We made it!!Sunny...Smoggy California here we are!!!
After landing (Long Beach Airport...I HIGHLY recommend it...small, small, small, and so easy to get through with 4 kids and 2 elderly people...sorry grandmas!!) we headed off to pick up our rental car. We made our reservation with Enterprise. We have always used them when we travel and hey, "They'll pick you up"!! I had called them about 4 times to confirm our reservation and to make sure that they were going to have the premium SUV (Ford Expedition EL) that would seat all 8 of us that they had promised. Every time I called they reassured me that yes in deed they had at least 5 sitting on their lot at any given time. Well when we got there they didn't have a premium SUV but they did have a van that would seat all of us...a 15 passenger van!!! They even told us they would only charge us the premium SUV price if we wanted to take the van. I asked the girl if she was serious and she looked at Jason, hoping he was going to hold me back when I lunged at her...28 hours no sleep at this point. She asked us to at least look at the van before we said no. I explained to her that where we are from, people have families that can fill one of those vans and that I stopped at 4 children so I would never have to be one of them...Suzy, I even explained the whole CDL theory to her...she just looked nervously at me.
So they go to get the van and I began to lead the mutiny..."I am not riding in the fun bus", "It's the wiener mobile", "In-mate wagon", okay I will stop there before I really offend someone. Jason is saying lets give it a chance, it might be fun...and then the van pulls up in front of us. It was then that Jason joined the mutiny. The kids were super excited to ride in the bus and jumped in as soon as the door was opened. The manager at this point was calling all over to find a SUV for us and hit pay dirt. There was one at another location and they were going to go get it and bring it to us. Hallelujah!!! We only had to have custody of "Shamu" (we lovingly chose that name) for about 240 minutes....that was about 240 minutes too long.
So they go to get the van and I began to lead the mutiny..."I am not riding in the fun bus", "It's the wiener mobile", "In-mate wagon", okay I will stop there before I really offend someone. Jason is saying lets give it a chance, it might be fun...and then the van pulls up in front of us. It was then that Jason joined the mutiny. The kids were super excited to ride in the bus and jumped in as soon as the door was opened. The manager at this point was calling all over to find a SUV for us and hit pay dirt. There was one at another location and they were going to go get it and bring it to us. Hallelujah!!! We only had to have custody of "Shamu" (we lovingly chose that name) for about 240 minutes....that was about 240 minutes too long.
"Shamu"
Shamu held all of our luggage (7 suitcases) and B.O.B. (our ginormous stroller) and still had enough room for 2 times that!!
Jason...our bus driver!!
The contract we had to sign saying that we would not use the van for school related functions and that we would not transport passengers for profit...
Everyone trying to be positive about "Shamu"
The Enterprise people promised us our SUV and we hesitantly drove off the lot. We went and checked into our hotel and then found a Chili's for lunch. While we were eating Jason got the call from Enterprise and they were on their way to us with our supposed SUV...I had to see it to believe it!! We were brought a shiny black Ford Expedition EL...as was promised in the beginning.
Bye Bye Shamu!!
Hello shiny black SUV!!
After lunch and the car exchange we headed back to the hotel to change and then headed off to Disneyland to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening. 35 hours no sleep at this point!!
To be continued...
van noun, a small, covered truck carrying goods or passengers or animals
4 comments:
I LOVE IT! Seriously, you have to be the most prepared traveler on the planet! And the $50 burger king breakfast cracks me up...my dad refuses to buy "airport priced food" when he can drive down the road and order something at the same chain for .99! And Shamu looks awesome! How rockin would you have been (and how would you have parked that baby?) I can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip (with you guys, I bet you had some major fun happen!)
You GAVE UP SHAMU?? Are you crazy, lady? Who wants to ride sleek-like-a-movie-star when they can be SEEEEEEEN in an I AM IN CHARGE sortofa vehicle like your Shamu? heh heh Your pictures and 'splaining about your trip has been so hilarious and fun to read--get yourself a contract for a reality tv show next time you guys head out. Serious.
Good thing Jason has experience driving BIG Vehicles! Shamu is huge!!!
That's funny! I could so hear the sound of your voice as I read this post - I'm surprised you didn't like Shamu though? A BIG beautiful van like that and you said No - I can't understand why. (Hey, maybe when we have our 13th child, I'll make you drive them around for a day - he he!!)
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