if nothing had changed. I started to wonder what kind of friends I have like that at home. Answer... well, some, but not like Ashley, Fer, and Brad.

People always say things happen for a reason. There is a reason I met my wonderful friends in Argentina. More recently there must have been a reason I quit/lost my job. Not having to work Labor Day, meant I could make the trip to Vermont to send Ashley off with the love of her life. For those wondering... Yes I am very sad and almost stood up to say I object, but Dan (her husband) was one of the nicest guys I ever met. They seem so happy together, so I couldn't be happier to let her get away.

Thank goodness for losing my job and having a friend like Jody, who for some silly reason wanted to go tag along to Vermont for the adventure. We booked tickets and Jody inked herself into a world of craziness known as Brian's Argentina experience; except this time in Vermont.

DAY ONE: The idea was to leave at 0600 hours on Saturday (that's 6am), so we could arrive with plenty of time to enjoy the day. As with most of my adventures, especially my Argentina adventures, things never seem to go normal. Flight left Minneapolis as normal and arrived in Chicago. Then things got interesting. We were supposed to have a short layover, so Jody convinced me to go to the bar and get the vacation started. Gotta love beer for breakfast. Then, our flight got delayed a little. Then, it was delayed even more. We were fine though because we had a bar.

Five hours later, we boarded our plane. The pilot apologized for the delay and stated the captain's headrests were broken, and that is why there was the delay. Then, he said we needed to wait another 15 minutes to fuel up. People groaned, but remained calm until...

Midflight the stewardess came on the loud speaker and asked for a doctor. Apparently somebody was feeling sick. After being checked out, the decision was made that the person was stressed and overheating. To make that ONE person feel better, the air conditioner was put on full-blast, freezing us in the back of the plane. Good thing I brought a sweatshirt. No so good for Jody (Don't worry, I was a gentleman and offered my sweatshirt to her even though I didn't want to do it).

When we landed, we were told to stay in our seats because the medics had met us on the runway and were going to check on the person feeling sick. After a change of plans, we were told to exit the aircraft via stairs onto the runway. We were told if we felt sick, to go to the right, and if we felt healthy to stay left. When we exited there were fire trucks, ambulances, and paramedics all over with masks on grilling us with questions about whether we were okay.

Our bags that we had to check as we got on the plane were then re-routed to the baggage claim, so we had to go wait for our bags for 20 more minutes. Finally, we got our rental car, drove to the resort and arrived just in time for dinner. Dinner will have to be its own separate entry.

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Visiting my friends long over due

I realize it has been over 4 years since my last blog, but I figured I could start getting this going again. I used to write all the time about the wonderful people I met in Argentina. I have stayed in contact with a few over the years including that beautiful blonde named Ashley (who everyone seems to think we look so good together),the imfamous Ferron who doesn't take crap from any of us, Brad who keeps me partying like I am 21, and of course the world's best friend, Brenda. Anyway, apparently Ashley thinks she is getting married in a couple weeks in Vermont. After her begging me to come visit for years, I have finally been convinced to make the trip (Probably because I realize she might actually get married to another guy and leave me in the dust forever). I was invited, but who says we can't crash the wedding. I booked my tickets the other day and look forward to meeting up with Brad and Ferron for Ashley's big day. I talked to Brenda the otherday, but California is a lot further away and for 900 bucks just for airfare she won't be able to make it. However, we've decided a Vegas trip needs to be planned soon. With all these plans to reunite with my friends, I figured I need to get the blog going again. Plus, being that I am currently not tied down with full time employment, what a better time than now to think about returning to Argentina? I miss my host family and I miss my friends from Argentina. I hope to see you all soon, and look forward to spending time with Ashley,Ferron,Brad, and whoever else suprises us in Vermont. I wonder who is still even reading this?? (Remember, when I started blogging, I was ahead of the technology curve. Can you believe that??)