a wee bit more about my travels:
Jul. 26th, 2006 01:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fr_defenestratoi got home from my 10-day New England jaunt on Sunday night. this morning my luggage found its way home.
so in the middle of my so-called but not-quite vacation last week, i was working inbxiie's office, where he's set up his business, DIvergent Technology. I promised my boss i would work while away, at least during Monday through midday Thursday, July 17 through 20. bxiie very kindly set me up with my own workspace and i put in some long hours Monday and Tuesday, just to prove i wasn't kidding, was willing and able to work while away, etc. but during this time a proposal comes along that my company wants to bid on, and my boss wants me to be the proposal manager. no problem there, until it turns out there's a bidders' conference in Houston on Friday morning, July 21--on which date I'm supposed to be camped already at Falcon Ridge listening to music &c. so after give-and-take discussions with my boss, it turns out some bigwigs think i should go, so on Wednesday i book travel through the company travel agent: Albany, NY to Houston on Thursday afternoon (rabidkitten graciously agreed to drop me off on the way to the fest), returning to Albany Friday afternoon-night, thence to taxi to the fest. i should add that, in prep for this trip--since i had packed for hot weather and leisure--rabidkitten ran me to a JC Penney store to buy a dress shirt, tie, and shoes (i had sufficient trouserage).
so i get to Albany International Airport and immediately learn that all flights to Chicago are massively delayed by monster storms earlier that day (must ha' been the same system that trounced St. Kaflooey)--and of course my connection en route to Houston is in Chicago. i'm told my flight will be delayed 4 hours, but an earlier flight currently en route Chicago to Albany may have room, so i am put on standby. "10th on the list" the ticket agent tells me. i wait the 2 hours for that flight to arrive, deplane, and fill up. the gatekeeper calls about 25 names, none of which belong to me and most of which eagerly appear with bid smiles and standby boarding passes. meanwhile, my plane's departure time has slipped another 20 minutes. at this point i'm envisioning getting to Chicago only to learn that there are no more flights to Houston that night, missing the Friday morning meeting anyway, and being stuck in Chicago instead of the folkfest. so i call my boss and say, simply, "I'm not going." i explain why, and she tells me she and i have both recently received an email with instructions on how to join the bidder's conference by dial-in. big sigh, half of relief, half of exasperation: why the FUCK didn't you tell us that to begin with?
so i finish up the work i need to get done in the airport business center, then go to formalize my travel cancellation at the United ticket counter. fine: my travel is canceled; it was fully refundable, so yay. only trouble? they put my motherfucking bag on the plane for which i was on standby but was not allowed to get on. WHY, in this age of technological marvels, are airlines still fucking up the luggage game? why why why? why in the blistering FUCK would they not have mechanisms that would automatically prevent them from loading my luggage onto a plane that i was not getting on? why can't this (trying to be helpful) person at the ticket counter tell me whether they can intercept the bag in Chicago or whether it will necessarily go on to Houston? argh!
so there went ALL my toiletries, my meds (HCTZ for hypertension, Welbutrin for (at least) psychosomatic tobacco-pang relief, two antivirals for HBV), my pillow, and two books i'm reading. poof.
i head to the ground transit area of the airport and hire a taxi to the tune of $120 to take me to Hillsdale, NY. we follow instructions rabid had printed from Yahoo maps--which were technically accurate but, well, MIGHT rustic. "you know, it's our policy that roads have to be paved" my cabbie says, but what's he going to do anyway. i have no other notion how to get to the fest. he's actually very personable and intent on getting me where i'm going; i wish i could throw a couple more bucks at him, but i'm utterly cashfree at this point. so now i'm here, but it's a new festsite, so i have no idea wherebxiie will have set up the big top. i stand in line, hand over my ticket, get my all-fest-plus-camping wristlet, grab a program, and start hunting. lower pasture? nope. upper pasture? that was actually my first gues for where bx would set us up, but nope. 10-acre camping? upper ledge? lower ledge? nope nope nope. Camp Smegma is planted at the far edge of civilization in the 15-acre camping field (a location that sparked mixed feelings among campers, but all in all, a pretty good place to be). i surprise the campers that expected me to be en route to Houston, immediately crack a beer, set up my tent, etc.
i had been instructed to call at noon Friday about the luggage. i waited until Saturday morning and, after the automated system told me they had no idea where my luggage was and after a 20- minute wait, i spoke to a real human who said my bag was in Chicago and I should call back later that day. later that day, my phone died, and i didn't bother to seek out payphonage. turns out i needn't have anyway: my bag didn't arrive back at Albany until after i had left withgeckospot and unxkbos and writergurl91to head home. when i did get home Sunday night there was a voicemail waiting on my cell that said my luggage was in Albany and did i still want it delivered or would i pick it up? i called back monday afternoon and, after the automated system told me they had no idea where my luggage was and after a 7-minute wait, i spoke to a real human that could not understand why i had not completed a baggage claim report at my destination. i explained repeatedly. finally, finally, finally, after 15 minutes of conversation she located the computer record of all that had gone before. i explained i was back home in Washington, DC and would they please send it on there. she said they would.
this morning at 8:xx a.m. i got a call from a delivery person who brusquely told me he had a bag for me from United Airline and can he drop it off. sure thing, i say. i have my bag back now.
so in the middle of my so-called but not-quite vacation last week, i was working in
bxiie's office, where he's set up his business, DIvergent Technology. I promised my boss i would work while away, at least during Monday through midday Thursday, July 17 through 20. bxiie very kindly set me up with my own workspace and i put in some long hours Monday and Tuesday, just to prove i wasn't kidding, was willing and able to work while away, etc. but during this time a proposal comes along that my company wants to bid on, and my boss wants me to be the proposal manager. no problem there, until it turns out there's a bidders' conference in Houston on Friday morning, July 21--on which date I'm supposed to be camped already at Falcon Ridge listening to music &c. so after give-and-take discussions with my boss, it turns out some bigwigs think i should go, so on Wednesday i book travel through the company travel agent: Albany, NY to Houston on Thursday afternoon (rabidkitten graciously agreed to drop me off on the way to the fest), returning to Albany Friday afternoon-night, thence to taxi to the fest. i should add that, in prep for this trip--since i had packed for hot weather and leisure--rabidkitten ran me to a JC Penney store to buy a dress shirt, tie, and shoes (i had sufficient trouserage).so i get to Albany International Airport and immediately learn that all flights to Chicago are massively delayed by monster storms earlier that day (must ha' been the same system that trounced St. Kaflooey)--and of course my connection en route to Houston is in Chicago. i'm told my flight will be delayed 4 hours, but an earlier flight currently en route Chicago to Albany may have room, so i am put on standby. "10th on the list" the ticket agent tells me. i wait the 2 hours for that flight to arrive, deplane, and fill up. the gatekeeper calls about 25 names, none of which belong to me and most of which eagerly appear with bid smiles and standby boarding passes. meanwhile, my plane's departure time has slipped another 20 minutes. at this point i'm envisioning getting to Chicago only to learn that there are no more flights to Houston that night, missing the Friday morning meeting anyway, and being stuck in Chicago instead of the folkfest. so i call my boss and say, simply, "I'm not going." i explain why, and she tells me she and i have both recently received an email with instructions on how to join the bidder's conference by dial-in. big sigh, half of relief, half of exasperation: why the FUCK didn't you tell us that to begin with?
so i finish up the work i need to get done in the airport business center, then go to formalize my travel cancellation at the United ticket counter. fine: my travel is canceled; it was fully refundable, so yay. only trouble? they put my motherfucking bag on the plane for which i was on standby but was not allowed to get on. WHY, in this age of technological marvels, are airlines still fucking up the luggage game? why why why? why in the blistering FUCK would they not have mechanisms that would automatically prevent them from loading my luggage onto a plane that i was not getting on? why can't this (trying to be helpful) person at the ticket counter tell me whether they can intercept the bag in Chicago or whether it will necessarily go on to Houston? argh!
so there went ALL my toiletries, my meds (HCTZ for hypertension, Welbutrin for (at least) psychosomatic tobacco-pang relief, two antivirals for HBV), my pillow, and two books i'm reading. poof.
i head to the ground transit area of the airport and hire a taxi to the tune of $120 to take me to Hillsdale, NY. we follow instructions rabid had printed from Yahoo maps--which were technically accurate but, well, MIGHT rustic. "you know, it's our policy that roads have to be paved" my cabbie says, but what's he going to do anyway. i have no other notion how to get to the fest. he's actually very personable and intent on getting me where i'm going; i wish i could throw a couple more bucks at him, but i'm utterly cashfree at this point. so now i'm here, but it's a new festsite, so i have no idea where
bxiie will have set up the big top. i stand in line, hand over my ticket, get my all-fest-plus-camping wristlet, grab a program, and start hunting. lower pasture? nope. upper pasture? that was actually my first gues for where bx would set us up, but nope. 10-acre camping? upper ledge? lower ledge? nope nope nope. Camp Smegma is planted at the far edge of civilization in the 15-acre camping field (a location that sparked mixed feelings among campers, but all in all, a pretty good place to be). i surprise the campers that expected me to be en route to Houston, immediately crack a beer, set up my tent, etc.i had been instructed to call at noon Friday about the luggage. i waited until Saturday morning and, after the automated system told me they had no idea where my luggage was and after a 20- minute wait, i spoke to a real human who said my bag was in Chicago and I should call back later that day. later that day, my phone died, and i didn't bother to seek out payphonage. turns out i needn't have anyway: my bag didn't arrive back at Albany until after i had left with
geckospot and unxkbos and writergurl91to head home. when i did get home Sunday night there was a voicemail waiting on my cell that said my luggage was in Albany and did i still want it delivered or would i pick it up? i called back monday afternoon and, after the automated system told me they had no idea where my luggage was and after a 7-minute wait, i spoke to a real human that could not understand why i had not completed a baggage claim report at my destination. i explained repeatedly. finally, finally, finally, after 15 minutes of conversation she located the computer record of all that had gone before. i explained i was back home in Washington, DC and would they please send it on there. she said they would.this morning at 8:xx a.m. i got a call from a delivery person who brusquely told me he had a bag for me from United Airline and can he drop it off. sure thing, i say. i have my bag back now.
