So there we were, in LA, with 5 hours to kill. Since neither of us had eaten since that morning and it was now almost 3 we decided that lunch and possibly a few drinks were in order. Our choices were Chilli's or On the Border. Both seemed to have quite large lines, but we had plenty of time so we decided on Chilli's I don't really remember why at the time. After an almost 45 minute wait, we got seated. I ordered a margarita (presidente) and a turkey sandwich. Now Chilli's isn't the best place to eat normally but it's okay, however the airport Chilli's is really not good. My Turkey sandwich was so dry that it sucked all the moisture from my body, and my margarita contained no actual tequila that I could tell. At this point I pretty much didn't care. I think Nikki had boneless buffalo wings, which were "okay." Undaunted, I ordered a second margarita. This one apparently had all the the tequila from the first one, it was like a double on the rocks. After drinking it I felt much better. Also, the airport Chillis is WAY overpriced, but they kinda have you trapped don't they.
So we hung around in the airport for a few more hours and took the later flight to Monterey, which mercifully left on time. When we got to Monterey, I had no problems getting the rental car, they actually gave us a free upgrade. Nikki's bag was the very last one to come off the conveyor, my bag was nowhere to be found. This wasn't all the unexpected, our original flight out of DFW had been canceled so I hadn't had high hopes for the bags and was actually quite pleased that one had made it. We walk over to baggage service to try and get them to find my bag only to find out that they had TAGGED OUR BAGS WITH SOMEONE ELSE'S name.
Both the tags they had given me in DFW and the one on Nikki's suitcase has someone else's name on the tag. Luckily, the person who's name was on our luggae was also flying to LA so our bags had made it that far without anyone realizing the problem. Apparently, the only reason that Nikki's bag had made it to Monterrey that she has a bright red tag (shaped like a lady bug) with my business card in it strapped to her bag. When no one picked it up in LA, the baggage handlers simply looked at that tag, looked up where I was going, and stuck it on the flight to Monterey. The baggage guys in Monterey, who were very nice and helpful said my bag was definitely in LA and they would make sure it got on the first flight out to Monterey.
So there we were, in Monterrey finally, we had Nikki's luggage, the rental car, and all our camera stuff so we were in pretty good shape. We headed over to the nearest Target where I bought 2 pair of pants, 2 shirts, some socks and underwear. I was dubious of AA ability to actually get me my suite case first thing in the morning so I bought extra just in case.
Next entry we'll get to the actual vacation part...:)
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