notes, thoughts and anecdotes from 72 hours of travel

background

4 flights from 4 airports, 4342 miles traveled
+ 3 days in 3 cities
+ 2 nights totaling 6 hours of sleep
= 1 tired me, happy to be home for a few days

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red carpet club

"red carpet club, just for you ma'am." i thanked the man holding the pre-heated rental car door open for me.

"brand new car. nice, isn't it." i thanked him again, and agreed.

"here's a bottle of water for you. and let me give you my card".

"its a new car, you know". which is when i realized that he was waiting for a tip.

but i had no idea where my money was, nor had i ever encountered this before. as much as i appreciated having a warm car waiting for me as i departed the rental car shuttle, i didn't exactly ask for it.

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the rules of ethanol fuel

hurrying back to the airport on wednesay afternoon in an effort to catch in earlier flight, i quickly stopped to fill up my tank before returning the car. to my surprise, the gas cap was bright yellow and said "E85 fuel". having seen a few stations that sell ethanol/gasoline mixtures, i presumed that the car required it. so i left the gas station, and drove around desperately trying to find a pump at a few other stations. i finally gave up and called avis to ask them where one might be located.

turns out that these flexible fuel engines are designed to use any any mixture of gasoline or ethanol with up to 85% ethanol by volume. should i have known this?

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is the flight canceled or not?

thankfully, i still made it to the airport in time to make the standby list for the 6:30pm flight. getting home an hour and a half earlier was worth gold, considering that the 8:05 would have had me home at midnight.

i got comfortably seated in my exit row seat, and waited for take-off.

10 minutes after our scheduled departure time, we were informed the doors were still open because the pilot hadn't arrived. 5 minutes later, another announcement - still no pilot.

another 2 minutes, and we were informed of a mechanical issue, causing the flight to be canceled. there was going to be room for all of us on the later flight. folks started getting up and gathering there things.

yet another announcement that the mechanical issue might be fixed, and that we should sit back down.

and in the end, the plane was deemed un-flyable.

was it a coincidence that the pilot was also late?

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first class

i haven't had the opportunity to upgrade to first class often, but i did on the 8:05. what a treat! the cheese and fruit plate, and the wine were much appreciated.

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more on rental cars

dear avis,

can you please program your gps units to correctly locate your own rental facility? i typed in "avis - airport location" and then selected the correct airport. and i was directed to a strip mall about 2 miles away. "you've arrived at you final destination" the unit said. all i saw was a coffee shop and nail place.

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silent battles

again, trying to standby on an earlier flight on thursday night. two lines at the counter, but now only one agent. i eyed the girl next to me, and she eyed me back. we were still trying to get on the list, and they were already calling names and getting close to takeoff time.

i think i got to the counter first, but it was my agent who had left. which of us was going to be the next name added?

we approached the counter at the same time, and both placed our boarding passes on it, again glancing at one another.

"we've got room for both of you - only 3 seats left," the agent said.

whew.

as we boarded, the plane, i commented "this is my fourth flight in 3 days". she responded, "yeah, i've been traveling for 3 weeks straight. and have to again next week."

i guess we both won.

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priceless

the look on the older gentleman's face, as he boarded behind me to find the last seat on the plane was next to a toddler on his mom's lap.

"so i'm the lucky one", he said.

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does eating help?

about 45 minutes into our 50 minute flight, i glance over at that same little toddler, and realized that he was on course 5 of his meal.

a snack before take-off, then a little bowl of baby food, water, a banana, juice, a baggie of carrots, more water, and finally some pretzels for landing.

it certainly kept him occupied. and boy did mom do a great job of pre-organizing it all.


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the end

okay, i'm done. thanks for indulging me. :) and in another 72 hours i'll be headed off on my next adventure!