Peter Engel developed my love from a young age of California. Growing up, I always wanted to visit California, as well as have a California boy of my own. How could you not with shows like Saved By the Bell, Malibu CA, and California Dreams. Imagine my surprise, when I married my very own California boy!
Our first day was obviously flying out to LAX. Our flight was at 3pm and had a connection in Detroit that then went to LAX.
Before we left for the airport, we dropped our pups off at the pet hotel/vet/kennel. I have to admit that I cried. I know some may not understand, but if you have a dog (or other animal that you are close to) then you understand. These pups are like my children. They are family. I felt so bad, because they can't comprehend what is going on. I didn't want them to think we were going away forever. Both of them have severe separation issues. As soon as we dropped them off, they started freaking out. Even as we were in our car and driving away, we heard Royce barking (and he was inside, and we were in our car on the street)!
I know these pictures look familiar, but these are the only ones I took were with my phone (just for this day). They just had to be posted again for my description of day one.
1. Bentley on his way to the pet hotel.
2. Royce on his way to the pet hotel.
3. Royce on top of Bentley.
4. Snuggling together.
5. While I was unpacking, I found this pair of Express flats that I bought about two years ago.
6. Happy about our trip!
7. Waiting at the airport for our flight.
8. Goodbye Kentucky!
9. I think it was funny that we landed two hours after we took off, but we were on the flight for five hours. Oohh...the time change.
1. Screens on the back of the seats.
2. I won this round of in-flight trivia.
3. Top steakhouses in North America.
4. One that I love, ate at, where I live made the lists
5-7. Flying over the United States.
8-9. In-N-Out.
We booked our trip through Orbitz and got a great deal (flight, car, and hotel). However, we will likely NOT be using Orbitz again. Horrible experience. We get to the car rental place after our plane lands. Hubby called Avis and Orbitz to make sure that he would NOT be charged the underage fee (since it was in his name and because he was not 25). If you are a USAA member (which we are) then the underage fee is waived (due to us being an Avis Preferred Member and USAA member). Avis said that it would be okay. WRONG! While at the actual Avis, they were trying to charge us an additional $30 a day (ON TOP OF WHAT WE ALREADY PAID). IF we had paid it (which we didn't), it would have been like an additional $200+. Ummm...no. It was this huge ordeal. Avis couldn't cancel it or change it, since it was booked through Orbitz. We had to call Orbitz, which they proceeded to call Avis. Heeellllo? We are standing in an Avis building. This went on for almost 1.5 hours. They couldn't even put it in my name, since I am over the age of 25. Finally, we were able to cancel the reservation, make a new reservation with our discounted price, and even got upgraded to a mid-size car! Obviously, this isn't Orbitz's fault, since the employees at Avis said that there wouldn't be any problems.
We make it to our hotel, and get this... they don't have our reservations! The trip was booked in February. It was already really late, so the hotel manager (or whoever it was working) put us in a room free of charge. He said that we would work it out in the morning. I'm so glad that he was willing to work with us. We gave him the information that we had about the reservations, and then that morning Orbitz faxed the hotel information about our reservation. We ended up getting an upgraded room than what we booked.
Honestly, I don't think the great deal is worth the amount of trouble we went through. Maybe we just had a person who didn't do their job correctly. I don't know what happened. I'll glad pay x amount more to insure everything isn't messed up. At least our flights were correct!
Hubby took me to In N Out, since it is a must when going to California, and because it is hubby's favorite burger place. Since the disaster with Orbitz, this was all we did that night. Sad face.
Next up: Dodgers Game
11 comments:
Sorry you had a rough start!!
I totally understand how you felt about your pups. Every time we leave Reggie I have Jon drop him off because I bawl too much. And my mom always goes over and spends time with him while we're gone...that makes me feel better. If anyone loves our dogs like we do, it's my mom.
I cried the first time I left Miley. Now she loves going to puppy daycare. I don't even think twice about making the reservations now!
And that totally sucks about your reservations!
oh no!! that's totally a bummer lady! but judging from all your instagram pics...looks like the trip ended up being a success!
and i can TOTALLY relate to dropping the fuzzies off....we cried every.single.time....they are family!
I cry when ever I leave my baby so I understand completely!
As for the Orbitz, working from inside the travel industry like I do, I absolutely DESPISE those companies, Orbitz, priceline, Expedia and hotels.com. Usually the people who book actually pay a little more for the hotel, plus those companies have a set rate with the hotel that is super cheap, and unfortunately like what happened at AVIS we at the place you are supposed to be CANNOT make a SINGLE change to one of their reservations because of the policies, so we have to make you call them, and then wait while they call us, and it's just a whole pain all around.
I am glad the manager at the hotel was nice! And hopefully everything goes great for you!
I'm better about leaving the boys at the kennel. But in January we did a short weekend trip and left them in the backyard with their doghouse. We had a friend come and feed and water them while we were gone, but I can't deny I was slightly on edge the whole time we were gone.
We had an equally bad experience with Orbitz trying to cancel a REFUNDABLE hotel room. Orbitz told me to call the hotel and cancel through them. The guy at the hotel (not American) told me it had to go through Orbitz. It was a big mess. I finally got everything cancelled and will never use them again! I just go through the hotel website now! Did you know you can get great rental car rates (and sometimes hotel too) right through USAA's website?
I had a terrible experience with them too. MAJOR FAIL!
I'm so sorry your travel experience was less than ideal! When my hubs and I went to Los Angeles for our honeymoon, we had issues with the rental car place...namely, that our flight was SO early we had to sit and wait for the car place to open and then we nearly missed our flight!
Speaking of your love for Cali, I love it, too! All throughout high school and college I told my friends and fam I would move there eventually and finally I did, this past January when my husband found a job here! It's AMAZING! Hope the rest of your trip was much better than the first little portion :)
Ugh! I would have been annoyed if that had happened to me with my rental car too! Not cool at all! :/
OH NO! This is why I always leave room for error, so that if this kind of stuff happens- we aren't pressed for time or anything. I had a big scare one time where I booked our flights through Cheap-o-Air (highly recommended), and then I couldn't find the flight when we got to the airport...I thought for sure I had gotten ripped off! Haha.
Do you do anything for your puppies separation anxiety? Weiser has it too and I'm going on a trip soon, so I'm already worrying!
Well that's great that the hotel worked with you guys. Where did you stay? I always love a great place with good customer service.
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