OH, THE JOYS OF TRAVEL

 

This past weekend I took a trip from Cincinnati to Seattle, WA, eventually ending up in Bellingham, WA for a friend’s wedding reception.  I made this very quick trip because the bride is a friend I have known since she was 3 years old.  I kind of see her as a ‘daughter by another mother.’

It's been a while since I did any flying and there was a time I used to love to travel.  I may have changed my mind as a result of this week’s trip.

Let me first say, before I get started on this rant….that the celebration itself was awesome.  It was held outside with perfect weather.  The entire Saturday and Sunday was well planned and absolutely glorious!!!  I was so thrilled and happy for my dear friend.  However, getting there and getting home was an entirely different story!!!

          It started with a confirmation email from Budget Rental regarding my car reservation.  In that email it confirmed that my pick-up time on Friday was 5 AM!!!  I was still in bed in my home at 5 AM!!!  I know for a fact that I did not enter that information.  Somewhere along the way the Budget system experienced a glitch….to put it mildly. 

          I immediately called Budget and of course got a representative whom I could barely understand due to a very thick foreign accent.  I explained my situation; she pulled up my reservation and confirmed that indeed my expected pick-up time for the car was 5 AM.  She assured me that the reservation would be held for 15 hours.  I did the math and realized I would be cutting it very close, assuming my flights would proceed on time.  I asked if we could change my pick-up time to 6 PM, she immediately said there were no cars available.  So, I stressed about that the rest of the day.

          Moving ahead, I arrived at the Cincinnati airport checked my baggage, got my boarding pass and headed for the gate.  Of course, the gate was 3 miles away and I had to get through TSA.  Next hurdle!!

In 2013 I fell at a West Virginia state park and broke my ankle.  Repair required surgery which included a screw in my right ankle.  For the first time ever the scanner at TSA picked up that screw.  They had me go through the scanner 3 times and then once with my shoes off.  That time I saw the scan and asked if that was my right leg where the indicator was.  She said yes.  I said, I have a medical screw in that ankle.  They had me go through one more time, then pat me down, looked through my shoes and then let me go on my way.

Finally, I got to the gate, sat down, looked at my boarding pass, and read the name, Martha Hall!!!!  WHAT THE HELL!!!!  I wasn’t even about to go back to the check-in desk, not walk 3 miles and then have to go through TSA again.  So, I sat there, hoping the gate agent could fix the mess, stressing out about something else for 1.5 hours.  He showed up 30 minutes before boarding time and said WHAT THE HELL!! Someone sure fucked up!!  And then fixed the mess!!!

The flight was fine.  Gorgeous weather, very little bouncing and nice seat mates.

Got to Seattle, went to pick up my car, hoping like crazy that my reservation was still good.  Got to the counter, there was a mile long line waiting for their cars and NOT A SINGLE AGENT AT THE COUNTER.  We were all standing around, looking around, wondering ‘What the heck!”  About 10 minutes later agents started showing up, 1 person at a time.  I guess they all went on break at the same time….or something???  Anyway, when it was my turn, the agent took my ID, processed my reservation and sent me on my way.  Not a word about the 5 AM pick up.

So, now I was 2 hours from Bellingham, it was 8 PM and boy, was I tired.  All interstate driving, so piece of cake.  Right??  Wrong??  If anyone reading this has ever driven through Atlanta, GA, you will know immediately what I am about to describe.  Interstate 5 in Seattle goes through downtown Seattle exactly the same was I-75 goes through Atlanta.  Nothing but car back-up after car back-up after car-back up.  No construction, no accidents, just volume of traffic that the road can’t handle.  I should have been in Bellingham around 10 PM, it was after midnight when I hit my hotel bed.  I was asleep immediately.

Next 2 days were perfect.  Now it’s Monday morning and I’m headed back to the Seattle airport.  I anticipate the slow driving time since I now know what I’m dealing with.  I plan to leave around 8:30 AM for a departure time from the airport at 1 PM.  I ended up leaving at 7:30 PM as I woke up around 3 AM and could not get back to sleep. Oh boy, was that even worse!!!  Of course I should have expected it.  After all it was Monday morning rush hour!!!

About 10 miles north of Seattle the traffic came to a stop.  And I do mean a stop.  The traffic crawled, crawled, crawled.  Again, no construction, no accidents, just volume.  I watched the time slipping away, I watch the gas tank getting emptier and emptier and I just knew I was not going to make that flight.  Finally, when you are about ¾ way through downtown Seattle, I-90 splits off from I-5 and the traffic cleared.  I got there in plenty of time and did not run out of gas. 

Story over??  Not quite!!!

I dropped off the rental car, went 2 floors up to catch the bus for a ride to the terminal and realize I have left my purse in the car.  I rush back down 3 flights, WRONG, look around and realize my car is not there, an employee comes by and asks me if I am lost.  The sweetheart got me on an elevator, got off the elevator with me and pointed me in the right direction.  The car was still there; my purse was still there and finally I was on my way to the terminal.

The rest of the trip went fine except the flight from Midway to Cincinnati was delayed.  When I finally got home, in bed it was 1:06 AM.  One really long, long day.

Think I’ll stay home for a bit.