A New Chapter
So, my trip to Michigan turned into the worst travel nightmare I've experienced. Yes, it's over already. I'm back home in RI and glad of it. I'm supposed to be finishing up my first week in Michigan. But the Lottery decided to push the installations from March to May. No point training people just so they'll forget everything in two months.
Sunday was bad. I left Providence for Chicago because you can't go anywhere on United from Providence except Chicago and Dulles. I'm sitting at the gate waiting for my Lansing flight and the board changes to say it's been cancelled. Great. I stand in line. Annie calls and tells me United just called and I'm rebooked on the flight that arrives in Lansing at 10am Monday. No good. I have to teach a class. The nice man at the desk says, "We're not sure there will be another flight to Lansing today." I ask about alternate airports like Grand Rapids or Detroit. He looks. Grand Rapids has a flight departing in two hours. I take it.
I'm sitting at the gate for the Grand Rapids flight and the Appleton flight is having a hard time leaving. This doesn't look good. Then the Grand Rapids flight delays 20 minutes. Then 40. Then 60. I'm starting to think of driving from Chicago to Lansing. I have no idea how far it is. It doesn't matter. I'm sick of O'Hare. About that time, the gate attendant announces they're taking volunteers to give up seats because they've overbooked. DONE! I go up and get my free ticket and ask about my luggage. They'll find it and send it to baggage claim 2. Now there are two other people standing in the line, originally going to Grand Rapids that have taken the freebie. So, I end up with two passengers, Bob and Vera.
They let their bags stay on the plane to Grand Rapids. They live there, no big deal. We traipse down to baggage claim, with Bob and Vera dutifully following me because I know where I'm going (too many trips to Chicago) and they don't. At carousel 2, we wait. I go outside and have a smoke. We wait some more. Finally, Bob goes over to talk to the folks in baggage claim. He calls me over. The supervisor of baggage claim (does that tell you how many problems O'Hare has with luggage?) tells me they don't pull bags off flights, they ship them on to the destination on the next flight. I tell him that's fine, I'll pick up my bags in Lansing. We go out to AVIS and get the car, a Buick LeSabre and hit the road.
We stop in some place they call "St. Joe" for dinner. It's raining and dark. I have no clue where I am, but both my passengers assure me we're on the right track. We have a ball. It's a great road trip. We reach Grand Rapids and stop at Vera's car. She'll drive Bob over to the airport to his wife. Vera's car is covered in a sheet of ice. So is the parking lot. I stay to make sure they get the car cleared and get a cozy hug goodbye from Vera. (She's SO cute!) Then I'm back to the highway for my drive to Lansing.
By the time I get checked in and call Annie, it's 11:45pm. Oh, I have my laptop bag and my backpack. I'm beginning to reek from running around O'Hare. I'll call the airport early Monday morning and maybe run up there get my bags, shower, put on clean clothes. I try for an hour. Nobody answers the fricking phone. I go to the office and explain, quickly, my predicament and spend the day stinking to high heaven while I teach the class. Oh, shortly after lunch I find out the installation schedule has been pushed. Now I'm bent and unfocused. I proceed with the class anyway, just in case something changes in the meantime. I talk to the Service Manager and we agree it's pointless to train everybody now. I have to check with my manager to make sure that April is still open for me.
After class, I head straight to the airport. I speak with a man at the counter and he tells me my bags are in Grand Rapids! I ask him to find out when they'll be in Lansing. He says he'll have to call out there, has me fill out the silly form, and he'll call me. I go back to the hotel. I call my boss on the hotel phone, then call Annie, on the hotel phone. I'm keeping my cell available for United to call about my bags. I mess around with the computer a bit. Finally, a little after 9pm, I've waited long enough. I call the number the first guy gave me and get a different one. This one sounds like a kid and as soon as he tells me my bags are in Grand Rapids, I snap. I told him Michael was supposed to check for me when they'd get here. Now I want Derek to check. He says, "I have a flight to get out, then I'll check." I tell him, "You have 30 minutes." He calls back in 12. The courier will be leaving Grand Rapids at 11:30. That means it will be after 12:30 by the time he gets to my hotel. It's not quite 9:30. I tell him to call Grand Rapids and have them hold my bags, I'll go get them.
Fortunately, I'd been there! The drive was just under an hour. I get to the little bitty airport and there's nobody at the United counter. But my bags are sitting there on the scale!! I couldn't believe it. I picked them up and walked out the door without anybody challenging me. That irritated me severely. I drive back to Lansing. It's 12:10 when I trudge up the stairs with my clothes and tools. I hang the shirts I'll need for the next two days and leave the rest packed. What a waste.
The day ends early at work, so I find Subway and get my BMT. I eat. I work on ABPEAG. I call United to change my flight. No problem. Got my Premier seats. Charge the $100 change fee. I ask if I can get a receipt for the change fee at the airport and am assured that's no problem. I pack in the morning, leisurely and carefree. I'm going home. I get to the airport, drop off the car, and head for the ticket counter. They really don't want to talk to people. They point me to the touchscreen system and tell them I have issues. So I wait. I go up and get my boarding passes and luggage tags, then ask for the receipt. The poor guy looks stunned. He goes to the back and says they don't show up in his system. My response? "I'm really getting pissed off at United." He says, "Let me call the help desk." So he does and I take my bags to the screening checkpoint. Once done, I head back to the counter and he's got it figured out and is so very proud of himself. I give him his moment. I've got my receipt.
I go outside for a smoke and there's a lady there that must be 70. She rolls her own. Ok, her son does it for her. (See, kids can be slave labor for a LONG time!) She's headed to Phoenix through Chicago. I tell her I'll help her through O'Hare since I have a longer layover. We head to our gate. The PA system announces that there is a delay. The plane will be leaving Chicago shortly! Virginia is going to miss her connection at this rate. Then they say the plane will be landing in 15 minutes. Then another voice comes on says it will 20-25 minutes. I hate United. The plane arrives, unloads, we board and depart only 14 minutes late. We land in Chicago ON TIME!! Kudos to the pilot!
Virginia and I walk from Terminal 2 Concourse F to Concourse E, to the shuttle, ride the shuttle to Terminal 1 Concourse C, down the escalator, through the tunnel, into concourse B and outside to have a smoke. My flight is going out of Concourse C and hers is in Concourse B. I've got time and the extra mile or so won't hurt me, too much. We come back in through security, which takes me forever because I have to practically unpack the laptop bag, and I take her to the end of the world where her gate is. I head back over toward Concourse C and call Annie. So far, so good! I tell her I've met another woman again on this trip and she shows no sign of surprise. She knows I can talk to women! I head back to my gate and decide I need to eat. I'm standing at Starbucks looking at the nasty sandwiches when a United flight attendant says, "You know Berghoff is right over there and it's fresher?" I really don't feel like backtracking that far, but keeps pestering and her partner chimes in, so I give. I toss the sandwich down and say, "I really hate you United people." She laughs and her partner, who had backed off, starts moving forward. I just pointed at him and told to stay over there.
I go stand in line at Berghoff for a roast turkey sandwich with Swiss, lettuce, tomato, mustard and mayo. It's really good. Bag of chips and an oatmeal raisin cookie the size of Rhode Island completely my first meal of the day. Eventually, it's time to board. I double check my boarding pass to make sure I'm in "Seating 1" at which point I notice that I'm in 24D. That's not Premier seating. I don't care. Besides, there's no time to argue about it. Turns out 24 is the LAST row of the plane and doesn't recline at all. Thank god it's only a two hour flight.
My luggage made it to Providence. I made it to Providence. I leave for Washington some time around the beginning of April. I'll leave for Michigan again the first week of May. I have a lot of work to do between now and April. Maybe I'll keep up.
On a more pleasant (poignant) note, Amanda now has her own place. At this moment, she's on an Amtrak rolling toward Union Station in Los Angeles. She's going bowling tonight. She's packing up her life tomorrow and starting A New Chapter. Annie and I are looking forward to sending care packages from WallyWorld and Target and various places like that. Isn't that why parents have credit cards?!? I know she has a huge buildup of that nervous excitement that goes with a first place. Honestly, I can't really relate. Her mother and I practically moved into out first place at the same time. I wasn't alone that much. Hell, I spend more time alone on the road now than I did then. She has her car back. She has her man back. She has her own home. Sort of. :) Lindsay comes next, then Samantha. Time to get Annie to work more hours so we can pay off the credit cards again. Oh, then there's the "vacation" in August.
I feel old now.