I was gonna write about Azerbaijan, but I dont have my pictures together yet.

I have been sick lately, and although I've had plenty of random thoughts, I haven't had much time to write them down. Back in November of 08, I was fortunate enough to visit Aruba with some family members and a dear friend. We kept a journal of each day's adventures. I promised that I would officially document our trip, so I am going to dedicate some blog space to this. We laughed ourselves silly on this trip, and it might end up being a "you had to be there" kind of thing, but the story must be told..............

AT THE AIRPORT

For most of the travelers on this trip, the story begins at the Montgomery airport. I was very proud of myself that I made it on time. This was important to me, since I was traveling with my mom and I owed it to her to be very much on time. Especially after I almost made us miss our flight to Hawaii and my sister had actually caused her trip to Europe to be delayed by an entire day! So--I was on time---all was well. We were going to ARUBA!!! J. set the tone for the day by telling the Delta agent that she had packed her best panties for the trip. Funny--- he felt the need to do a security check on her luggage, while everyone else's luggage was just tossed on the conveyor and sent on their way without much concern.

On the plane, we were called out by the Flight Attendant as being loud and having too much fun. She said she was jealous that we were going to Aruba. I think J. invited her to come with us. Come to think of it, I think J. invited the ticket agent to come with us too. Wait a minute---I think when we called American Express to see how many points it would take to fly to Aruba, she invited that person to come with us too! At some point, J. asked for the flight attendant's microphone. I'm wondering if she was going to invite the other passengers to go with us also! But, the flight attendant said she didnt need a microphone, and at one point asked other passengers for duct tape. For our mouths.......??? The Flight Attendant was filling out some paperwork and one of the passengers said she was writing us up and we were going to get sent to the Principal's office when we got to Atlanta.

Our other traveling partner, D., left from the Lawton airport. She had her own little adventure just trying to get to Atlanta to meet up with us. D. arrived early and got in line to go through security. It just so happens, that in this small airport, without a lot of traffic, that about 75 members of the military, with their backpacks, were going through security to get on their flight to Atl. on the first leg of their deployment to Iraq. They were ahead of D. and the line was moving slowly. D. heard the boarding call for her flight, but didnt think much of it. The flight couldnt leave without all these soldiers. Pretty soon, D. is actually being paged to board her flight. But, what could she do? She had to wait her turn to get through security, just like everyone else. Finally, she realized that these men were on a later flight than hers. She was told by a ticket agent that she was supposed to go ahead of the other people in line, since she had been paged. At this point, a female TSA agent gets in the middle of everything and says, "Oh No! She's not getting bumped up in the line." She says that D. should have arrived earlier. D. mentioned that she did arrive early, but could not help it that the soldiers were even earlier for their flight and got in line ahead of her. The TSA agent was adament about D. not cutting in line. D. said, "Look. I just want to get to Aruba". Thankfully a nice soldier let D. go to the head of the line. (Poo on that Agent!)

When we arrived in Atlanta, we went to find D., who was telling her story to another passenger and had her pointy finger in the air as she was saying , "RUDE!!" in her best BonQuiQui impersonation, which was very good by the way. D. was not happy and said that when she got back to Lawton and "fount her" (agent) she would "cut her, oh yes she would!!" "RUDE!" I'm not sure J. asked Bonquiqui to come on the trip with us too, but in her honor, we quoted her the rest of the trip. "Oh, is that what you had sed?"

THE THURSDAY PEOPLE

We arrived in Aruba on a bright and sunny Thursday afternoon. We were staying at a Time Share condo, and most of the weeks go from Thursday to Thursday. We got our luggage up to the room, and then decided to go check out the resort area and look for a place to eat. Now, remember, this was in November. And, even though sometimes the weather is quite pleasant at home in November, we were still traveling in jeans and had them on while doing our exploring.

As we passed through the pool area, we saw people just finishing up a day of soaking up the sun and relaxing by the beautiful and inviting pool. I dont think I saw anyone who was wearing much more than a bathing suit and a cover up. They were all settled into their tropical vacation. I guess we looked a bit out of place in our jeans. I guess it was evident that we has just arrived. This became apparent to us as we passed by someone and heard him say, "There go the Thursday people!"

Stay tuned for more as the Thursday people become enlighted about the ways of the island.

(And maybe I'll finally figure out how to put the pictures in where I want them!! )