I didn’t want to check a bag so I put all me toiletries and clothes and what not and put them in my carry-on. I knew that they didn’t count your purse as a carry-on so I switched over to my Naturally Knotty Tote so I could stuff it full with books, paperwork, etc. I was actually really impressed with this bag by the end of this trip as it actually weighed more then my carry-on. It held up perfectly and due to its set up I was able to put everything plus some into it! It even kept my boarding passes handy in the outside pockets!
This was the first time I’ve ever flown alone and that petrified me. The Hubby came with me to the airport and stayed with me until I came to the security check point. He waited while I went through the entire process including when the dumped my well organized purse all over the place and then realized I had nothing in it to take. Ugh! I waved good bye and off I went. Balling.
The plane didn’t look that little as I grabbed my camera to take a picture of it. But once I realized we had to check our carry-ons at the gate because it didn’t have the room to store them above I knew it was going to be small! Sure enough the only place you could stand was the aisle. There were only 2 seats per row. As I made my way down to seat 14a I realized someone was in it. I figured I didn’t know how to sit and sat in the row behind. A woman came up informed me I was in her seat and I was back to crawling. I notified the man sitting in my seat that he too was in the wrong spot. He informed me he doesn’t like aisle seats and he would be sitting in the window seat I booked. I was still red eyed and puffy so I wasn’t in the mood for a battle. I sat.
OMGawd did this man talk! In 10 minutes he talked without breathing. I was so happy when another man walked up to me to inform me I was actually in his seat! Sweet! I informed Chatty Cathy that I now needed my seat and off he went to the row before me to make an elderly man move so he could have a window. Phew! Close call! He the man who sat down next to me was my age. I think he could see the relief on my face. He didn’t speak a word until right before we landed.
When I arrived we landed 30 minutes before schedule. I thought this was great as I was meeting Toni from A Daily Dose of Toni and Nicole from Being Frugal is Fabulous and I was the last to be scheduled to land. Um, no. Because we were earlier we didn’t have a gate to park at and we sat. I turned on my phone and got a text message from Toni that she was heading to baggage claim.By the time we found Nicole already had a Taxi ready for us!
The Taxi driver turned on the meter the second we walked over to him! We were charged $4 before he even put the car into drive!!! He then proceeded to talk in a different language on his cell phone the whole time while the girls and I giggled and chatted! The taxi driver then found the hotel and dropped us off by the trash in the back?!?! We were frustrated with his lack of knowledge of the hotels in the area and were watching as the meter grew to almost $60 and were fine to walk around the building on our own.
(Latricia & Toni)We had a few hours until we were required to be anywhere and Coyne PR was set up in a conference room with some swag bags and some lunch. There I got to meet Latricia from 1stopmom and Lisa from Growing Up Mo. Can I tell you how fun it is to finally meet faces of bloggers you read! I have a great group shot but you’ll have to wait until WW to see it haha!
At 5:30 we were all to meet in the lobby. I was in a different timezone so it was throwing me off a bit. We were off to a nice cruise on Lake Minnetonka courtesy of General Mills. It was a great social experience to get to know one another. A few of the General Mills people came on and enjoyed the evening with us. I have to say they were a wonderful group of people who were incredibly down to earth and friendly!
Although I had previously mentioned it, someone forgot to let them know I was allergic to shellfish. Another ship had to come and bring me a substitute dinner LOL! We of course all got a kick out of it.
I met so many great people! I only hope I get a chance to meet them again on another amazing opportunity!
Kristin – Our Ordinary Life, Liz – Lizzy’s Dear Life, & Amanda – Mommy Mandy
Brandie – Free Sample Freak, Kate – MomTrend, and myself
Brooklin, Krisitn’s 2 month old daughter…isn’t she beautiful!
We were dropped off at the hotel around 9:30pm. Half the girls went up to their rooms for the night. The other half of us went to the bar. I didn’t drink as you previously saw my picture that was posted on Facebook thanks to my buddy the jealous bridesmaid and Pinot. I stuck to water. When the bar closed at 11pm we lost half our crew once again and then proceeded to Kate’s rooms. We ended up somehow outside on a bench when we decided to call it a night at 3:30am.
Oh! Did I tell you that we had to be showered, dressed, AND packed and in the lobby ready to head off to General Mills at 7:30am? Yeah it was rough. To me…well worth the experience!
Stay tuned for Day 2…
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