I love traveling!!!
Ok so I told a lot of people that I was feeling a little weird about this trip. Well I will start from the top:
3:00 pm June 3rd:
I arrive at the Airport only to find out that my flight has been delayed from 5:00 departure to a 8:00 departure. I get online at the airport start talking to a friend and he offers to pick me up. So we head around town doing nothing much, grab dinner and he drops me off at the airport around 7:00. I get through security only to find out that my plane will not be departing until 9:15 pm. Ok no big deal except it will be a little tight making my connection.The stewardess politely reads out the gate numbers for our connecting gates as we were taxiing off the runway, mine happened to be D36. So I look out my window on the plane and find gate D36, good there is still a plane there. Fifteen minutes later it looks as if the plane at D36 is getting ready to be pushed back form the gate, all the luggage was loaded the plane fueled and the jet bridge was pulled away. Ok don't panic yet it has not left the gate and well this is DWF there are gate changes every min, surly they would wait for me. We end up sitting on the tarmac for 30 mins as we wait for our arival gate to clear. I am towards the front of the plane so I run up the jet way, up the escalator on to the Sky Link and then back down another escalator and to gate D 36. Only to find out that the indeed flight 375 had departed from gate D 26 about 5 mins ago. The lady at the gate had a hotel voucher in hand and issued me a new ticket for the morning, my only consolation was that it was a 1st class ticket. She also told me that they would take care of my checked luggage at the airport the was no need to worry about it. I then proceeded to jog to the bus that was to take me to the hotel, the clerk at the desk told me that if I hurried I might catch the bus if not then I would have to call the hotel for a ride. By the time I am settled into the room it was 2:00 am and I had to be up by 4:30 am to catch the bus back to the airport. I make it on my palne and to El Paso by 11:00 am only to find out that my luggage (which contained a lot of papers and two dissertations and my lap top charger) is in LA. The AA rep promised me that it was on a plane headed back from LAX to DFW then the bag would be catching a plane from DFW to ELP by 4:10 and that my luggage would be at my hotel by 6:00 pm. So then I head to the rental car counter to pick up my car. Well they did not have any cars immediately available, but they would have one for me in about 20 min. So I sit down and wait for my car. Finally my car is ready and I take the keys and go to the hotel to check in. Check in goes well, and my room/ apartment is nice. I then head to take a shower and have no hot water, well I make it through the invigorating shower and then stop by the front office to inform them of the problem before heading to the site. As I am walking back to my car I realize that the temporary tag had expired and my cell phone's battery was near fully discharged. I finally make it to the sight and realize that things are a lot worse than expected. I quickly place some phone calls to order a lot of equipment to repalce things that were ruined and then I take the stack appart and let it soak in water. I then go pick up some people from Dow and TWDB who want to see the plant. I take them on a tour and then out to dinner. After dinner I drop them off head to the hotel to see if my luggage had made it. Nope they had not seen or heard of it. Ok next stop is the airport maybe it is there and maybe the car company will do some thing about the tag. Well the luggage was stil at LAX and the car company had the new tag for the car, so we have one thing taken care of. Then off the the computer stores to see if by any chance there might be a Apple Powerbook charger in El Paso. After about 4 stores of searching it was 9:15 and the stores are closing. So I head to walmart in hopes that they might have one and to pick up some food that I need. I do not get out of walmart until 11:00, still without the charger for my laptop. I head back to my room put things away and go soak in the Hot Tub, maybe things will get better tomorrow.
My luggage finally arrived, My bag is destroyed but the contents are safe. Things are starting to come around. This trip may not be that bad after all. Or perhaps I need to just not travel from late may to mid june.
Well I am off to go do some more work.
3:00 pm June 3rd:
I arrive at the Airport only to find out that my flight has been delayed from 5:00 departure to a 8:00 departure. I get online at the airport start talking to a friend and he offers to pick me up. So we head around town doing nothing much, grab dinner and he drops me off at the airport around 7:00. I get through security only to find out that my plane will not be departing until 9:15 pm. Ok no big deal except it will be a little tight making my connection.The stewardess politely reads out the gate numbers for our connecting gates as we were taxiing off the runway, mine happened to be D36. So I look out my window on the plane and find gate D36, good there is still a plane there. Fifteen minutes later it looks as if the plane at D36 is getting ready to be pushed back form the gate, all the luggage was loaded the plane fueled and the jet bridge was pulled away. Ok don't panic yet it has not left the gate and well this is DWF there are gate changes every min, surly they would wait for me. We end up sitting on the tarmac for 30 mins as we wait for our arival gate to clear. I am towards the front of the plane so I run up the jet way, up the escalator on to the Sky Link and then back down another escalator and to gate D 36. Only to find out that the indeed flight 375 had departed from gate D 26 about 5 mins ago. The lady at the gate had a hotel voucher in hand and issued me a new ticket for the morning, my only consolation was that it was a 1st class ticket. She also told me that they would take care of my checked luggage at the airport the was no need to worry about it. I then proceeded to jog to the bus that was to take me to the hotel, the clerk at the desk told me that if I hurried I might catch the bus if not then I would have to call the hotel for a ride. By the time I am settled into the room it was 2:00 am and I had to be up by 4:30 am to catch the bus back to the airport. I make it on my palne and to El Paso by 11:00 am only to find out that my luggage (which contained a lot of papers and two dissertations and my lap top charger) is in LA. The AA rep promised me that it was on a plane headed back from LAX to DFW then the bag would be catching a plane from DFW to ELP by 4:10 and that my luggage would be at my hotel by 6:00 pm. So then I head to the rental car counter to pick up my car. Well they did not have any cars immediately available, but they would have one for me in about 20 min. So I sit down and wait for my car. Finally my car is ready and I take the keys and go to the hotel to check in. Check in goes well, and my room/ apartment is nice. I then head to take a shower and have no hot water, well I make it through the invigorating shower and then stop by the front office to inform them of the problem before heading to the site. As I am walking back to my car I realize that the temporary tag had expired and my cell phone's battery was near fully discharged. I finally make it to the sight and realize that things are a lot worse than expected. I quickly place some phone calls to order a lot of equipment to repalce things that were ruined and then I take the stack appart and let it soak in water. I then go pick up some people from Dow and TWDB who want to see the plant. I take them on a tour and then out to dinner. After dinner I drop them off head to the hotel to see if my luggage had made it. Nope they had not seen or heard of it. Ok next stop is the airport maybe it is there and maybe the car company will do some thing about the tag. Well the luggage was stil at LAX and the car company had the new tag for the car, so we have one thing taken care of. Then off the the computer stores to see if by any chance there might be a Apple Powerbook charger in El Paso. After about 4 stores of searching it was 9:15 and the stores are closing. So I head to walmart in hopes that they might have one and to pick up some food that I need. I do not get out of walmart until 11:00, still without the charger for my laptop. I head back to my room put things away and go soak in the Hot Tub, maybe things will get better tomorrow.
My luggage finally arrived, My bag is destroyed but the contents are safe. Things are starting to come around. This trip may not be that bad after all. Or perhaps I need to just not travel from late may to mid june.
Well I am off to go do some more work.