NOT Southwest

Over the past year I have had minimal bad experiences with travel. I have learned to fly Southwest, even if it means taking a connecting flight instead of a non-stop.

Last week I had to fly Northwest/Delta because Southwest does not fly to Green Bay or Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The flight out on Monday was uneventful. The flight home on Thursday was.

My flight was scheduled to leave Green Bay at 5PM. I was there by 4.....and found out that I would be delayed until 7 PM. Since I was to connect in Minneapolis on a flight that was to leave at 7 PM, I thought this was a concern. When I finally reached the curt person at the desk about 30 minutes later, she reviewed my boarding passes and said, "I'm going to put you on an American flight." Her curt demeanor intimidated me (believe it or not) and I didn't ask any questions. She printed some documents, handed them to me and went on to the next person.

American left from a different concourse, so I had to leave the secure area and re-enter. The documents she gave me did not look like boarding passes, so I went back out to the American check-in station and was issued new boarding passes. Then returned to the concourse area to go back through security. By now, the shoes were hurting my toes.

The America flight boarded on time, but sat on the tarmac for an hour. Since it connected at Chicago O'Hare I was concerned about the connection, but since there wass absolutely NOTHING that could be done about it, I just read and drank free wine.

I had about 15 minutes to make it all the way across O'Hare to the next gate. Fortunately, the KC flight was delayed 10 minutes. I boarded with the stragglers, but made it to my seat in time to ......again sit on the tarmac for about an hour.

I'm glad I'm on Southwest this week.

The good news it that Southwest started a non-stop to Milwaukee as of November 1st. YEA.

Following the Rules

Last week I was boarding a flight on Southwest at the Midway Airport in Chicago. I had noticed an attractive 30'ish couple in front of me in the A 16-20 space. Once boarding was announced, the female of the couple moved over to the over "31-60" side of the columns. We began boarding in numerical order. When "he" arrived at the point to hand his boarding pass to the attendant, he had TWO roller bags. He told the ticket taker that the second bag belonged to his associate who was behind him in line.

The ticket taker told him his associate would need to board with her own bag as he could only board with one, as required by TSA regulations. He said they always boarded with him taking her bag and they did it as such every week with no problem. The ticket taker said while the process may have worked for him in the past, this week they were going to follow the rules because she was not going to be responsible for the non-compliance with TSA regulations.

Needless to say, this did not make him happy.

He again asked why she would not let him take his 'friend's' bag on and was told that the 'friend' would need to board with her own bag because that was the what the regulations required.

He said, "That's not a good enough reason."

She said, ......and I loved it......" Maybe so, but that is the best answer you are going to get and you are only boarding with ONE bag and a personal item."

At that point, they waved me on by and I didn't get to observe the rest of the altercation. I wanted to tell the flight attendant to let the 'ticket taker' how proud I was of her..... but believe it or not, the fellow chose the seat across the aisle from me. When his female 'associate' finally boarded they had a heck of a time finding a place for her carry on bag.

Gosh, life can sure be complicated when you are forced to follow the rules.

Griffin

Molly and Hillary ran the 5K and Mira played in the playground. She didn't want to quit so I could watch the runners come in a get a picture. I said, "Don't you want to see Mommy run?" and she said, "Yes, I do." Then, "Actually, NO, I want to play here. You go on, I'll stay right here." Needless to say, I didn't let her stay right there. This run was smaller than the Zoo run last week when I totally missed Hillary at the finish line. This time I was able to find them and get a picture of them at the end.

We then took Mira to a great Children's Museum. She had a wonderful time and playing there for a couple of hours combined with getting up early for the run totally wore her out. She took a nap without too much complaining. She and Uncle Benny played all evening drawing circles and squares.

So why is this titled 'Griffin'? Griffin was sick. Brooks and Hillary talked off and on throughout the evening and they finally decided to take him to the Children's Mercy Urgent Care in the Northland. Hillary thought he would get a breathing treatment and go home. Instead, he went by ambulance to be admitted to Children's Mercy. Brooks stayed with him at the hospital and he was doing better by this morning. Hillary was able to get an earlier flight this morning and was at the hospital by noon. They are keeping him another night and he will probably go home tomorrow.

Tomorrow I head to Columbus, Ohio where I will be until Friday at noon.

North Carolina

This morning Hillary, Mira and I headed to North Carolina to see Molly and Ben. The reason for the trip was for Molly and Hillary to run a 5K tomorrow morning. I arrived at Hillary's at 6:15. She and Mira were up and at it when I walked in. Mira was excited about going to see Aunt Molly. Hillary said she was pretty unhappy about waking up until Hillary told her she was going to see Aunt Molly. Then she brightened up and was happy to be waking up.

We loaded up and headed to the airport. Hillary took both suitcases to check and I took Mira to the Economy Parking Lot to park the car and take the bus back to the airport. She thought the bus was great fun, but was a little shy of the other people. Our planes took off and landed on time and she was great on the plane. After the trip to North Carolina in May, she had the take off and landing down. She watched Dora DVD's from Kansas City to Nashville. She slept from Nashville to Raleigh. Her nutritional intake for the day has been a Rice Krispie treat, pretzels, peanuts, M and M's, french fries, a bite of pizza and cake. We are planning on doing better tomorrow.

We will be up and at it in the morning. The run starts at 8:30 AM. Molly and Hillary are running. I decided I wasn't ready and am going to help Ben with Mira while they run. It's raining right now (8:30 PM) and will probably be raining while they run. I think I made a good decision!!

Chirp

Last Thursday morning I awoke at 3:45 AM to the chirping of the smoke alarm. I tried to ignore it, but the chirp is designed to awaken you to escape a fire. Obviously, I was not successful at ignoring it and didn't need to escape a fire. After about 10 minutes I turned the light on and stood on the bed to inspect the device. I twisted it loose from its anchor and it was hard wired into the ceiling. I couldn't find a battery door. It continued to chirp at irregular intervals, sometimes every 2-3 minutes, then skipping 10.

I finally called the front desk and told them the fire alarm was chirping. A very nice lady came to my room and climbed onto my bed. She found the battery door, but was unable to open it and said she didn't have batteries anyway and that there was no maintenance available until 7 AM. I asked about a different room and she said none were available. Then I asked if there was one person in a room with two beds that would share. She laughed.

Great!

After she messed with it, it quit chirping. She said maybe that fixed it and left. I turned out the light and tried to go back to sleep. Just as I dozed off, it chirped. Then would not chirp for as long as it took to almost doze off again. The randomness of the chirps was as annoying as the chirps. About 5 AM I turned the TV on. The chirps were becoming more frequent and I thought maybe the TV would distract me and I would be able to catch some quick naps. I think I did manage some 5 minute sessions of sleep, but it was very light sleep.

At 6:30 I called back to the desk and told them it was still chirping and asked if anyone had arrived to fix the problem. NO.....not until 7. So I watched TV in a stupor. Then about 7:15 I realized it hadn't chirped for a while. The next time I surfaced it was 8AM. The smoke alarm was not chirping and I was late.

On the way out of the hotel, I stopped at the desk and asked how they fixed it. The person on duty didn't even know I had experienced a night of smoke alarm chirps!

I don't know why it finally quit. I speculate that the maintenance man came in at 7 and pushed some button that reset it. Hillary suggests I start carrying a battery with me.

On the Road

Sometimes I skip the airplane and drive. This is one of those weeks.

I have some nursing homes scattered over Indiana and Illinois and there is no easy way to get there. I have been scheduling the two Indiana homes together and flying into Midway Airport in Chicago. I then drive 3 hours to Terre Haute, Indiana and spend the night. The next morning I drive an hour south of Terre Haute to Linton, Indiana for a visit. At the end of that day I drive 3 1/2 hours to Valparaiso, Indiana for the second day. Valparaiso is about 1 1/2 hours from Midway............depending on the traffic. I really don't like Midway if I have to leave the airport. It is in a really bad part of Chicago and I am always a little scared when I have to find the gas station to fill the car up before I return it.

So I decided to try a different approach.

I scheduled those two homes with an Illinois home. I flew to St. Louis and rented the car to drive to Terre Haute (2 1/2 hour drive) on Monday. Tuesday AM I drove the hour to Linton and Tuesday PM drove to 3 1/2 hours to Valparaiso. Wednesday PM (today) I drove to Decatur, Illinois which over 3 hours. My visit tomorrow is in Taylorville, which is a small town about 30 minutes south. The only lodging there is a Super 8 that is kind of scary, thus my decision to stay in Decatur. I will drive back to St. Louis tomorrow night which is about a 1 1/2 hour drive and fly back to Kansas City early Friday morning.

I have logged many hours in the car, obviously, but it's been okay. I have been listening to Julie Andrews biography "Home" and it is pretty good. I also chat on the phone. I know that is considered a 'no no' but when I'm on long stretches of highway it seems actually safer to stay awake and visit than to drift off into oblivion.

There is a wonderful Wind Farm around Kentland, Indiana. I really like Wind Farms! I had to take a detour about 30 miles from Valparaiso. I was on black top roads with some wonderful homes and wooded areas. I was driving along and saw a deer start to cross the road so I slowed down and watched, expecting another one to appear. The first crossed and then stopped and looked back--watching. At that point, I stopped the car completely. Then two fawns, still with spots, emerged cautiously. They looked at me and waited. I didn't move and they finally crossed the road and joined their mother.

Life is good. Never miss the chance to enjoy every day and rejoice in the unexpected.

An Aborted Trip to the Zoo

I have a client in Omaha that I visit monthly. Hillary had been wanting to coordinate a visit to the Henry Dorley Zoo with one of my visits. I had a visit last Thursday so used some Holiday Inn points and made reservations at a Holiday Inn for Thursday night with plans to go to the zoo on Friday. She drove up Thursday evening with the grandchildren to meet me.

It worked great. We had two connecting rooms. The hotel was nice and the pool was wonderful. We had a good meal at Red Lobster and spend the rest of the evening at the pool. We all settled down for a good nights sleep so we would be well rested for the next day.

In the morning I ordered everything from room service I thought Mira might possibly eat. Hillary went to down to exercise and I maintained the fort. We went back to the pool for a while, then cleaned up and started packing the room to check out. Hillary was packing and Griffin was playing on the floor. When she went to pick him up he was surrounded by pills and a white plastic pill box. We had no idea what kind of pills or if he had actually consumed any of them. The pill box had apparently been under a chair in the room. Obviously room service had not moved the furniture when they vacuumed. After much deliberation, including calling Children’s Mercy, she decided she had no choice but to take him to the Emergency Room. She spoke with the management at the hotel. They agreed to refund my rewards points and pay for the medical expenses.

She went to Omaha Children’s Hospital. I followed. When I arrived, she was checking in at the ER desk. She then told me she did not have her debit card and guessed she must have left it at the Red Lobster the night before. SOOOO I took Mira and went back to the Red Lobster. The good news was that they did, indeed, have her debit card. The bad news is that they would not give it to me as I did not have any identification. (Which is actually a good thing.) Her debit card has her picture on it and I told them to look at Mira and the picture and they could tell the picture was obviously her mother, but that didn’t work either. So back to the hospital I went.

The doctor was checking Griffin when I arrived. The plan was to do some lab, and EKG and then charcoal to absorb whatever he might have consumed. The pills we had included an antibiotic, lisinopril, potassium, allopurinol, and something else. Given that group of medication, who knows what else might have been in the mix. They planned to keep them 4-6 hours to observe.

We were all hungry by then so I volunteered to go get food and take identification back to the Red Lobster to retrieve the debit card. That time they gave it to me.

Mira was pretty good throughout the ordeal but kept asking when we were going to go to the zoo. I suggested we might be able to go to a park, but that we would need to wait until Griffin was better to go to the zoo. She was fine with that. I went ahead back to Kansas City with her about 3 and she slept from just outside of Omaha until almost to St. Joe. When she awakened, she wanted to know when we were going to the park. I stopped at East Hills in St. Joe and let her play on the toys and stuff outside of Dillard’s. I spent $5 on coin operated rides, but she had a great time and quit worrying about the park.

I took her to Grandma Lana’s while I took my rental car back to the airport and then picked her back up and took her home. We arrived at the house within minutes of Hillary and Griffin.

So the next time we try the Henry Dorley Zoo we will remember to look under all the furniture as soon as we check into the hotel.

Catching Up

In the last few weeks I have been to Chicago, Canton, Ohio, and this week in Milwaukee. I believe travel has improved and the airports are not as crowded. The only places I have had to stand more than five minutes in line for security screening were in Fort Lauderdale and Cleveland. I try to fly Southwest whenever possible as it is the easiest, most economical and the frequent flyer program is the least complicated.

The week I was in Chicago I connected with an old friend from the Heartland days, Tracy Silver. She picked me up in Northbrook and we drove in to Chicago for the night. We ate a great dinner at McCormick and Schmidt's and saw Jersey Boys. I have added it to my 'top five musicals' list!

This morning Good Morning America was broadcasting from a suburb of Milwaukee. Made me feel like I was right in the middle of things. One of the facilities I visit here is located right on the shore of Lake Michigan. I love sitting in the dining room of the fifth floor to audit charts. The view is incredible.

I'm headed home right now, sitting in the airport waiting for my flight. Tomorrow I will drive from Gladstone to Omaha. Hillary is meeting me there tomorrow evening and we are going to the Henry Dorley Zoo on Friday. Should be an adventure!!!

Montana

I'm in Montana this week. The weather is wonderful...better than Missouri! Blue skies, snow capped mountains and it's warm enough to walk outside, if I could talk myself into doing so.

This is the view from the nursing home I am visiting.

I plan to go to Glacier Park tomorrow evening to get one more visit out of my annual pass. Some day I would like to be able to hike in that park, but I'm always a little uneasy of setting out by myself. Sharon, if the Grand Canyon is out....how about Glacier?

Not Much Going On

The tooth was successfully smoothed but I can't get my crown until June!! So far it has not interfered with my ability to eat too many calories.

Not much interesting has been going on with travels. Two week ago I had some unscheduled time so Hillary and I took both children (ages 1 and 2) on a six hour road trip to visit some friends in Illinois. The children did very well on the road. The two year old couldn't keep from kicking the DVD player and before the return trip was over, it was removed and placed on the floor. The one year old and his grandmother (ME) had some extreme respiratory thing going on. He slept so soundly on the way home I became worried that he had lapsed into a coma! We were both at the doctor within 24 hours and on antibiotics.

This week I am wandering around in Indiana. These places are those that there is no easy way to get to. I fly into Chicago Midway and drive, and drive, and drive. The positive part is that I end up in Valparaiso, Indiana, which is only a hour from Midway and my flight home. The driving is much better during Daylight Savings time, but the most frustrating part of Indiana is that I never know what time zone I am in.

Broken Tooth

This week I am in Michigan. It's cold and they have been so kind as to let me experience one more snow before the winter is over. I'm not due back here until May. Surely it won't still be snowing!

For the Michigan trip, I fly into Detroit, rent a car and drive to Kalamazoo, which is about a 2 - 2 1/2 hour drive. Then drive back to Detroit (actually Waterford, MI) which is about 50 minutes from the airport. The advantage is the flight is non-stop and the cost of the ticket can be spread over two facilities. By finishing the second day in Waterford, I am close to the airport to head home. I really don't mind driving. I'm listening to a Patricia Cornwell book and remembering why I quit reading her a few years back.

Last night on the way from Kalamazoo to Waterford I was chewing away on an apple, when I realized I had a sharp tooth. My lower back molar had broken! I never did crunch anything hard that I recall, so it must have come loose and I swallowed it. I had to present a 1 1/2 hour lecture last night and it is to be repeated twice today. The back of my tongue is becoming tender, as is the tip, because I can't keep myself from messing with the hole back there. I'll be home tonight and hopefully the dentist will at least be able to smooth the sharp places until I can get an appointment for a crown.

I whined!

So okay, I gave up and called maintenance.



I decided to make the couch up with the flat sheet, as I could tuck it securely and the couch was pretty comfortable. The problem was that I couldn't watch TV and couldn't read because of the lamp. I changed light bulbs and the lamp still didn't work. I carried it to another room and plugged it in and then it worked. So I knew it was the outlet. I saw another outlet at the other end of the couch and thought I could just change ends of the couch and set the lamp on this room divider thing buy that outlet didn't work either. I knew it had to be a breaker, but I couldn't find the box. I searched the villa, then went outside to hunt. I found a little electrical room with the meters, but no breakers. Then I gave up and called.



The maintenance man told me the breaker box was in the laundry room and acted like I was a dunce. Well, he couldn't find it either! He finally found it behind a picture in the kitchen. I would never have thought to search behind pictures. We had to flip all the breakers off and on, but finally were able to restore electricity to the living room.



End of the story. I slept great and this morning my throat is just a little bit scratchy. I'll be home tonight, but not in my own bed. I'm staying at Hillary's because my refinished hardwood floors won't be ready for my foot steps. Hillary went over last night to look at them and deemed them 'stunning'. I can hardly wait to see them myself.

The Villa

This week I am at a Retirement Community in Pompano Beach, Florida. They wanted to save money and asked that I stay on the grounds in guest accommodations rather than in a hotel.

Here is my Villa.

Now before you go getting all impressed with the accommodations, let me tell you the down side. When you stay in a hotel you usually have one room with a great bed, from where you can watch television, a hair dryer, and lots of hot water, but you don't have the ambiance and space that you get in a Villa.

Consider the trade off. The bed was an inexpensive mattress (Queen) with no mattress pad and made up with flat sheets, which means the sheet comes loose and wads up when you turn over in your sleep. I was up three times remaking the bed during the night. The next morning, I turned on the shower, and went to the kitchen to make tea. When I returned to the bathroom the water was still cold. I manipulated the dial every way possible, but after 15 minutes still could not get hot water. The sinks 'hot water' handle only produced luke warm water. I had anticipated the hair dryer issue and brought my own.

A maintenance ticket was promptly filled out the next morning and I had hot water from thence forth.

Tuesday, I developed an intense sore throat and by the middle of the afternoon had a temperature of 102. I went back to the Villa, took 4 Ibuprofen and laid down on the couch, as the television was in the living area and not in the bedroom. The couch was really okay, due to the wadded sheet issue on the bed. I ended up sleeping on the couch and was much more comfortable than I had been in the bed the previous night. This morning I reach up to turn on the lamp and the light bulb crackled and went out. Then I picked up the remote for the TV and it did not work. Grudgingly I arose and walked to the TV to push the power button. It didn't work either. I really don't want to be remembered as the whiny consultant, so I am just making do without television tonight.

I haven't yet decided where to sleep tonight. I may work on the sheet issue and try the bed again since I will not be able to read on the couch without the lamp....but I guess I could switch out the light bulb with another lamp?

The decisions one has to make...............

Everything from my Very Worst Nightmare

This flight had everything from my "Very Worst Nightmare". (A concept borrowed from Molly’s description of Disney World at Christmas.)

I arrived at the gate about an hour before the flight was scheduled to leave. A lady was trying to console a screaming 3-4 month old baby, with the assistance of another lady I assumed was the Grandmother, but later discovered she was just a helpful traveler. This baby continued to scream for at least 15 minutes regardless of what they tried to do. I was thinking that it was okay; because by the time the flight boarded the baby would be so tired he would sleep. I noticed the volume begin to decline, and then realized they were leaving the gate area and that she also had a 4-5 year old little boy with her. They came back in a few minutes carrying a McDonald’s sack. The baby was still fussy, but the screaming had subsided.

The plane was late, but we finally started boarding. I discovered she was on my plane when she pre-boarded with her small children. The very nice lady who had been helping her told them she would see them later.

Now, I know this will be hard to believe, but as I navigated down the aisle of the plane to my seat, I discovered that this little family was going to be sharing my row. Of note is that when the ‘very nice lady who had been helping’ passed by on her way to her seat, she had a rather smirky smile on her face when she met my eyes. I am not an overly personable traveler. I like to be left alone to read or doze and I do not normally engage in small talk. Whenever I end up in a row with children, it amazes me that the mother seems to think I should make over the kid. I smile and try to read, and make every effort to let my non-verbal communicate that I am not at all inconvenienced, but do not wish to socialize. Carolyn would have been the ‘very nice lady’. She would have known the kids names and how old they were, played games with the annoying little boy, and been singing to the very fussy baby. I really thought about that, but I just couldn’t make myself DO it.

I was on the aisle, the Mom and baby were in the middle and the very annoying little boy was at the window. He never shut his mouth. The Mom would be very tolerant and patient, and then would just loose it and tell him to be quiet or she would smack him, although she never did. He obviously knew she never would, because the threats didn’t deter him at all. The baby never did go to sleep. She fed him a red liquid (I assume some kind of juice) throughout the flight to keep him quiet, but it didn’t always work very well. When she wasn’t trying to get the baby to drink the juice, she was jabbering to him and/or yelling at the other one. I really did have empathy for her. She wasn’t having any more fun than I was and she had to change planes and repeat the process. I was a little fearful they were continuing on to Kansas City and I would get to share my row with them once again, but God knew I would never have the patience to endure it, and sent them to Nashville.

Right now I am in traveler heaven. The flight is fairly empty and I have the entire row to myself. I figure it’s my reward for keeping my mouth shut and maintaining a pleasant demeanor during my very worst nightmare.

Lost and Found

After I wrote the title, I realized it could be interpreted in more than one way. The first is as I intended--my lost phone and computer. The second--my lost months on this blog. Hopefully this will be the initial post of my renewed effort to keep in contact!!

And so....... the lost phone. I was at the Detroit airport in January and early for the flight by about two hours. I stopped at a restaurant for dinner and to kill some time. During my meal, my sister called and I chatted with her for a while, then disconnected and placed my phone on the table. Once I finished eating, I booted up my computer and surfed the Internet for a while to entertain myself. Then I decided it was time to head to the gate and put everything away (except the phone) and headed out. When I reached my gate, I sat down and checked to be sure I had my wallet, phone, and broadband card. I am somewhat paranoid about those items. Alas!!!!!! I did not have the phone, and remembered it was on the table at the restaurant. I immediately headed back and arrived back at the restaurant in less than 10 minutes after leaving. The waitress I asked about the lost phone said they had it and went back to retrieve it. She returned with the manager who told me they had checked the monitors when they found the phone, as they were pretty sure to whom it beloned, and the hostess headed that direction to find me. GREAT!!

As I had no idea what she looked like, I told him to order me a glass of wine and I would wait for her to return. About 10 minutes later someone tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I was Sarah. She said my phone was at my gate. My question was--how did she know what gate was mine? No problem......Hillary had called her! She answered and they discussed who I was and where I was going. She checked the boards for the next flight to Kansas City and took the phone to the gate, where they were able to tell her, YES, a Sarah McGinley is schedule to be on this flight.

It's a miracle...and I got my phone back. I will eat there again.

Then the computer. I was in Las Vegas for our annual meeting the last of January. I arrived home late Friday evening. I left my bags in the car, washed my face and went to bed. The next morning I carried everything in and when I opened my briefcase discovered I did not have my computer. My stomach was in knots as I tried to remember where I could have left it. I finally realized the only place I could have left it was at security screening at the airport. When I was going though security I was behind several people who were amature travelers. They were unable to get through the metal detectors due to too much jewelry, belts, and such. As a result everyone was backed up, with items moving along through the screener and backing up on the conveyor. Once I got through, I stacked my two bins and moved away from the crowd to put my shoes on and return my identification to my wallet. Since I stacked my bins, I obviously did not notice my computer and it never made it back to the briefcase.

I called Southwest, who gave me the number for TSA at McCarren, who gave me the number for Lost and Found. I called them and got a recording which required me to provide a recorded message about my lost item for which there would only be response if they had my item.

Then I called my boss. He was great, saying it wasn't the first time such a thing had happened. I was pretty sick about the lost information in the computer, but figured I could replicate most of it over time via the files at corporate. As our formats for reports are maintained on the company web site, I would be able to continue to work using Hillary's computer.

Around two hours later I received a call from the Lost and Found people. They had my computer and for a mere $75 dollars they were able to overnight it back to me. I had it Monday morning before I headed out for another week of travel adventures.

And the third concern.....my lost months. I have no excuse except laziness. I am sorry I have been so remiss. If you have returned to this blog, continue to check in occassionally. I will try to keep you informed about the craziness of travel.