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Well, some friends and I were invited to go to New Orleans and march in an Annual St. Patricks day parade (held every Saturday before St. Pats day), last year.
So, at the last minute, we dicided to go this year......we flew from Charleston to Atlanta, met another couple Irish Chanel marchers, and all proceeded to N>O> on Thurs of last week......one of other guys is a pilot for Delta.
During descent that afternoon, a girl suffered a seizure and needed CPR after a priority landing.....we stepped over her legs to exit the plane after a rushed taxi to the terminal. We spoke to Alana (the cute attendant we were getting free drinks from) afterwards, and she mentioned the lady was "alive and talking" when she was told to clear the plane....
This was Thursday.
Friday, while walking/drinking/eating our way through the French Quarter, we watched a guy standing on the sidewalk trip and fall, hitting his head on a stopped trolley car....and need police and ambulance to carry him off.....bleeding all over the street (he wasn't even drunk...just wearing slippery shoes.)
Saturday, it rained all day long, making the "parade" become a glorified 6mi forced march in Kilts and tuxedo's....(luckily, the Tulane University girls still showed up to get beads and "get pinned" during the parade and at the after-party at Parasols and on Bourbon St....... :o).....<only good day, by far!
Sunday, it still rained, but at least we hadn't seen anyone hurt/dead or need CPR,....yet....BUT...
While on the way to Margueritaville for a couple cold one's and some lunch, a guy on a bike cuts in front of a horse-drawn carraige near Jackson Square, crashing onto the pavement, horse stepping on his bike, hurts the horse, hurts the guy (he was an idiot, anyway!).....
So at least the trend continued....
At Margueritaville, we run into my friend from Delta. Mike tells me the girl on the plane from Thursday, died. She was 25yo, just adopted 2 kids, and recently married....a real bummer to say the least.
We all figured nothing much else could go wrong during the trip. So far, by Sunday, we had (1) stepped over a dead girl on the plane, (2) saw a guy nearly kill himself on the sidewalk, (3) been rained on during our "forced" march, and (4) watched a kid on a bike run in front of a really big-assed horse......
Made it an early night on Sun, limo arrived at 5.15am for airport departure, go through security, get on plane.
Everythings cool, huh?
Well, did ya'll hear anything in the news on Monday about Delta flight 1053?
Yeah, we almost crashed after hitting a flock of seagulls< (I think we hit a flock of Pteradactyls the way the plane was shaking after the obvious "THUD" and the loss of pull!!)
We thought everything was cool still.....until you turn around after flying 5 mins, hear an announcement about "hitting something", and on fast approach, you see the entire New Orleans Fire/Rescue Squad, Airport Fire dept, Police cars, ambulances, and anything else with a flashing light that was within radio distance of the airport........chasing you down the runway....... diesel smoke pouring on the big rigs, small trucks with hose equipment flashing by...and realize the right side engine isn't running!!!.......
Emergency landing, complete loss of hydraulics on the right side, engine cowling gone, fan blades gone, wing damage.....
And its Monday morning, too.
After the damage was inspected and the risk evaluated, we were towed to the terminal, exited, and then waited in line for 2hrs to "reschedule" flights.
We all know, you aint' gonna shove 190 people on the next flight (unless someone has an extra 500 passenger plane hanging around "just in case").
So, after some jokes about the flight home including some fried chicken or bird jumbylaya of sorts, having some fun with the obviously haggled Delta rep (I said we had a "funeral-wedding-barmitzva" to go to!) ....and realizing we almost died...
we figured,
What the Hell? Are we Lucky, or not?
Because we were NICE and not bitching, the rep gave us another complete night in N.O. on Delta's tab.......
vouchers for Crown Plaza hotel (2 plama's in ea room!), free dinner, lunch, breakfast, free shuttles to the French Quarter (that alone was worth $120 per person!!)....just keep all the receipts.....and they reimbursed us for everything we ate/drank/shuttled...which was a LOT, except for a $13 hat one guy bought!!!! ;D
Yeah, we were late leaving yesterday, too.
But we all decided to wear our St. Pats green to the airport for fun.
Big hats, green jackets and pants, green shirts, my "big balls" beads, everything.
After check-in, because of our "status" having almost crashed, we were upgraded to First Class, free drinks on both segments home, priority loading ('cause of our being all decked in green), and even arrived early..... ;D
Interestingly "lucky" weekend......I think...
Will I go back?
Yeah.
The girls at the parade and after party were definately worth it...... 8)
ps. pictures to follow...if I can get the damn wet camera to work. Hopefully to SIM card stored cleanly.
So, at the last minute, we dicided to go this year......we flew from Charleston to Atlanta, met another couple Irish Chanel marchers, and all proceeded to N>O> on Thurs of last week......one of other guys is a pilot for Delta.
During descent that afternoon, a girl suffered a seizure and needed CPR after a priority landing.....we stepped over her legs to exit the plane after a rushed taxi to the terminal. We spoke to Alana (the cute attendant we were getting free drinks from) afterwards, and she mentioned the lady was "alive and talking" when she was told to clear the plane....
This was Thursday.
Friday, while walking/drinking/eating our way through the French Quarter, we watched a guy standing on the sidewalk trip and fall, hitting his head on a stopped trolley car....and need police and ambulance to carry him off.....bleeding all over the street (he wasn't even drunk...just wearing slippery shoes.)
Saturday, it rained all day long, making the "parade" become a glorified 6mi forced march in Kilts and tuxedo's....(luckily, the Tulane University girls still showed up to get beads and "get pinned" during the parade and at the after-party at Parasols and on Bourbon St....... :o).....<only good day, by far!
Sunday, it still rained, but at least we hadn't seen anyone hurt/dead or need CPR,....yet....BUT...
While on the way to Margueritaville for a couple cold one's and some lunch, a guy on a bike cuts in front of a horse-drawn carraige near Jackson Square, crashing onto the pavement, horse stepping on his bike, hurts the horse, hurts the guy (he was an idiot, anyway!).....
So at least the trend continued....
At Margueritaville, we run into my friend from Delta. Mike tells me the girl on the plane from Thursday, died. She was 25yo, just adopted 2 kids, and recently married....a real bummer to say the least.
We all figured nothing much else could go wrong during the trip. So far, by Sunday, we had (1) stepped over a dead girl on the plane, (2) saw a guy nearly kill himself on the sidewalk, (3) been rained on during our "forced" march, and (4) watched a kid on a bike run in front of a really big-assed horse......
Made it an early night on Sun, limo arrived at 5.15am for airport departure, go through security, get on plane.
Everythings cool, huh?
Well, did ya'll hear anything in the news on Monday about Delta flight 1053?
Yeah, we almost crashed after hitting a flock of seagulls< (I think we hit a flock of Pteradactyls the way the plane was shaking after the obvious "THUD" and the loss of pull!!)
We thought everything was cool still.....until you turn around after flying 5 mins, hear an announcement about "hitting something", and on fast approach, you see the entire New Orleans Fire/Rescue Squad, Airport Fire dept, Police cars, ambulances, and anything else with a flashing light that was within radio distance of the airport........chasing you down the runway....... diesel smoke pouring on the big rigs, small trucks with hose equipment flashing by...and realize the right side engine isn't running!!!.......
Emergency landing, complete loss of hydraulics on the right side, engine cowling gone, fan blades gone, wing damage.....
And its Monday morning, too.
After the damage was inspected and the risk evaluated, we were towed to the terminal, exited, and then waited in line for 2hrs to "reschedule" flights.
We all know, you aint' gonna shove 190 people on the next flight (unless someone has an extra 500 passenger plane hanging around "just in case").
So, after some jokes about the flight home including some fried chicken or bird jumbylaya of sorts, having some fun with the obviously haggled Delta rep (I said we had a "funeral-wedding-barmitzva" to go to!) ....and realizing we almost died...
we figured,
What the Hell? Are we Lucky, or not?
Because we were NICE and not bitching, the rep gave us another complete night in N.O. on Delta's tab.......
vouchers for Crown Plaza hotel (2 plama's in ea room!), free dinner, lunch, breakfast, free shuttles to the French Quarter (that alone was worth $120 per person!!)....just keep all the receipts.....and they reimbursed us for everything we ate/drank/shuttled...which was a LOT, except for a $13 hat one guy bought!!!! ;D
Yeah, we were late leaving yesterday, too.
But we all decided to wear our St. Pats green to the airport for fun.
Big hats, green jackets and pants, green shirts, my "big balls" beads, everything.
After check-in, because of our "status" having almost crashed, we were upgraded to First Class, free drinks on both segments home, priority loading ('cause of our being all decked in green), and even arrived early..... ;D
Interestingly "lucky" weekend......I think...
Will I go back?
Yeah.
The girls at the parade and after party were definately worth it...... 8)
ps. pictures to follow...if I can get the damn wet camera to work. Hopefully to SIM card stored cleanly.
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