August 9th, 2006

500a

I booked this trip earlier in the day ... and I wanted to suprise my mom and grandmother, whom i havent seen in a few months. They think I will arrive in MEM on August 10th...but ater getting some last minute errands accomplished, I just packed a light carry-on and away I went

600a-Took a shower, packed a light bag with 2 day supply of clothes and various toiletries.

8a-After getting the place cleaned up for moms arrival on August 11th, It was time to leave for the airport. I hauled ass in my honda all the way to LAX. I made the mistake of taking the 110 and 405 frwy. After sitting in traffic, I decided go get off on Hawthorne Blvd and take surface streets the rest of the way. This one guy pulled alongside of me and made a comment about my Family Guy bumper sticker that says " Make Yourself Useful And Wipe My But"

833a-Arrived at Parking Lot B. Parked my car, hopped on the LAX Shuttle Bus. I already printed out my boarding pass ....so I just proceeded through check-in to security.

The security line wasnt long ... took a few minutes to get through.

930A-Boarding began for Delta 101 ( LA-Atlanta-Buenos Aires). The a/c was no other than a 763...which looked a lil worn out interior-wise. LAX-ATL-MEM had no seats in coach, so I hadno choice but to settle for first/business all the way.

10a... We pushed back from the gate. Taxi and departure was relatively quick.





The flight was smooth. The altitude was around FL350. I passed on the inflight meal... since i had Mac Donalds earlier that morning. Sleep on this flight was a task. We ran into many bumps along the way. SoI stayed up for the remainder of the flight.

Decent and Landing was a lil on the rough side ... since we had to dodge those thunderstorms near the airport.

Upon landing, continuing passengers to Buenos Aires were advised of the aircraft change and departure gate. My connecting flight would be 4 concourses away.

Boarding for DL742 ( ATL-MEM ) was about 30 mins late due to the aircraft being quarantined ( it arrived from Nassau ).

After about 30 minutes of waiting, It was time to board DL 742 to Memphis. The aircraft was a MD88 with the leather first & coach seats...sexy lookin maddog

My seat is 3B on this flight. As soon as i walked down the jetway, i hear a loud bang of thunder ... followed by extremely heavy rainfall. After a few people boarded the plane, there was a sudden power outage throughout the airport. In addition to connecting passengers delayed due to weather.

The crew on this flight informed us of the latest happenings. The F/As came around and gave us snacks, drinks ... pretty much whatever we wanted. A few adults and kids visited the cockpit. I dont know why I didnt go up there

After being delayed for 2hrs 36 minues, it was time to leave ATL for MEM. The flight to MEM was a quick 50 minutes once airborne.

The weather in MEM was much better than the weather in ATL. The delta concouse was like walking alone in the Mojave Desert.

I boarded the shuttle bus to the Alamo car rental facility ... to pick up my rental, a SUV. The nice agent checked me in, and advised me to take whatever SUV i found nice. picked up the 2006 Chevy Trailblazer, and drove towards my hometown in Arkansas. I made a stop enroute at a Wal-Mart supercenter in West Memphis, Arkansas ... picked up a few groceries or whatnot. After that, I drove the extra 30 minutes to my hometown...boy mom was caught offguard...but all was happy about my arrival.

My rent a car



LOOK ... A CRISPY CRITTER




August 11, 2006

After spending 1 day with mom and grandmom, it was time to head back to CA on Northwest. Mom is also coming back with me to spend a lil more time with her one and only son

We leave for the airport around 630a...due to the crappy weather. Arrived at the airport around 745a

We get to MEM airport, checked-in for NWA179 MEM-LAX. It took about 10-15 minutes to get through security at MEM. This was also an extremely full flight... as we also had tickets in first class on this thing called a... errr ... umm...a "Bus 319". I missed the days when NWA ran "real jets" between MEM-LAX vise-versa.... 727s, & 757s.

Anywho..I sat in 1B next to this rapper whom eventually got drunk on this flight. He eventually went into the restroom and pee'd all over the toilet seat, which was really discussing. However, when most people are drunk, they dont think clearly, soooo...... Mom sat in 2D. She basically fell asleep for the whole flight.

We left the gate at 910a. The flight was bumpy after take off ... but smoothen out once we got to our unknown cruising altitude. I think that NWA isnt good in advising passenger on the cruising altitude ... time of arrival, stuff like that. I passed on the breakfast .. and just settled for peanuts and some OJ. Other than the Master Peee on this flight, the trip went smooth. After we landed in LAX, mom and I went to Tito's Tacos.

After mom spent a few days in Los Angeles, It was time for her to head back to Memphis via Delta. For the second time in a row, she has a bad experience in no other place than ATL.

After she was gone... I drove 2700 miles from California to New York and back. That was a fun trip by itself.



I wish i had post this report more sooner...but oh well
Sorry for the delay in posting this trip report. I am now a transit bus operator for LADOT. I drive one of the DASH Routes in Los Angeles. For those fellow A.Net members in the LA area or will be visiting LA and is intrested in riding my bus & talking jets, IM me offline.

Later

Eddie A

[Edited 2006-11-03 06:43:52]