now I remember why I hate traveling

[wynefred]

Thanks to everybody who left me supportive comments. You ladies rock! I'm trying to respond but the connection here is spotty. I'll probably have to just wait until the weekend. I'm posting this while I can and will hopefully get it up before my internet drops again.

Why I Hate Traveling (not to be confused with "What I did over my summer vacation")
By Wyn

Don't get me wrong... I love flying: being up in the air, above the clouds, watching the earth pass beneath like a giant patchwork quilt. It's really amazing. But the running from one end of the airport to the other, trying to squeeze my hefty body down the squinchy airplane aisles, the looks and huffs from others on the plane or in the airport, the heat... my gosh is NOTHING airconditioned? (I'm such a baby).

Yesterday was particularly craptastic. I was in tears all day. But I'm getting ahead of myself.... lemme start over.

Horrible, stressful things that happened:

• I got only 3.5 hours sleep because I was still trying to tie everything up and I was too anxious about the trip. So I started off at only half steam. 
• I left the house on time, at around 3:15 AM but decided not to stop for breakfast or to top off my tank since I had plenty of gas to get to Evansville and I knew there was construction for most of the route, which could (and did) slow me down. The construction was awful with lots of swirvy lanes created by cones to redirect traffic. Trying to maneuver through this obstacle course in the dark amped my stress level considerably.
• After a torturous 1.5 hour drive, I made it to my brother's house on time, we packed my bags in his car and left mine at his house, then headed to McDonalds to grab me some breakfast and (more importantly) some coffee. However, when I went to pull out the credit card to pay for my liquid heaven, I couldn't find it. That's right, my friends. I left my credit card at home,  almost an hour and a half away! At that point, my flight was supposed to take off in just over an hour.
• Because I didn't have my card that morning and my brother didn't have cash on him at the time, I didn't get any breakfast that morning. I also didn't pack any provisions because I'd expected to have breakfast and I knew I was landing right before lunch, so I'd be fine. With no breakfast and the crazy events of the afternoon, I didn't eat until 1:00. By then, I'd been up 11 hours with no food! To say that I was hungry would be like saying that Godzilla is big. I was shaking like a nervous little leaf, and I'm sure that at least some of my breakdown (see next two bullets) was due to extreme hunger.
• When I first found out that I didn't have the credit card, I'd called the hotel in Sioux Falls to make sure I could even check in without the actual card in hand, and the guy I talked to told me that they normally don't allow it but to just come on and they'd make an exception for me. I finally trudged wearily up to the hotel desk, sweating buckets and barely able to stay on my feel, and explained my situation to the lady behind the desk. Imagine my total shock when the hotel refused to check me in. They had my credit card number, they could "swipe" the number if not the card itself to verify my name, and I had my driver's license on me, so what was the problem? It was against their policy! So I explained about the guy I'd talked to at 5AM and that if he'd told me "hell no" I would've rescheduled my flight and driven the 3-hour round trip to pick up my card, but HE TOLD ME IT WOULD BE FINE. Sorry, ma'am, there's nothing I can do. So I sat on their couch and alternated between crying desperate tears and trying to get myself under control, deciding that the only thing I could do was wait for my boss to land in about 7 hours and ask him to pay for my room. The very idea was humiliating, but other than living on the street for the next few days, I didn't see much of a choice. I was completely losing it. In fact, I'm tearing up again while I type this. I've never had to deal with anything so stupidly stressful before. You'll be happy to know that the hotel finally relented and not only checked me in but gave me a room on the spot even though check-in time wasn't for another four hours.
• When my hotel room door finally closed behind me, I literally dropped my bags and fell onto the bed in wracking sobs. I haven't cried like that in a very very long time. I think my neighbors heard me, but I don't care. I earned it!

Some good amazing things that happened:

• When he heard that I didn't have my card on me, my brother (who did not have any cash or credit on him) immediately sprung into action. He called his lovely wife to have her wake the kids, get $ from the ATM, and meet us at the airport. They gave me $140 in cash and paid for my checked luggage (that's a whole other rant... what the hell? Making me pay $25 just for the privilege of checking a bag that used to be part of airport services or at least part of the ticket cost? Ridiculous!). So, I've had enough money to take care of all my needs (except the hotel room, but that did finally take care of itself).
• By the time I finished checking in at the airport because of the delay of waiting for the cash, they'd finished boarding my flight. However, the ladies at the front called back and had them hold the door for me. Even the guys at security were ready for me and moved me through with barely a hiccup. Very sweet people at that airport.
• The plane took off right at dawn and I got to watch the sunrise from both the ground and again from above the first layer of clouds. Spectacular!
• The first plane deboarded at gate G20 in Chicago. The flight attendant went down the row to each person and gave them their connecting flight gate; turned out mine was at gate G21. I thought surely it was a trick, that G20 and G21 had to be on opposite ends of the corridor because of some weird shift in the space-time continuum that occurs in airports. Nope! I got off the plane at G20 and walked about 10 steps to a seat at G21 to wait for boarding of my next flight. That has never happened to me before. Heh.
• I called my boss' house (thought it was his cell number but I was wrong) and got his wife, who is the sweetest person. I told her my horrific story and she said, "Just tell my husband and he'll take care of you. He won't let you stay there with no money! We take care of our own." Of course, she made me cry all over again, but this time for a good reason.
• When my boss called me after landing, he called not in response to the frantic, panicked, and teary voicemail I'd left him but rather to the call he'd received from his wonderful wife who'd been worried about me. Awww. Of course, by that time I had everything under control and didn't need him to "take care of me", but it was nice of his wife to offer.
• I tried to tip the shuttle guy and the lady who delivered my room service, but they both refused the tip. Handed my money back to me!
• Now that I'm in a room, I can charge all my meals to the card by charging to the room. And the room service here is very tasty and very reasonably priced, so no complaints on that note.
• When I finally landed in Sioux Falls, the rental car place would not let me rent the car because I didn't have the card in my hand. I'd expected that, so I didn't fret, but it was a huge inconvenience because the hotel I'd picked is too far from the training facility to walk. It just meant that I'd have to dip into my precious cash to pay for cabs back and forth. When my contact from the resident agency found out that I was carless, he volunteered to be my personal chauffeur. It's been wonderful getting to chat with one of my business contacts on a non-business level. I even told him about Supernatural and now he's going to look it up! *grin*

Do you know what's really funny about this whole credit card fiasco? Both the car-rental place and the hotel couldn't wrap their brains around that fact that I had no money on me. They kept saying the most ridiculous things, most especially: "you could pay with cash" and "you could use a different card". If I'd had either of those things, I wouldn't have been standing there in tears, would I???? Crazy nuts.

That was yesterday. I'm mostly under control now. I only tear up a little when I talk about the events of yesterday, so that's an improvement.

Today was such a huge improvement over yesterday that it's almost a totally different trip. I'll give you more details about that tomorrow if I can. Just know that today I'm happy and stress-free.

*smishes you all*
Later dudes!

-------