Petra, its taken 13 years but im here! By the way Delta, you suck!!
April 28, 2008
When I was 6 years old my aunt Petra moved from Greece to America. She stopped off in England on the way to say goodbye to everyone, she met and married an American Thai in the US navy and settled in Jacksonville, Florida. They divorced a few years ago and my aunt moved up to West Virginia for work but hated living there so moved back down to Jax. I also couldnt spend 6 weeks in the country where she now lives and not spend some time with her. My memories of her are very vague, i remember her being quite tall thats about it! So i booked a return flight from NYC with Delta, damn curse Delta everytime i fly with them something seems to go wrong you'd think I would have learnt but nope I decided one last try with them, i was due to leave the airport at 4pm and i arrived just before 2pm and checked in and my flight had been delayed to 4.50pm so i didnt really mind as the weather was bad. From the time it took me to go through security until the time it took to reach my gate (5 mins max) my flight had been pushed back to 6pm! I asked the counter staff who dealt with the customers only when they'd stopped talking about their lives to one another, this one woman's flight had been delayed hours and she was obviously stressed and he whipped his finger and said in the gayest voice 'RIGHT! she is not going at all now iv decided' i just thought 'tosser' but anyway I cosied up and he put me onto the earlier flight which was due to leave at 12.15pm but had been pushed back to 3pm, so its now 2.30pm and the screen changes to 3.15 then 3.30. At about 3.45 we finally board a little bus which takes us out to a tiny regional jet and we board and its seriously the smallest plane iv ever been on !! and im kinda scared as its rainy and foggy and im in a toy plane! haha. So we all sit down and i have this lady with a baby next to me who is the cutest baby iv ever seen and he dribbles on me the whole flight and its funny because she just plops him down on the floor and when we hit some turbulence he pulls these really funny faces!. We sit on the plane about an hour and they have the airconditioning on and i swear im gonna get frostbite it is so cold. Finally we take off but we cant get any hot drinks as the coffee machine is broken. Take off was smooth but we had turbulence most of the flight down but everyone arrives safe in Florida where it is pouring with rain! The later flight which i was meant to be on was very late, i dont blame Delta at all for the weather and i realise safety is obviously very important but the airport was chaos and the communication between the staff just broke down and they really looked like idiots. Delta, you need to train your staff better, the way some of them spoke to passengers is not acceptable. Of course people are going to be upset if their flight is over 5hours late so do something about it! I cant fly them anymore, i seemed to be cursed with them. If you see me on a Delta flight dammit just run!! I met my aunt ok at the airport, we both walked round for ages looking for one another before finding each other and it took an age to drive home as she kept missing the turns which was pretty funny. Florida was very humid, it felt nice to be warm late at night, something im not used as it rains or is cold at least 5/7 days a week where im from We got some fast food and stayed up til 2.30am talking and looking at old photos and my aunt told me lots of stories about my family.
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Jacksonville Zoo
Jacksonville Zoo is the largest Zoo between Atlanta and Orlando occupying over 110 acres of land and with many animals on show. The Zoo participates in many conservation projects, notably in Guyana. The Zoo first opened in 1925 and udnerwent a huge redevelopment in 1992. My aunt likes to visit the Zoo every year to see whats changed and she always finds she enjoys it more with every passing year. There is such a variety of wonderful animals to see - over 2,000 rare and exotic animals and over 1,500 plant species so its a nature fanatics haven. The Zoo is currently undergoing some minor building work to make way for its Asian Gardens due to open next yera according to the tour guide. Some of the animals living at the Zoo include many types of primates including Gorillas, Bonobos and even tiny little monkeys no smaller than a hand whos name has escaped me.. There is a small aviary that I really enjoyed, i held out some sugar water in a smal ltub for the Lorikeets to drink and I had 4 of them on my arm and I have some great photos. Other notable animals to look out for include; alligators (very scary!) elephants, cheetahs, panthers, otters (my favourite animal), eagles and koala bears. The entrance fee for the zoo is $12 and its also a good idea to buy the Zoo train ticket which costs $3 and gives you a guided audio tour by fun train of the entire Zoo and its inhabitants. Jacksonville Zoo is well worth a visit and is a great day out for all. Its probably also a good idea to bring along some food and water as the restaurants and shops there are a little pricy.











