Observations and weird stuff from my trip to BlogWorld and CA

I just returned home from a 5 days trip to California (one of my favorite states) to attend the BlogWorld Expo and for a few days of R&R after the conference. I'll write more later about the "happy" part of my trip but today, a few "unhappy" events are on my mind. Nothing like a Monday to share some misery : )

• Rain, Rain, Rain! It rained 2 out of the 5 days I was there and was somewhat cold. At least for a Texan. Really? Isn't LA supposed to be sunny every day of the year? I love rain as much as the next guy but enough already. And one of the rainy days found me and the hubbie stomping around Downtown Disney trying to buy princess gifts for our 5 year old. Thank goodness I was smart enough to bring warm clothes and an umbrella with me.
• Disney Christmas Parade - When we arrived at Disneyland, we discovered that they were filming a big, ole Christmas parade for a show that will air on ABC on Christmas day. Needless to say, the floats and areas that were roped off for the parade were a bit of a logistical nightmare. You'll probably see me in the show several times making a sour face. Bah, humbug!
• Headache on the flight home ... literally. We were seated in the next to the last row right between to very loud engines. The noise was deafening. American Airlines should seriously hand out ear plugs to the passengers who are stuck in those seats, not to mention a largely discounted rate. A poor baby cried for most of the flight, I'm sure because the engine noise was unbearable. I felt like we were in the area only approved for livestock or something. It was truly AWFUL.
• Toll tag nightmares - When my Father in Law entered the DFW airport to pick us up last night, he went through the toll tag lane but when we were leaving, he got confused and got in a regular lane to exit where you are required to produce a ticket and pay for your time at the airport. He told the guy in the ticket booth that he would just back out and get in a toll tag lane but said guy was having none of that. We also offered to pay $2.00 for the 30ish minutes we'd been in the airport but he wasn't having any of that either. He proceeded to write us up for "making a mistake" and entering the wrong lane. After about 15 minutes of this mess, the very cranky, rude attendant handed us a $19 ticket for an "Uncollected Parking Fee" all because we made a mistake. When I called DFW customer service this morning to complain, a somewhat rude customer service rep told me I had only been charged $2, not the $19 that was listed on my "ticket." Seriously? Why didn't the rude booth agent just tell us that in the first place and save everyone a lot of anger and grief? DFW Airport, you stink at customer service.

OK, I promise later this week, I'll blog about the really nice things that we did while in LA, but for today, I just needed to get the above off my chest!