My first business trip
If I told you my trip to NH went fine, I would sadly be mistaken, it went fine once I got to class; however, every force of nature was trying to stop me from getting there. On Sunday, I left my house 2 and a half hours early to get to Dulles Airport and due to traffic and the bazaar parking arrangements it took me hour and half to get in line for check-in. In retrospect people are expected to arrive at the airports at least 2 hours early, but at Dulles you need to be there at least 4 hours early to account for all the idiots working there. I stood in line for 45 mins and missed my check-out time by a minute, which put me on a standby plane at 9:50 going to NH when I supposed to leave at 4:20. There was not a living person checking me in and everything was left up to machines, so I had no time to dispute. So I waited the 5 hours to the next flight only to get rejected because the plane was full. The trip sucked already, now I had real proof not to fly out of Dulles again.
Next question, if I couldn’t get on the plane then where is my suitcase; remember this had been checked in earlier… how could they have known that I didn’t make the plane and what if they didn’t know? So I went downstairs to get my bag or to find out where my bag was and this took over 3 hours more. I went back in the line 3 times to dispute my claim and to convince the staff I did not come from NH and that I never went to NH and where my bag was. It took them 3 people, 3 hours and 20 people later to figure out that my bag was still there and that I’d been booked automatically for 7:21 flight the next morning and that my bags would go then. By this time I was screaming and my mother was about to get a ticket for waiting on me because my husband was working and could not come back to retrieve me. I made sure that this time the people gave me full ticket- not just a standby. By the next morning after 45 mins of sleep I got my ass up, took a shower, put on some of my mother clothes and feeling awkward- I got the airport 3 hours before departure time. I made it to that flight. Once in NH, everything went well; the class and the people were cool. This training was a very wise choice for me, probably something that everybody working on the contracts side needs to attend. The only downside was I sat by two very annoying and immature girls whom forgot that they were representing a company and professionals so they put on their “high school, show-off, obnoxious” mode and by the end of the week this was extremely bothersome. They were cool the first day, but after everyone started to pay attention to them- they got a little carried away. The city itself (Nashua, NH) not so pretty- in fact it looked just like northern Virginia and historical part- like Fredericksburg, so no I didn’t take pictures. But the hotel, very classy, but I’d stayed in nicer, for less money. Even though I got an $83 rate at a $209 dollar hotel, I still thought it was very over priced. I left tips for the staff and transportation guy, because I knew that they didn’t get paid nearly as much as the hotel was worth. I totally took advantage of not renting my own car and hanging out with other people whom got cars, because frankly I wouldn’t be going too many places that didn’t involve a big group of people from the class in the same hotel and I would save money and hassle that way. I was smart in that aspect. There were about 10 people in the class whom stayed at same hotel and rented cars, so if I was willing to go by their schedule, I didn’t need a car and at that rare moment I could just call a taxi. This method worked for me, and other people suggested it too.
The last day came, and I got to the airport in a reasonable amount of time. Stopped by the mall to kill time and bought a few things which were cool. Baggage check went fine; plane was still on time, even chatted with people from the class. Until the last 20 mins- when I heard my plane was delayed, then it was delayed again, then it was cancelled due to fucking weather. Wholly fuck!!! Does anyone not want me to fly?!! I mean I couldn’t get up there when I wanted, and now I couldn’t get back when I wanted. The worst part was flights were cancelled everywhere and I wasn’t even sure if my job would pay for my extra stay at a hotel. Fuck!!! I planned to go to work the next day, I had shit to do, and I wanted to see my husband on his day off. And to top it off I didn’t have the extra money to just waste on a hotel stay without getting reimbursed. I sucked-up it up and realized that I’d better get to a hotel before everybody gets all the rooms too. So, I went to the ticket counter and got an early flight out at 6:00 am the next morning and was able to get my baggage without a problem. Infact, I didn’t even have to request it- it was already waiting for me down at the ticket counter. Service-excellent at Manchester Airport, the people knew what to do!!! So I got my bags and grabbed a taxi to the nearest good quality hotel. Actually I had to specify- Holiday INN, because I knew what it was like. So I stayed at the holiday INN for $ 109.00 a night- cheaper rate because I was distressed passenger. Still expensive, but it was not a rat hotel and it had airport transportation- which is what I needed to get my flight in the morning without asking for a taxi. By this time I really hoped that my company would reimburse me f or the hotel stay even though I didn’t put it on the corporate card, because of the strict policy. I woke up at 3:45 in the morning to get my flight out of Manchester, NH to go home. I got there in time and without a hassle. At this time I was still thinking I could go into work, until there were two noisy little girls on my flight. I was trying to sleep and I had a CD player, but I could still hear that high pitched noise through my headphones. What is it with children and headphones? No matter how high you have got your headphones you can still hear the cries, the screams, and the shouts. ERRRGG!! So when I got back to Dulles I decided that I wasn’t going in until Monday and every single trip after that I wouldn’t fly out of Dulles or take United Airlines again. Also, that I would take a mandatory personal leave day after returning from trainings to compensate for shit going wrong.
Next question, if I couldn’t get on the plane then where is my suitcase; remember this had been checked in earlier… how could they have known that I didn’t make the plane and what if they didn’t know? So I went downstairs to get my bag or to find out where my bag was and this took over 3 hours more. I went back in the line 3 times to dispute my claim and to convince the staff I did not come from NH and that I never went to NH and where my bag was. It took them 3 people, 3 hours and 20 people later to figure out that my bag was still there and that I’d been booked automatically for 7:21 flight the next morning and that my bags would go then. By this time I was screaming and my mother was about to get a ticket for waiting on me because my husband was working and could not come back to retrieve me. I made sure that this time the people gave me full ticket- not just a standby. By the next morning after 45 mins of sleep I got my ass up, took a shower, put on some of my mother clothes and feeling awkward- I got the airport 3 hours before departure time. I made it to that flight. Once in NH, everything went well; the class and the people were cool. This training was a very wise choice for me, probably something that everybody working on the contracts side needs to attend. The only downside was I sat by two very annoying and immature girls whom forgot that they were representing a company and professionals so they put on their “high school, show-off, obnoxious” mode and by the end of the week this was extremely bothersome. They were cool the first day, but after everyone started to pay attention to them- they got a little carried away. The city itself (Nashua, NH) not so pretty- in fact it looked just like northern Virginia and historical part- like Fredericksburg, so no I didn’t take pictures. But the hotel, very classy, but I’d stayed in nicer, for less money. Even though I got an $83 rate at a $209 dollar hotel, I still thought it was very over priced. I left tips for the staff and transportation guy, because I knew that they didn’t get paid nearly as much as the hotel was worth. I totally took advantage of not renting my own car and hanging out with other people whom got cars, because frankly I wouldn’t be going too many places that didn’t involve a big group of people from the class in the same hotel and I would save money and hassle that way. I was smart in that aspect. There were about 10 people in the class whom stayed at same hotel and rented cars, so if I was willing to go by their schedule, I didn’t need a car and at that rare moment I could just call a taxi. This method worked for me, and other people suggested it too.
The last day came, and I got to the airport in a reasonable amount of time. Stopped by the mall to kill time and bought a few things which were cool. Baggage check went fine; plane was still on time, even chatted with people from the class. Until the last 20 mins- when I heard my plane was delayed, then it was delayed again, then it was cancelled due to fucking weather. Wholly fuck!!! Does anyone not want me to fly?!! I mean I couldn’t get up there when I wanted, and now I couldn’t get back when I wanted. The worst part was flights were cancelled everywhere and I wasn’t even sure if my job would pay for my extra stay at a hotel. Fuck!!! I planned to go to work the next day, I had shit to do, and I wanted to see my husband on his day off. And to top it off I didn’t have the extra money to just waste on a hotel stay without getting reimbursed. I sucked-up it up and realized that I’d better get to a hotel before everybody gets all the rooms too. So, I went to the ticket counter and got an early flight out at 6:00 am the next morning and was able to get my baggage without a problem. Infact, I didn’t even have to request it- it was already waiting for me down at the ticket counter. Service-excellent at Manchester Airport, the people knew what to do!!! So I got my bags and grabbed a taxi to the nearest good quality hotel. Actually I had to specify- Holiday INN, because I knew what it was like. So I stayed at the holiday INN for $ 109.00 a night- cheaper rate because I was distressed passenger. Still expensive, but it was not a rat hotel and it had airport transportation- which is what I needed to get my flight in the morning without asking for a taxi. By this time I really hoped that my company would reimburse me f or the hotel stay even though I didn’t put it on the corporate card, because of the strict policy. I woke up at 3:45 in the morning to get my flight out of Manchester, NH to go home. I got there in time and without a hassle. At this time I was still thinking I could go into work, until there were two noisy little girls on my flight. I was trying to sleep and I had a CD player, but I could still hear that high pitched noise through my headphones. What is it with children and headphones? No matter how high you have got your headphones you can still hear the cries, the screams, and the shouts. ERRRGG!! So when I got back to Dulles I decided that I wasn’t going in until Monday and every single trip after that I wouldn’t fly out of Dulles or take United Airlines again. Also, that I would take a mandatory personal leave day after returning from trainings to compensate for shit going wrong.