somewhat long trip report to fort lauderdale (not poker related)

elfleader · #1 07-08-2007, 01:45 AM

ok so were driving to noodles n company and we miss our exit so Charlie randomly says lets keep driving to California and I agree so were gonna do it but then we realize it would take too long so were like [censored] what do we do so we look online n find a really nice deal for a flight and hotel in Las Vegas and we are like hell yeah lets go. Matt knows some poker players who aren’t 21 and play in casinos in Vegas all the time so we figure we can get in. I (Charlie) clear out my bank account all in cash and get ready to go. I was so pumped up about going to Vegas that I couldn’t even sleep so I just made bacon at like 4 am and woke up my new roommate and her friend who were passed out on the couch (sorry). Then I called matt to wake him up so we could get ready to go. It turns out that to go to book the hotel that was part of the deal you have to be 21 so we can’t go. By that time we were ready to go on a trip so we had to find tickets to somewhere. We could fly from Chicago to fort Lauderdale for like 75% off so were like damnnn lets go so we call up friends n see if they wanna go and Jake is willing to so off we go to Chicago as our flight leaves at 6 am. We have to leave right away to get there in time and we are leaving our car at Ashley matt’s x’s house. Matt wont call her so I have to be like “Ashley this is matt’s friend Charlie, do you remember me? Yeah? Great… I’mm just calling cause I wanted to ask you a favor…” Well anyways she is pretty cool and says ya we can leave my car there. So we drive all night an get to Chicago at like 4 a.m. When we get there we are short on time so we just leave the car in the parking lot of a grocery store with the keys under the gas cap for Ashley to pick up. We take the L train to o hare but for some reason it took reallllly long.. because the train would keep on slowing down to walking speed… so we end up getting out of the train at 5:50 with our flight leaving at 6 so were like [censored] and we run out of the train pushing by people to get to the counter at like 5:55 and there like wtf u have to be here 3 hours before your departure time but were like “we have to be on this plane we have a wedding to go to and I am the ring bearer” so they call and book our tickets and say if u get to the plane in time u get there otherwise your out of luck so we go to the screening but Charlie has like 10 cans of soup and other weird ass food and they don’t allow liquid more than 3 oz on the plane. Jake was like you have to throw all that soup away but I really wanted to eat it so I tried to get it through. so it takes a little while and the TSA guy throws away all my food but we get through and bolt to our gate as theyre just closing the door but they let us in and were on our way.

We get on the plane and our seats aren’t next to each other cause we bought the tickets last minute so matt and Jake are together and Charlie is in the row behind. During the flight the couple directly behind me (matt) and sitting next to charlie starts ordering bloody marys and beer like no other probably spending like 50 dollars. I (Charlie) was counting and they spent 85$ and the lady had six of those tiny bottles of vodka in 3 bloody marys so they are totally wasted (they are like 50-60 year olds) and they keep talking about the weirdest sexual [censored] and just start making out hardcore. They turn completely facing each other and this lady is putting her leg up on the guys lap an hes putting his hand up her shirt. Im trying not to look and doing a sudoku race w/ matt in the little airplane magazine. So the flight was 50% her drunk ass laughing for no reason and 50% loud making out.. So we finally get there and were like wtf do we do now so I (matt) go online check out the hotel rooms and find a super 8 a mile from the beach thats cheap and says 18 year olds can stay. We call the hotel and check to make sure the rate is right and they take 18 year olds and they are like “yeah” so we leave the airport in search of transportation to the hotel. We find out through some nice girl whos husband was a storm chaser that we take this train and we go on that. We were talking to her at the train station and she said if we wanted to see a storm she would take us to a hurricane. I (Charlie) was like “really?” and she was like “yeah ill take you!” so I was like “really” and she was like “yeah ill bring you!” She seemed really excited to show us and we were happy because if there was hurricane we knew who to call…

So we get off the train at Pompano Beach and we are expecting to see the beach right there but we are just in the middle of nowhere. We try to call the hotel for directions but the lady has no idea what train we are talking about and can’t help us. We get out our handy travel Florida brochure thing we got from the airport with a cartoon map of fort Lauderdale on the back so we of course follow this cartoon and according to the map were like 3 blocks away from our hotel basically...well apparently the map was not an accurate representation and like sometimes an inch on the map was sometimes 15 blocks while other times it was 1 block and we end up walking for 1.5 hours so were all confused and eventually get on a bus n find out how to get there through ppl on it. so we get there and some obviously incompetent lady is at the front desk and says we cant stay there cause u have to be 21 so charlie argues with her for a long time but she just says we cant stay there over n over so were [censored]... we go outside on the bench and matt gets wifi so he gets out his laptop and brings up the hotels webpage where it says you can be 18. I (Charlie) bring it in and show her and she is like “no you cannot stay” and I am like “I just talked to you one the phone one hour ago and you told me we could stay here.” I could tell by her voice it was definitely the same lady she was from a weird country but she still wouldn’t let us stay there so we go to McDonalds and get some powerade and think of what to do. At this time Jake bails and decides to go home for absolutely no reason while me (matt) and charlie power on into the unknown of fort lauderdale. We decide we can stay at a hostel so we get directions and talk to some guy who gives us the bus route info so off we go. so we of course werent paying attention and went too far and got off and saw a motel that was REALLy cheap so we go and find out apparently in the state of Florida you have to be 21 to rent a hotel room but somehow charlie works his magic and talks to the guy for like 15 minutes and convinces him into letting us stay so we get a room which was alot better then expected and get settled. I (Charlie) just told him “we are good kids we aren’t going to break anything, our mothers raised us well, we don’t even drink or smoke.” The motel is right on the beach so we go there and swim in the ocean when it starts storming hardcoreeeee with lots of lightning n stuff but we stay in the ocean as it was kinda like a sauna run into a cold lake affect as wed run around on the beach (cold rain) then go in the ocean which was really warm. It was raining so hard there was like an inch of water on the ground everywhere. We were thinking about calling Jessie the girl from the train but we decided the storm was strong enough where we were at so we keep hanging out and eventually leave the beach and go back and order some pzones n eat that and watch the discovery channel. As the night went on starting at like midnight the noises from people outside kept getting louder n louder as i think it was someone’s bday party who lived at the motel so they get drunk out there when some midget joins the party with the weirdest voice ever and talks in Spanish until like 3 am. I (Charlie) thought he was a little kid but he was taking shots and drinking beer. We eventually fall asleep. So the next day I (matt) go to pay with my debit card but apparently he didn’t want a paper trail that could lead to him renting to underagers so he denies that idea. I payed for jakes tickets on my credit card and he owed me so I was getting cash from him but he left so we didnt have enough in cash for another night at the hotel. So off to the atm we go. Once i get to the atm i realize i forgot my pin code so im like [censored] n call but aparently u need to go into the wells Fargo bank to get it changed/reset which isnt possible here so that options gone n charlie has only 40 dollars in his account an not enough cash to pay for another night so that wont work so were [censored] out of luck... we think and decide to try and buy lottery tickets since i can still use my card as long at dont need to punch in my pin so we thinkkk and try and buy 2 20 dollar lottery tickets and hope to pay for our room but you aparently need cash for that so then we try and buy a visa gift card that might work at the ATM but u need cash for that to.. So were like [censored] so we decide to go to the hostel as we have enough cash for that and get a room with a guy named herald. We get in and the room smells like someone [censored] all over and they tried to cover the smell up with lemon cleaner. we drop off our stuff and go off to the hopping part of the beach(around 11) so we take the bus n swim and of course show off our beach bodies and hit on all the hot girls. eat lunch then try n find a place to use wifi so we can send emails to the teachers cause were missing class for this so we go to some random community college and convince this lady to put her code in for us so we can use their internet use that n go back and on the ride back on the bus with 3 European girls who looked like they were 12 but aparently were 18 asked us about the hotspots of fort lauderdale... The 2 ugly ones came and like sit in our seats with us and were like “where can you go if you are 18 to go out. We want to go to a pub to dance. We don’t need to drink we just want to dance.” I was picturing them like riverdancing in an irish pub. We escape from the girls and we go eat at hooters so we go and order and take in the scenery when suddenly I (matt) get hit by a lime in the head I look over n like 3 more limes come at me and im really confused but soon realize its some hooters girl who was trying to hit a creepy old man who kept touching all the girls but hit me instead. So we get done and chill on the beach for an hour. I (charlie) have to go to the bathroom and I go into this fancy restaurant because it is the only thing there and everyone is looking at me because I don’t have my shirt on and some guy comes through this doorway fast carrying dishes and he runs into me and drops them all and breaks everything. Im like [censored] and just get out of there. We watch a beach wedding then decide its time to go to the hostel and bus our way there. So we go and think of a plan to get enough cash for the next night for a motel so we think of a fool proof plan and tomorrow were pooling our cash(minus bus fares to airport) and busing our way to a casino and were playing blackjack until we have enough money for the motel otherwise were probably sleeping on the beach somewhere if this plan doesn’t work but I am confident it will…so now I am in my bed next to howard typing this for no reason and trying to fall asleep..