Memories of Travel Woes...

As much as I love to travel, I always come back with travel stories. The recent "weekend" to Chicago was no exception. And while planning for my next trip in a few weeks, I'm forced to remember all the joys of our trip... including being delayed to O'Hare on Friday, canceled on the way back on Sunday, rerouting through Newark, having THAT flight delayed, only to hitch a ride back to CT, pick up my car from Hartford airport and finally get home 5 hours before my ER shift. Ah, the memories...

THUMBS DOWN to leaving freakishly warm CT weather (60 degrees) and arriving to Chicago's chilling 20.

THUMBS UP to Kammy for turning 30 fabulously and inviting us to my favorite city in the continental United States.

THUMBS DOWN for opening the paper to see how many murders Chicago has had since January 1, complete with a map.

THUMBS UP to my big cousin who took care of our hotel, our airport to hotel transportation and made it possible for me to never have to deal with the hotel staff or customer service (as if I need more bad customer service stories).

THUMBS DOWN to the Einstein Bros. cashier for telling me they no longer sell iced green tea, when a huge jug of it sat in eyesight in the corner.

THUMBS UP to Einstein Bros., however, for selling only turkey products (chili, sausage). Great for us non-beef, non-pork eaters.

THUMBS UP to that Thai restaurant downtown for having the equivalent of a "dollar menu" made especially in honor of our failing economy.

THUMBS DOWN to United Airlines for canceling the 5:30pm and 7:30pm flights from O'Hare to Hartford. And rebooking us for the next night.

THUMBS UP to United agent Gustav who rebooked our flights to Newark so we could get back on Sunday - not late Monday night. For free.

THUMBS DOWN to United Airlines for letting the Newark flight take off 3 hours late.

THUMBS DOWN to the grey-haired lady in O'Hare who ran over my calf with her rollie and when I asked her to say excuse me, proceeded to tell me how she was in line first (HUH?), and topped it off with an exasperated "Just go," allowing me to walk in front of her. Hey lady: Even if I did cut you in line (which I didn't), does that really give you the right to injure me, without an apology? Goodness.

THUMBS UP to O'Hare's Wolfgang Puck to Go for hooking UP my chicken caesar salad with extra dressing and a smile. Good service finally!

THUMBS DOWN to United for making me check my carry-on duffel bag for $15... all to keep from tossing my huge $30 body scrub ("considered a gel") from H2O that I've been dreaming about since that gift basket in '07.

THUMBS DOWN to the United counter rep who decided to go on break as soon as we reached the front of the line. Love ya!

THUMBS DOWN to boarding almost 2 hours before takeoff and sitting in a hot metal tube with crying babies and obnoxious passengers until wheels up.

THUMBS UP to United for breaking out their emergency box and handing out a "crunchy bar" and water to each passenger after an hour of waiting on the jetway. I'm not kidding. I think the exact words over the loudspeaker were: "It's now time for us to break out our emergency kit."


THUMBS DOWN to the very considerate passenger directly behind me who slammed her tray so hard it shook my seat while yelling, "Oh great! And there's a BABY on our plane." She was definitely much more of an issue for me than the baby. Trust me.

THUMBS UP to brand new earplugs and a good book that made sitting inside that tube feel like a sunny day on Miami Beach.

THUMBS UP to the TSA Agents for doing such a thorough job:

Example 1 - To Chicago, the agent moved my juice-filled fruit cup out of the way to get to the Pepsi can I mistakenly left in the bag... but put the fruit cup back inside. Right in front of me. I mean really... shouldn't I get my Pepsi back? Isn't that like when your meal is free because the cashier fails to give you a receipt? Seriously.

Example 2 - From Chicago, my 700+ page Harry Potter book set off some sense of worry and they had to rescan my bag and do a hand search. Madam TSA Agent wouldn't look me in the eye afterward when I asked her what they saw. She just shooed me on. Geez. Yes, ladies and gents... publishers still make books that big. And people read them on va-ca. It's not a kilo. Or a... (dare I type the b-word?) Keep up the great work, though. Meanwhile, 3 unsuspecting grannies just snuck by with weapons up their skirts.

Hmmm. I think I might just stay local on this vacation.

Dr. Ty
From the GAL Blog
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