In early December instead of studying for exams my roommate Alisa, and one of my friends Maleka and I decided we should just see how much it would cost to go to the Orange Bowl. We were not really planning on going we were just procrastinating. So we discovered that we could fly down there for just less than $200 if we flew from Charlotte and right then and there on a whim we booked our flight, without tickets to the game and without a hotel room.
We soon found a resort that had a pool with waterfalls, a huge lobby, a nice jacuzzi and rooms that were suites. So we also booked that to the tune of approx. $90 per night.
And since we didn't have tickets I had to call my alumni uncle with all the connections to pull some strings, and we ended up with awesome seats, and we only had to pay $50 a ticket.
So the plans were set when we went home for Christmas break. Maleka would drive down to Roanoke on December 27th and from there we would drive down to Charlotte at 2AM to meet Alisa and catch our 6AM flight. Little did I know that on December 26th I would get engaged to Brad and WOULD NOT want to leave.
So reluctantly I left with Maleka to make the drive to Charlotte at 2 AM. We got there in plenty of time and got on the plane, unfortunately I couldn't find my motion sickness medicine, and needless to say the flight down to Miami wasn't pretty I don't think I left the airport bathroom more than twice during the flight, and airport bathrooms are kind of my worst nightmare...GROSS!!
Then, I thought my luck had changed when we ran into one of Brad's soccer teammates at VT and he offered to share a cab with us to our resort. So we grab a cab and he gets dropped off and we being making the drive to our resort...and the ticker keeps rising and rising...$100, $150, $175, $250...Two hundred and fifty dollars we paid to get a cab to our hotel because our driver kept getting "lost".
So we grab our bags and reluctantly hand over the cash, and into the resort we go. We attempt to check in the hotel and then were informed that we actually couldn't stay there even though we had already paid because no one in our party was 21. At this point I was tired and annoyed so I began to make a scene. Typical, I know I know. We were then escorted off the property...
From the curb Alisa calls the hotel back and explains to them that we are "good girls" who just need a place to stay until we can go off to the game and cheer on our beloved Hokies. She also informs them that we have spent all of our money on this hotel and none of us have enough money in our checking accounts to reserve another hotel room, so if they don't let us in we will be sleeping among the homeless in Miami. Finally after a lot of moaning and complaining they let us go to our room with a warning of "if we hear one noise from your room you're out of here".
Up to our room we go, and since we can't afford another cab we order pizza, and not just any pizza the worst pizza ever...papa john's yuck! And yes, we ate that every meal while we were there except for the one morning we took the free shuttle to some Jewish breakfast place. Oh, and did I mention I hate Papa John's?
Since we were going to Miami we all packed shorts and short sleeved shirts, the only jeans we had were the ones we wore down...so we froze because it was in the 40's and raining the whole time we were there...great weather right? Not to mention as you all know we lost to Kansas, and their fans were obnoxious. I also like to call this trip my worst financial decision ever since we lost more money on cab rides, just none quite as bad as the first. We estimate that this little 3 day trip cost each of us approximately GULP, $500!!!!!
Here are the pictures from last year:
So Virginia Tech make me proud this year, don't let me down... and I hope all you fans have a good time down there, but I'll be sitting in my warm house on my comfy couch eating my chili and watching the game!
