I really should not complain. But I am going to anyway since I’m sitting in the Ft. Lauderdale airport with some time on my hands. Most of my travel has been uneventful. I have experienced the usual weather and mechanical delays, but if you average it out over the years I have escaped being in travel hell.
This trip has not been that bad really, but if you add it all up I would like a do-over.
It started out bad. I made my way on Monday to catch the Orange line to the Midway airport. I was flying to Raleigh Durham for a client meeting.
While I was waiting on the platform I was checking email on my blackberry and the train pulled up. I walked into the open door and sat down and when they announced the next stop I realized I was on the wrong train. I boarded the Green line instead of Orange. No biggie, I just got off at the next stop, took the Green line back to the city and then hopped on the Orange line. I had enough time to make my flight so I was not really worried at that point.
I made my flight and the meeting went well. Then it all started heading south from there. My flight to Ft. Lauderdale was meant to leave at 7pm. I was flying to Orlando then connecting to Ft. Lauderdale. There was weather in Baltimore and Philly so all of the flights were delayed. I was going to miss my connection so I decided to get a hotel in Orlando and take an early flight from there to Ft. Lauderdale. No biggie so far.
Well the flight did not leave until midnight and I did not get to my hotel until 2am. After a short 2 hour nap that cost me $145 I was up to catch the 5am shuttle to get on my 6:40 flight. I arrived in Ft. Lauderdale and grabbed a cab to the client’s office.
I think I had the only un-airconditioned cab in Florida. The driver was also new so I had to help him find the place. Luckily I had been there before so I had some notion of how to direct him.
I was meeting our Director of Sales there at 10 am, so being a little more than an hour early I grabbed breakfast in the cafe. I watched for him in the lobby but never saw him come in. I went up to the 10th floor and waited for him there but they had not seen him yet.
At this point I realized I lost by Blackberry. I thought I left it in the hotel or perhaps it fell out of my bag while getting into the airport shuttle. I could not call him so I made my way to the local Starbucks to send him an email. I found out that he had been there and had already conducted two training sessions in my absence.
So now I’m sitting here in the Ft. Lauderdale airport with thunderstorms swirling around me. Given the trip I’ve had so far what do you think my chances are of getting out of here on time?
I know this is almost the “norm” for frequent fliers and they have to deal with this to get their work done, but after adding it all up it was pretty comical.