Guest Post from The Blogivers

Hey readers!!  Today is my first day in Vegas, and I have a treat for y'all!  My very first guest blogger!  I have 'known' Allison for maybe a year or so now (I started reading her blog after stumbling across it on another's friends blog roll), and I must say it's one of my favorites.  Allison is so funny and sarcastic, yet a great mom, sister and friend that you can't help but love her! Random true story - Allison went to a shower a few months ago and didn't know the hostess.  On the refrigerator was...a picture of Trent!  Ha!  Such a small world.

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Greetings, Gurley Gurl readers!  Allison from TheBlogivers here.  I'm so excited to be guest posting for Allena today and helping her cross one of her Project 52 goals off the list!  Allena and I have never met in real life, but we have enough in common (we both went to Texas A&M, we are both mommies to cute little boys, we both have names starting with A, and we are both awesome... obviously) that I'm pretty sure we'd be good pals if we did meet.  And now that we have the intro out of the way, let's move on.

Since Allena is kickin' it in Vegas this week, today I'm going to talk about the ups and downs of traveling during this time of year.  In general, I am a big fan of travel.  This is ironic because for the most part, I am a homebody who doesn't deal well with change and has a lack of appreciation for germ-infested, crowded places (read: airports and hotels).  But because I am also a big believer that the monotony of everyday life will send you to an early grave if you don't take breaks from reality every now and then, I love to get out of town.  So when my husband surprised me with tickets to New York City a couple of years ago, I was ecstatic!  

The trip was scheduled for mid-December and although it has always been a dream of mine to go to NYC at Christmas time, I was also a little wary of a) the inevitable crowds that would await us at that time of year and b) possible bad weather.  Thankfully for the most part, the trip went swimmingly.  We got to do all the fun things I had envisioned us doing... checking out the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, enjoying frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity, watching the Rockettes perform in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, taking in the view at Top of the Rock, going on a carriage ride through Central Park, and even scoring FREE front row tickets to the Late Show with David Letterman!

Now, I could end the post here and pretend the trip was perfect, but being the pessimist that I can so often be, I owe it to you all to tell you about the down sides.  First of all, it rained for the entirety of our first day.  It seriously started raining around 10am and didn't stop once for the rest of the day.  We were at first determined not to let that hold us back, but after a failed trip to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty (you could barely make her out in the haze), let's just say my attitude (and hair) started to suffer.

After a long subway trip back to the hotel to dry off and a little pep talk from my husband, I was able to put on my big girl panties and get over it.  And with that small exception, our time spent in New York City really was perfect.  And then it was time to go home...

We were scheduled to get back in town mid-afternoon the day of our return, and I thought it was genius planning on our part.  That way we would have plenty of time to pick up our dog, unpack, and get settled back at home to ease ourselves back into reality.  Well, Delta Airlines had other plans!  For reasons unknown to me, our first flight was delayed ever so slightly, but just long enough to cause us to miss our connecting flight.  And before I knew it, I was literally throwing a hissy fit in the airport, kicking the wall and muttering threats under my breath toward the unhelpful ticket agents who had just told us we were going to have to spend the next 7 hours in the airport waiting for a different flight while my husband tried desperately to shut me up for fear that we would both get arrested.  And in case you think I am exaggerating the level of rage I was feeling that afternoon, here is proof:

See those flared nostrils?!  Those are a sign of true anger.  Obviously I made it through the Great Airport Delay of 2009 and lived to tell all of you about it today, but it was a close call.  And even though it was a truly horrible end to our trip, I would have done it all over again.  So if you are traveling during the holidays this year, I wish you travels that are full of fun memories and free of pain-in-the-butt moments like that.  Happy trails and happy holidays to you all!