My Travel Adventure Chicago Style
As I start to travel, I know that I will have different things not go off according to plan. My first trip out resulted in numerous things happening, all in record time. I would be speaking at the BACon in Columbus, OH, on Friday, August 27th. I was leaving on Wednesday to get there to spend some time with my bowling buddy from high school. One week before, I found out she has COVID, but the main thing is she is better.
Tuesday night, I get a text that my morning flight for the next day is canceled. I was more than ok with that after I saw that same storm come through Omaha that night. I got online, changed the hotel, and my flights to Thursday. I finished packing and got some work completed on Wednesday.
Thursday morning, I get to the airport extra early because Terry had to work. I am sitting not too far from my gate eating breakfast, and the board shows my flight is now delayed one hour. I know there is no way I will make my connecting flight. The gate agent could get me on a new flight, but it was a few hours later. Better than missing my connecting flight. It is amazing how they cancel my first flight or change it but never mention anything about connecting flights.
The text messages start right before boarding that there are trip advisories due to weather. Never a good sign when needing to fly. Next, the airline decided to send the plane to a different destination to avoid the weather, but your luggage was still going if you didn’t go. There were no more flights to where I needed to go that night. I called the conference chair and told him I wasn’t coming. I canceled the hotel room altogether. The weather was so hot that day, and I bet I walked about 30,000 steps with my backpack on my shoulders.
I called Terry and told him to get me a room at the Hyatt that was about 5 minutes away. I decided to rent a car and drive home on Friday. I set out once again to walk across the terminal to get the shuttle bus to rent a car. You can guess what happened; next, I fell on the shuttle bus because their steps are so high and my legs are short. I was also dripping wet after all day, and the worst part was my mask. I cut my leg, but there wasn’t too much blood. I grabbed a taxi and got to the rental car place.
I probably looked and didn’t smell great by the time I got to the rental car place. They don’t like to rent cars for one way, but I managed to talk them into it and got some discounts. They paid all tolls, and part of the way home was a toll road. They gave me a full-sized SUV at the economy rate. I got through the line rather quickly and went to find the car. I get to the slot, and it is empty- no car! By now, I was sweating as I was in a non-enclosed parking garage. I realize there are about six or eight of us with the same problem. Empty rental car slot without a car.
This young guy in his mid-twenties was so lovely, but it took him about one hour to find a car. He did the paperwork quickly, and he said the car is across the garage. He asked to carry my backpack, which made my day. Now my body is starting to hurt from all the walking and, of course, the fall. I get into the car, and I crank the AC while I figure out all the controls on the vehicle. I entered the Hyatt address into Google Maps, and by this time, my phone is almost dead. I got to the Hyatt without any issues, and my phone was on 2%. There is no valet parking, and the self-park lot is behind the building—no luggage except my too-heavy backpack. I hit the market inside the Hyatt for water and soda.
My night was uneventful, but I couldn’t drink all that water quick enough. My clothes and mask look like they had only made it halfway through the spin cycle. I looked at my phone and realized Terry had been calling and texting. I was conserving phone power. I try to call him, and my phone would not make or receive a call. No, it was not in airplane mode. I was able to text, and Terry was able to call me. I did play around with the phone, and I have no idea how but I fixed it. I was so hot I had to cool off before going to bed.
The following day it took me a long time to get ready as my entire body hurt. I moved around like I was 105 years old with all my wounds. I still had the bandage on my right arm from when I fell a few weeks ago. Driving home was not too bad, considering I left at 7:00 am. The easy part of getting out of Chicago. Every truck in the Midwest was driving down I-88 and I-80 west between Chicago and Omaha. I stopped more than I usually do, but I was tired. Turning the rental car back in took about five seconds. I noticed the receipt last night: Here are the odometer readings: Odometer Out: 1813, Odometer In 18620, Total Driven: 16807. Do they think I drove 16,807 miles and returned the car in 24 hours?
Now about my luggage… well, it got to Columbus, which was where I was going. It was brought back to Chicago, and they told me to go pick it up. Yesterday they were looking for it. I now have two baggage resolution files, and I think the airline needs to employ Business Analysts in their lost baggage area! Today I was given the flight number the bag would arrive on, but it is late tonight. I also received a text message that they were still looking for it. After another chat this morning, my bag is “allegedly” at the Omaha airport. I will find out later today. I won’t write blogs this long about other trips, but this was so weird. I am not exaggerating about this as I just sat back watching the show unfold.
