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judecorpLet's talk a little bit about my trip back from the holiday visit. I'll spare your friends pages the gorey details.
Alright. So it all started on Wednesday afternoon. We (Rick, Gretchen and I) drove to Providence to pick up Patrick, and it was raining. As we all drove toward my aunt and uncle's house in Charlton, Massachusetts (a suburb of Worcester, that no matter what YOU think, is pronounced "Wistah" and not War-chester or anything dumb like that) the rain turned to slush and sleet, and then snow. By the time we ate dinner, it was snowing like crazy and there were 40mph winds. I called America West to check on my flight and see what I could do.
By 4pm, it was pretty evident that even though they were telling me my flight was still on, it wasn't going to go anywhere at 6:30pm. Visibility was nil and while America West was telling me the airport was open, the news was telling me it was closed. The guy on the phone with me kept putting me on hold and then returning with crazy, conflicting information, so I finally asked to speak to a supervisor, and a woman named Whitley assisted me in changing my flight. I was one of the first people to change, since they hadn't cancelled the flight yet.
I was told that I had a confirmed seat for the 9:30am flight on Thursday. I stayed at my aunt and uncle's house and started doing laundry so I could go right to work after my flight got in at 11:20am. My cousin Tony and I left Charlton at 7am and I got to the airport at 8:30am and checked in, only to be told that I was standby. When I asked about my "confirmed seat," I was first told that I checked in too late. (I didn't.) Then I was told that all rerouted passengers were standby per AW policy. (Not true.) Finally someone, somewhere admitted that they were overselling flights. Supposedly, Whitley was supposed to tell me I was standby. Oops.
The employee at my gate (who was supposed to announce whether I had a seat or not, but didn't) let me know that since I was confirmed, though, I became the "involuntary volunteer" seat-giver-upper, so I got the perks. She told me to go back to the ticket counter so I could get my confirmed seat on the next plane (2:20pm), a lunch voucher, and a $300 flight coupon.
I went to talk to Jimmy at the ticket counter, and he proceeded to give me a boarding pass for the 2:20pm flight. It said "standby." I handed it back and told him that the woman promised me a seat. He said the plane was full. I said that she was promising a confimed 2:20pm flight to the seat-giver-upper. He said she was mistaken. I asked him when the next guaranteed seat was available. He told me that it was on Friday afternoon. I asked him where my luggage was. He told me it was being held in the cargo area since I was standby. I asked him to check.
Bzzt. Wrongo. They put my luggage on the 9:30am flight. Apparently, they're not supposed to do this when one is standby. So all of a sudden I became a bit of a priority. I was told that a supervisor named Jeff would be bumping someone else to make sure I was getting on the 2:20pm flight to join my luggage. I took my vouchers and called my job and was feeling okay. I went back to the gate area to chill out, read, play with my Mr. Potato Head, and wait for lunchtime to use my shiny new voucher.
Then I was paged. I was handed a handwritten ticket to get on two Continental flights, one to Cleveland and one from CLE to CMH. I was rushed through security (time number 3) and deposited on a plane with three other people on it that was being held for me. I started to get excited - whee! We even got muffins, two each since there were only four of us, and whole cans of soda and juice. I asked someone on the plane why there was this empty plane when all of the other planes were overbooked.
She told me that this particular plane was supposed to go to White Plains, NY but had to be diverted to Hartford, and then they bussed the people to White Plains. They had to get the plane back to Cleveland (a Continental hub), so they stuck a couple of stragglers on it. I then realized that I would be arriving in Cleveland at 1pm, and my connecting flight to Columbus was scheduled to depart at 5:05pm.
At this point, I figured that I would get to Cleveland and rent a car. Then I could be home by 3:30 and could relax. I was thoroughly annoyed with America West for their pattern of telling me untruths, and I just wanted to be in my house. I took the shuttle to the rental car place in Cleveland to find that there weren't any cars in the whole entire place except for one Mercury Sable that would cost $120. Merp.
I called Jennifer near tears at this point. I had let myself get preemptively excited about being home at 4pm, and I was devastated. She calmed me down while I burned through a 15-minute phone card. (Did I mention I was out of daytime minutes? That's because America West kept me on hold for 30 minutes on Wednesday.) I shuttled back to the airport to wait for my 5pm flight. I browsed the shops, and tried a last ditch effort to offer![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
baab $50 to drive me home. He had commitments. Phooey. I did manage to get a cute little present for a cute girl, though.
I had some french fries (BK was out of the veggie burger) and read a book I bought at the airport (Alma Mater by Rita Mae Brown, it's pretty terrible) and was just so frustrated and so resigned and so exhausted. My plane left nearly on time, after a gate change that was never announced (oops), and I touched down in Columbus at 6pm. I entertained romantic schoolgirl notions of Jennifer having sleuthed my unknown flight information and being at the airport, and I promptly bashed them down in the fear that I would flip out again if she wasn't. I concentrated on the thought that I would see her soon. I called Ryan and regretfully cancelled Thursday Date Night.
When the shuttle finally took me to my car, I realized that it was encrusted in an inch of solid ice, top to bottom. I had to break my way into my driver's side door with my car key. Then I ran the heat and defrosters for 20 minutes solid while I tried to chip at the ice until I thought for sure that I would break a window. I ended up chipping away a hole I could see through in the front (tunnel vision - yay!), and had bashed all the ice off the driver's window so I could roll it down and pay for parking.
I got home at 7pm. Jennifer had the lights on and had turned the heat up. She was returning from the grocery store. There were presents. I forgot about the entire day in 2.2 minutes or so. And when we woke up together this morning, it was like there hadn't been any apart-ness.
(This is sort of interesting for me. I mean, most of my relationships have been long-distance, which means they have been full of long waits, overly-excited reunions, and brief couplings. I think I've finally settled into the pattern of the local relationship - the excitement was there, though muted somewhat because I didn't have to cram everything into the next 2 or 3 days. Unlike before, the /parting/ was the exception, not the time together.)
Alright. So it all started on Wednesday afternoon. We (Rick, Gretchen and I) drove to Providence to pick up Patrick, and it was raining. As we all drove toward my aunt and uncle's house in Charlton, Massachusetts (a suburb of Worcester, that no matter what YOU think, is pronounced "Wistah" and not War-chester or anything dumb like that) the rain turned to slush and sleet, and then snow. By the time we ate dinner, it was snowing like crazy and there were 40mph winds. I called America West to check on my flight and see what I could do.
By 4pm, it was pretty evident that even though they were telling me my flight was still on, it wasn't going to go anywhere at 6:30pm. Visibility was nil and while America West was telling me the airport was open, the news was telling me it was closed. The guy on the phone with me kept putting me on hold and then returning with crazy, conflicting information, so I finally asked to speak to a supervisor, and a woman named Whitley assisted me in changing my flight. I was one of the first people to change, since they hadn't cancelled the flight yet.
I was told that I had a confirmed seat for the 9:30am flight on Thursday. I stayed at my aunt and uncle's house and started doing laundry so I could go right to work after my flight got in at 11:20am. My cousin Tony and I left Charlton at 7am and I got to the airport at 8:30am and checked in, only to be told that I was standby. When I asked about my "confirmed seat," I was first told that I checked in too late. (I didn't.) Then I was told that all rerouted passengers were standby per AW policy. (Not true.) Finally someone, somewhere admitted that they were overselling flights. Supposedly, Whitley was supposed to tell me I was standby. Oops.
The employee at my gate (who was supposed to announce whether I had a seat or not, but didn't) let me know that since I was confirmed, though, I became the "involuntary volunteer" seat-giver-upper, so I got the perks. She told me to go back to the ticket counter so I could get my confirmed seat on the next plane (2:20pm), a lunch voucher, and a $300 flight coupon.
I went to talk to Jimmy at the ticket counter, and he proceeded to give me a boarding pass for the 2:20pm flight. It said "standby." I handed it back and told him that the woman promised me a seat. He said the plane was full. I said that she was promising a confimed 2:20pm flight to the seat-giver-upper. He said she was mistaken. I asked him when the next guaranteed seat was available. He told me that it was on Friday afternoon. I asked him where my luggage was. He told me it was being held in the cargo area since I was standby. I asked him to check.
Bzzt. Wrongo. They put my luggage on the 9:30am flight. Apparently, they're not supposed to do this when one is standby. So all of a sudden I became a bit of a priority. I was told that a supervisor named Jeff would be bumping someone else to make sure I was getting on the 2:20pm flight to join my luggage. I took my vouchers and called my job and was feeling okay. I went back to the gate area to chill out, read, play with my Mr. Potato Head, and wait for lunchtime to use my shiny new voucher.
Then I was paged. I was handed a handwritten ticket to get on two Continental flights, one to Cleveland and one from CLE to CMH. I was rushed through security (time number 3) and deposited on a plane with three other people on it that was being held for me. I started to get excited - whee! We even got muffins, two each since there were only four of us, and whole cans of soda and juice. I asked someone on the plane why there was this empty plane when all of the other planes were overbooked.
She told me that this particular plane was supposed to go to White Plains, NY but had to be diverted to Hartford, and then they bussed the people to White Plains. They had to get the plane back to Cleveland (a Continental hub), so they stuck a couple of stragglers on it. I then realized that I would be arriving in Cleveland at 1pm, and my connecting flight to Columbus was scheduled to depart at 5:05pm.
At this point, I figured that I would get to Cleveland and rent a car. Then I could be home by 3:30 and could relax. I was thoroughly annoyed with America West for their pattern of telling me untruths, and I just wanted to be in my house. I took the shuttle to the rental car place in Cleveland to find that there weren't any cars in the whole entire place except for one Mercury Sable that would cost $120. Merp.
I called Jennifer near tears at this point. I had let myself get preemptively excited about being home at 4pm, and I was devastated. She calmed me down while I burned through a 15-minute phone card. (Did I mention I was out of daytime minutes? That's because America West kept me on hold for 30 minutes on Wednesday.) I shuttled back to the airport to wait for my 5pm flight. I browsed the shops, and tried a last ditch effort to offer
baab $50 to drive me home. He had commitments. Phooey. I did manage to get a cute little present for a cute girl, though.I had some french fries (BK was out of the veggie burger) and read a book I bought at the airport (Alma Mater by Rita Mae Brown, it's pretty terrible) and was just so frustrated and so resigned and so exhausted. My plane left nearly on time, after a gate change that was never announced (oops), and I touched down in Columbus at 6pm. I entertained romantic schoolgirl notions of Jennifer having sleuthed my unknown flight information and being at the airport, and I promptly bashed them down in the fear that I would flip out again if she wasn't. I concentrated on the thought that I would see her soon. I called Ryan and regretfully cancelled Thursday Date Night.
When the shuttle finally took me to my car, I realized that it was encrusted in an inch of solid ice, top to bottom. I had to break my way into my driver's side door with my car key. Then I ran the heat and defrosters for 20 minutes solid while I tried to chip at the ice until I thought for sure that I would break a window. I ended up chipping away a hole I could see through in the front (tunnel vision - yay!), and had bashed all the ice off the driver's window so I could roll it down and pay for parking.
I got home at 7pm. Jennifer had the lights on and had turned the heat up. She was returning from the grocery store. There were presents. I forgot about the entire day in 2.2 minutes or so. And when we woke up together this morning, it was like there hadn't been any apart-ness.
(This is sort of interesting for me. I mean, most of my relationships have been long-distance, which means they have been full of long waits, overly-excited reunions, and brief couplings. I think I've finally settled into the pattern of the local relationship - the excitement was there, though muted somewhat because I didn't have to cram everything into the next 2 or 3 days. Unlike before, the /parting/ was the exception, not the time together.)
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no subject
Date: 2002-12-27 11:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-28 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-27 11:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-27 01:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-27 12:26 pm (UTC)People from Massachusetts, except you and Ryan, are freaks, and have the accent to match.
and a woman named Whitley
Actually, her name is Winchesterly... she just prounced it as "Whitley."
I became the "involuntary volunteer"
Pronounced as "enwowuntawy wowunteeah" by people in some parts of MA...
But no matter how one might say it, I'm glad your home!! :-D
no subject
Date: 2002-12-27 12:45 pm (UTC)Fuckin' Bahstin, dood.
I still say it's pronounced "wistah," no matter what you midwestern freaks think. ;)
no subject
Date: 2002-12-27 01:01 pm (UTC)So... whatcha doin this weekend, behbeh??
no subject
Date: 2002-12-27 01:44 pm (UTC)I'm not sure about Sunday, though. I need to call my old boss to see if we have plans, but either way, we should get together and watch Thirteen Days and be jingoistic about my favorite Kennedys.
Re:
Date: 2002-12-27 02:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-28 03:12 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2002-12-28 03:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-28 09:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-27 01:08 pm (UTC)I pahked mah cah by the bubbla at the Walmaht so we could get chowdah.
Hee hee.
no subject
Date: 2002-12-27 01:43 pm (UTC)Yay!
no subject
Date: 2002-12-27 06:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-28 03:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-28 11:55 am (UTC)I blame it on the two years of speech therapy I was dragged through -- when I was still in Massachusetts, no less. On the bright side, they forgot to address it in my otra lingua, so I still speak Spanish with a Down East accent. Heh.
no subject
Date: 2002-12-28 03:14 pm (UTC)only 4 on the plane?
Date: 2002-12-27 01:04 pm (UTC)Was it a jumbo jet, or something smaller?
Re: only 4 on the plane?
Date: 2002-12-27 01:16 pm (UTC)But I got muffins, dood. Muffins. (And Rick, you can just shut up right now about the whole muffin-craving thing.)
no subject
I really don't see how Worcester can be pronounced Wistah. Not at all!
no subject
Date: 2002-12-28 03:02 pm (UTC)It can be fun to pee in the dark. I was at a club once and all the power went out downtown. I had to pee, so the club employee person gave me this gigantic sized glow stick (red) to take to the bathroom.
I was thinking it would have been a good time to find another girl and make out, in the red chemical haze. :)
no subject
Date: 2002-12-27 01:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-27 01:42 pm (UTC)So there you go. It can always be worse. :)
no subject
Date: 2002-12-27 01:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-28 12:43 pm (UTC)My awful traveling-with-baby story: Once a flight Laurel and I was on was delayed 3 hours because of weather (thunderstorms). During the two hours we sat on the plane, she was fussy/crying and the woman next to us had the nerve (and several drinks, from the way she smelled) to tell me I was a bad parent and some crap about teen and single mothers. (I am neither, but I look younger than locals my age and I was traveling without my husband.) I can understand the frustration of sitting next to a fussy baby, but yeow! I hope she doesn't treat people she likes that way.
That aside, Laurel's behaved pretty well overall with traveling. Ample snacks and amusements (toys, books etc.) help immensely, along with the chance to travel with two adults to share/assist with kid duties.
no subject
Date: 2002-12-28 03:11 pm (UTC)you should have called ME from cleveland!
Re: you should have called ME from cleveland!
Date: 2002-12-28 03:12 pm (UTC)