The week past...Greetings from Chipewa Falls...
LiveJournal Update: 28 June 2006, 09:50
Putting this down in Wordpad until I am at an internet connection.
Last couple days are just what could be expected. Everything started out well; I went into the office for about an hour-and-half before going over to the airport. Flight plan consisted of leave CT around 11:30, arrive Chicago 1:00ish central, then leave Chicago around 3:00 and get to Minneapolis around 4:40. Meet the technician from Italy about an hour later at the gate that his connection was scheduled for.
Yeah, that was the plan...
CT to Chicago went with no problems at all. That should have been the first clue, but I was just enjoying being flying again. I always set the airline information to page me if there will be any flight changes or delays on my route. While waiting for the next plane to arrive, the phone rang about once every 20 minutes with an update. Gate changes (several, including some gates that don't exist - wouldn't the airline know about that?); Time changes going from 3:00 to 5:30 for departure, finally settling on 5:14.
5:30 we start boarding.
6:00 we leave the gate.
6:30 we finally get to the beginning of the line waiting to depart.
8:00 we reach Minneapolis.
The technician that I was supposed to meet is nowhere to be found, or rather to find me. In all this, I have no idea what he looks like, and the only way he would recognize me is a brief description and the teddy bear that always travels strapped in my laptop bag handles. (I sent a picture to his supervisor for reference...)
I checked the waiting area near my gate, his gate, the baggage claim and the rental car area (The company only books one car for such a trip, and he being the senior tech, it would be in his name). Nowhere. Many people comment on the bear, so I know it’s not a case of not being visible.
So what else? I call my supervisor to see if he knows if the tech arrived and just got tired and went to the hotel. I would hope he'd wait, as the location is still 100 miles from the airport. My supervisor had his cell turned off, the other tech's supervisor is in Italy and my carrier informed me that it was not an acceptable call on my plan, nor could I text an email. So I had to wait until morning, Eastern time for my supervisor to call the other one to find out where the other tech was and how I was getting to the job area.
Turns out the other tech, the one that was supposed to arrive here around 5:30 yesterday was held up in customs at Newark, NJ. Excuse me, not was...still is.
Next word from his supervisor was that he would be arriving here around 2:20 this afternoon.
Update - that flight was cancelled; now scheduled to arrive around 9:30 PM...
(At this point the original message was saved to my laptop; everything from here is since…)
I am at my hotel; it is now the end of the day on July 4. As far as the airport turned out, he did arrive on the 9:30 PM flight. As the baggage was on the carousel, I nearly had an exhaustion-based breakdown when I didn’t see any tool set there. I inquired with the baggage clerk if it was possible to find if a particular person was on the flight. She informed me that it was not. A few minutes later he did approach, having spotted the bear. By the time we had the rental car and were heading out of the facility it was 10:30 PM. I had spent 26 ½ hours just wandering around the airport.
Now I would like to bring the week more up to date.
I was told to expect a person that was difficult to understand as well as rather high-tempered. Although the company is Italy-based, I surmised from his name that he was more likely of Spanish heritage (correctly, I might add).
Besides getting the work done that we were sent for, we have managed quite well. His English is no where as limited as was described, and my rudimentary Spanish from high school has helped fill in some gaps. He never gave a second thought when I showed the picture of Husband and me in my wallet; Spain has legal marriage and people just kind of expect it. Socially we have connected, he being a year younger than I and having a number of similar tastes (music styles and such). Not to forget to mention, I am being paid to work and socialize with an aboslutely gorgeous gent with one of those "somewhere else" accents that is comfortable to be around. We do what we have to...
I have found this town (Chippewa Falls, WI) to be quite photogenic as far as architecture and landscaping, and quite clean as well. The people I have passed in my several walks reasonable friendly. The streets are as safe as any I have known. The hotel not having a guest laundry, I ended up taking my travel cart loaded to a 24-hour laundromat last night, downtown being about a 25 minute walk. Only moderate apprehension, unusual for having been mugged in the past. Mostly enjoyed the locals doing fireworks from backyards as I walked.
Saturday afternoon was the day I took the pictures of the town, and as I walked I saw signs pointing to a Renaissance Faire. (Wisconsin Renaissance Faire, now in its FIRST year!) Turned out to be less than a mile from the hotel on a back road running along the Chippewa River. I suggested going over after work on Sunday, although I gave up trying to describe it in a way that translated to Spanish. The other technician had never been to such an event, and seemed to be taken by the entire scene, especially a number of the musical performances.
For a travel experience that began as a serious nightmare - how could Continental manage to mess up my itinerary and the 26 hours after when I was on American? - , all in all it has been yet another “wouldn’t miss it for anything” time.
Putting this down in Wordpad until I am at an internet connection.
Last couple days are just what could be expected. Everything started out well; I went into the office for about an hour-and-half before going over to the airport. Flight plan consisted of leave CT around 11:30, arrive Chicago 1:00ish central, then leave Chicago around 3:00 and get to Minneapolis around 4:40. Meet the technician from Italy about an hour later at the gate that his connection was scheduled for.
Yeah, that was the plan...
CT to Chicago went with no problems at all. That should have been the first clue, but I was just enjoying being flying again. I always set the airline information to page me if there will be any flight changes or delays on my route. While waiting for the next plane to arrive, the phone rang about once every 20 minutes with an update. Gate changes (several, including some gates that don't exist - wouldn't the airline know about that?); Time changes going from 3:00 to 5:30 for departure, finally settling on 5:14.
5:30 we start boarding.
6:00 we leave the gate.
6:30 we finally get to the beginning of the line waiting to depart.
8:00 we reach Minneapolis.
The technician that I was supposed to meet is nowhere to be found, or rather to find me. In all this, I have no idea what he looks like, and the only way he would recognize me is a brief description and the teddy bear that always travels strapped in my laptop bag handles. (I sent a picture to his supervisor for reference...)
I checked the waiting area near my gate, his gate, the baggage claim and the rental car area (The company only books one car for such a trip, and he being the senior tech, it would be in his name). Nowhere. Many people comment on the bear, so I know it’s not a case of not being visible.
So what else? I call my supervisor to see if he knows if the tech arrived and just got tired and went to the hotel. I would hope he'd wait, as the location is still 100 miles from the airport. My supervisor had his cell turned off, the other tech's supervisor is in Italy and my carrier informed me that it was not an acceptable call on my plan, nor could I text an email. So I had to wait until morning, Eastern time for my supervisor to call the other one to find out where the other tech was and how I was getting to the job area.
Turns out the other tech, the one that was supposed to arrive here around 5:30 yesterday was held up in customs at Newark, NJ. Excuse me, not was...still is.
Next word from his supervisor was that he would be arriving here around 2:20 this afternoon.
Update - that flight was cancelled; now scheduled to arrive around 9:30 PM...
(At this point the original message was saved to my laptop; everything from here is since…)
I am at my hotel; it is now the end of the day on July 4. As far as the airport turned out, he did arrive on the 9:30 PM flight. As the baggage was on the carousel, I nearly had an exhaustion-based breakdown when I didn’t see any tool set there. I inquired with the baggage clerk if it was possible to find if a particular person was on the flight. She informed me that it was not. A few minutes later he did approach, having spotted the bear. By the time we had the rental car and were heading out of the facility it was 10:30 PM. I had spent 26 ½ hours just wandering around the airport.
Now I would like to bring the week more up to date.
I was told to expect a person that was difficult to understand as well as rather high-tempered. Although the company is Italy-based, I surmised from his name that he was more likely of Spanish heritage (correctly, I might add).
Besides getting the work done that we were sent for, we have managed quite well. His English is no where as limited as was described, and my rudimentary Spanish from high school has helped fill in some gaps. He never gave a second thought when I showed the picture of Husband and me in my wallet; Spain has legal marriage and people just kind of expect it. Socially we have connected, he being a year younger than I and having a number of similar tastes (music styles and such). Not to forget to mention, I am being paid to work and socialize with an aboslutely gorgeous gent with one of those "somewhere else" accents that is comfortable to be around. We do what we have to...
I have found this town (Chippewa Falls, WI) to be quite photogenic as far as architecture and landscaping, and quite clean as well. The people I have passed in my several walks reasonable friendly. The streets are as safe as any I have known. The hotel not having a guest laundry, I ended up taking my travel cart loaded to a 24-hour laundromat last night, downtown being about a 25 minute walk. Only moderate apprehension, unusual for having been mugged in the past. Mostly enjoyed the locals doing fireworks from backyards as I walked.
Saturday afternoon was the day I took the pictures of the town, and as I walked I saw signs pointing to a Renaissance Faire. (Wisconsin Renaissance Faire, now in its FIRST year!) Turned out to be less than a mile from the hotel on a back road running along the Chippewa River. I suggested going over after work on Sunday, although I gave up trying to describe it in a way that translated to Spanish. The other technician had never been to such an event, and seemed to be taken by the entire scene, especially a number of the musical performances.
For a travel experience that began as a serious nightmare - how could Continental manage to mess up my itinerary and the 26 hours after when I was on American? - , all in all it has been yet another “wouldn’t miss it for anything” time.