Posts Tagged Travel
The Saga of the Bag
Ok, so I could not post earlier for some reason, MySpace was being a douche….
So, at 9:45 last night I decided I did not trust Delta, and I went to target and bought some jeans, a shirt, some socks, underwear, and some Sudafed, and as I am standing there picking out my underwear, I get flashbacks to childhood where there are announcements over the intercom telling us that it is 10pm and the store is now closed, please take all your purchases to the front of the store. Not sure why that always happened as a kid, but I have a ton of memories of being at either Caldor or Bradlees with my mom, and the lights dimming and that announcement over the loud speakers the metal gate being half lowered across the doorway into the mall, but I have gotten off track now…
So, I got a call last night at 11ish from Tony The Flying Moose Delivery Service(I will leave the name alone, what can I say that can improve the humor in that?) telling me that he would be dropping my bag off to the Best Western on Main street in Watsonville in about a half an hour.
I felt the need to correct him, and tell him I was at the Holiday Inn Express, not the Best Western, and he looked at the slip and says “Oh yeah, it does say that doesn’t it”
oye….
So I go to bed….
3am rolls around and the phone rings, I wake up and answer it and don’t even let the person speak, I simply mutter the words…
“I’ll pick it up in the morning” and then hang up the phone.
So I get up, put on my new clothes and go down and check out and get my suitcase…. stick my dirty clothes in the suitcase in the target bag and then check out and go drop the suitcase into my trunk, basically untouched…
So that is that…
but I ended up coming back to the hotel tonight and checking back in because my work plans have changed and I am now here til Friday when I will be taking a red eye home…. so no New Jersey for me… Shucks… I am terribly disappointed…
GUESS WHAT!?!?!
NO BAGS YET!!!!
Shocking isn’t it? Although according to online, they will be delivered to me at my hotel by Flying Moose Delivery between 4pm and 4am.
What the fuck? it is 8:45 already!
I WANT CLEAN UNDERWEAR!!!!
I WANT MY COUGH AND COLD MEDICINE!!!
I DON’T WANT TO GO SPEND MONEY ON THEM AGAIN!
UTTER INCOMPETENCE!
So yeah…. my bag got into the San Francisco Airport last night, so says the online checking thingie, so I waited patiently for it, gave up and went to bed about 10pm.
I woke up this morning, called the front desk and SHOCKING no bag.
ok, this is annoying, so I called Delta.
The individual on the other end in broken English of unknown ethnicity tells me that my bag left on a flight this morning at 6am for Salt Lake City where it will get a connecting flight to Montreal Canada to be delivered to my final destination.
&#^$*&@#%$@*#&^$
Sorry, he couldn’t read correctly, it is going to be getting a connecting flight from SLC to Monterrey, California since that is the closest airport to where I am staying.
SO, instead of getting my bag delivered to me last night at arond 10pm, I can expect my bag within 12 hours from when it arrives at the Carmel/Monterrey airport at NOON today.
Honestly, if I had known they were going to do this I would have had them hold the bag in San Fran and driven the hour+ back up there to get the bag last night.
I can understand no real cost to ship from one airport to another, but really… come on now, THAT DOES NOT ALWAYS MAKE SENSE!!!
ok… now to go find somewhere that is open at 7:30 in the morning to buy a pair of underwear and a shirt….
Do You Really Wonder Why?
Ok, so I am pretty sure you all know I travel a shitload for work, and if you don’t, well I dunno what rock you have been living under for the past year.
So i always tell people how I never check bags, I always do a carry-on instead since I hate having to wait and I would be bumming if my suitcase did not make it.
However, I bought a new suitcase last night and screwed up and bought one that is too big to be a carry-on. OOPS!
So I had to check it when I got to the airport this morning, the first time for work I have had to check any luggage at all.
and SHOCKING, the bag never made it with me all the way to San Francisco! Who woulda thunk it?
Of course, I was suspicious when I got off the plane and did not bother to go wait at the carousel to see if it would come up, I just went rigt to the office, handed them my luggage receipt and asked for them to check it to see where it was. The guy then said, “oh, it is in Cincinnati, how did you know it did not make it here?”
“gut hunch is all”
“ok, well it will be here about 8:30 or so. Where are you staying?”
“In Watsonville at the Holiday Inn Express”
“Ouch, that is gonna cost us for the delivery tonight, I guess that is our fault though. Here is your free toiletry kit and your bag should be at the hotel sometime around 10, if it is not there by 10 please call.. yadda yadda yadda”
And people wonder why I never check any bags?!?!?!?
So here I am, in my hotel, waiting for my bag still….
and on a totally different note….. DAMN, FL is putting a spanking on OSU tonight!!
Not As Far As You Think
Philadelphia…. or to be more exact… King of Prussia, PA.
Yes, there is actually a city called King of Prussia, no idea why it is called that, but there is a city called that.
Anyway, I drove here last night/this morning. I could have flown, but I like driving better when it is not too far. I love driving at night as well, no traffic or problems. Definitely not as far as I thought it was.
So after 327 miles and 9.75 in tolls, it only took 4 hours and 45 minutes to get here. Rather nice I think, no traffic!!
Such a fun ride, the only problem was a dink from Maryland who was tailing me almost the whole time. He would sit behind me and just follow me, fall back and catch up, fall back and catch up, change lanes with me, and then if someone was going faster than us, he would go follow them and stay right behind them, and then if they got off, he would slow down and get back behind me. Why not just drive what you want to drive instead of sitting behind someone else?
What The Flying F People?
Ok, can no one in New Jersey drive?
First off, you are worse at merging than any other place I have ever been, there is a lane for you to get up to speed with the rest of the road for a reason, USE IT! and drive more than 10MPH in it!
Second, What the hell is up with everyone stopping at the end of an on-ramp onto the highway? I can see once in awhile being stuck behind someone who does, but I have witnessed it at least 5 times and i have not even been in the state 24 hours yet!
Third, I just saw 4 accidents in less than 3 miles on Rt 17, and not just fender bender bumps either, 3 of the 4 were real accidents with 3 or more vehicles!
Fourth, Where the hell are the Chinese food restaurants?!?!?
The Lake House
I never heard much about this other than an ad here or there when it came out, and it probably is more of a DVD movie than a theater movie anyway, but I do have to say, I really like it. I have seen it 3 times in the past couple weeks cuz it is the featured movie on my flights, but I really do enjoy it, and I even figured out the plot twist long long long before it even became evident that it was going to be the plot twist, and even though I have seen it 3 times, I still get that thick throat slightly choked up feeling at the same points, just like I did the first time even though I had it all figured out.
Dear Delta
You really need to get your things figured out….
It was really nice of you to call me with the automated phone call at 6:40 this morning to tell me the flight was delayed, luckily it was only 5 minutes before my regular alarm went off, so I was not too upset at being woken from my slumber.
However, you really need to organize yourself a bit more, you told me the flight was delayed til 10:45 when you called me, but when I checked online just before 9, it was 10:30 – ok, I can see that, but when I showed up at the airport at 9:55 and went to check in, I was told the flight was leaving at 10:15.
That is not nice, I now had to run to security, cut everyone else in line and get nasty looks from them, and then sprint to the gate, and then down the stairs and then down the hallway, and they get grabbed by the ground crew cuz my bag needed to get put under the plane cuz it was a regional jet… and then get dirty looks from everyone on the plane for delaying them and being the last person to get on the plane….
I Am A Failure
Yes, it has been 8 months and I thought things were going well, I had all my ducks in a row and things had not failed yet.
I have always been able to do it when I wanted to, it goes all the way back to high school, if I wanted to do it I could, never a question about it, I just did it.
It is who I am, people know it and are amazed at times, and sometimes they think I am a freak because of it, I may be a freak but it is for many different reasons than that.
So it all came to an end last night, I was careless and did not think, my mind was on the headphones I was borrowing to test out to see if I wanted a pair, and then there was the security delays.
I should have skipped that bottled water, but the trail mix was a bit salty so I had to get it, and then finish it off before take off, and then somewhere over the Great Plains it happened…..
I had to get up out of my seat on the airplane and use a airplane lavatory, I can’t believe it, it was unheard of!!
I am such a failure….
Small Town Benefits
Food and Drink.
Small towns, although I think this technically qualifies as a city, they have a WalMart and a Target, and more than one Grocery Store.
but still, for example…
I went out to dinner tonight at a place called The Drake – Willie Maze Sports Bar, I had a small 8 oz fillet, Texas toast, and a Caesar salad for dinner. Then on top of that I had 2 tall Citron and Sprites with enough booze in each for 2.5 drinks and then finished it off with a piece of caramel apple pie with a scoop of ice cream(yes, I remember my blog, I have been good so I splurged a little) but the total for all that was only $16. $$16 that is practically unheard of to get all that for that money!!
And it was really really good too! I can do without the pie next time, but I think I will be back to The Drake again while I am here.
I talked to a nice old guy who was next to me at the bar, gave me a heads up on where to check out for lunch and breakfast while I am here….
and yeah… Prop planes suck….. way too much lateral movement on a take off and landing for my tastes….