OK, so I took off Friday and Monday and myself and 9 friends from school, who live all over the country, went to Savannah, Georgia for St. Pats. The events unfolded as follows...
Friday, go to La Guardia for a 9 am flight to Savannah via Charlotte. Storm cause my ride to LGA to be over 3 hours long (usually 1 hour). LGA is in complete chaos, flights being cancelled etc. I barely make my flight, doing my best impression of OJ thru the airport. The plane then proceeds to sit on the tarmac for 4 hours, de-icing every 45 min. Finally, the plane comes back to the gate and we de-plane. Apparently, a plane can't take off during an ice storm. A snowstorm or rain, fine, not ice.
At this point LGA is in utter chaos, and I tell my friend who was with me, we either bag it or drive. Two Naval Cadets from Annapolis who were also on our flight and trying to get to Savannah, asked if they could join for the drive. We frantically called every rental call company from the airport phone bank. None would give us a reservation. After stepping outside for a smoke, I proceed to flag down a National Car Rental bus and ask the driver to radio ahead that we want a car one way to Georgia. He says, get in.
We head to the National location and are informed that we have gotten the last one way rental from LGA. We then proceed to drive to Savannah, generally a 12-13 hour trip but one that takes 18 due to travelling 20 MPH on the NJ Turnpike the entire way. The stated goal, of being in Savannah by sun-up, fails by 45 minutes.
We proceed to drop our friends off, drop off the car and head to our hotel. But, no sleep for us. A quick shower, and its out for some Red Bull and Vodka. Saw the parade, then partied on River St all day long with everyone else who had made it in as they were travelling from other parts of the country. Southern girls are so friggin hot, and are willing to do just about anything for a strand of plastic beads when they are drunk. An outstanding time that is highly recommended.
And yes, we did close the bars at 1 AM (they did close 2 hours early as it was now Sunday, didn't know that). Red bull and Vodka did the trick. Woke up Sunday at about 3 PM, hungover and stumbled back to River Street. Time to do it again.