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Air Travel Annoyances

  • Aug. 15th, 2007 at 1:17 PM
Me at the Getty
Air travel has become a bit of a pain these days... don't get me wrong, I still love to fly... and my travel hiccups last week were nothing compared to what some people have been through... but it was still a hassle. Fortunately, everything turned out for the best - I actually got what I wanted all along... so I can't complain.

Anyway, when I travel for the military, my travel is purchased and paid for by the government under the city-pair program. For a given city pair, there is a pre-contracted airline/fare combo. This usually works out fine, since the airline I prefer (American) has the contract for most routes I fly out of Boston (BOS). Things didn't work out that way for my current trip to St. Louis (STL), however. The contract between BOS and STL is American for $609 each way... but the contract between Providence (PVD), just an hour south of Boston, and STL is American for $138 each way. It's pretty obvious why my travel arranger insisted I fly out of PVD, and I didn't really mind... even though BOS would have been much more convenient.

Anyway, I got to PVD at 5:40p for my 6:40p flight, used the kiosk to check in, but don't see anyone available to check my bag. I usually have a "never check luggage" rule, but fora 2-week trip, with 3 different uniforms, I had no choice.

Anyway, I finally notice a crudely made sign on the counter noting that agents are only available for check-in until 5:30 pm. Feeling a bit stranded, I catch the attention of another airline's agent, who offers to page an American (technically American Eagle - AE) rep for me. After 2 pages, he disappears behind a door... and emerges a few minutes later to tell me that he's called around, and found an AE agent at the gate who will come tag my bag for me. When the agent arrives, she points out that they only staff the counter until 5:30 (gestures to the sign), but that she'll "make an exception" for me.

I make my way to the gate, and wait as my flight time gets delayed several times. When I see that I won't make my connection in Chicago, I call reservations for some help. They talk about me getting stranded in Chicago, and confirming me on the first flight to STL from there in the morning... but I suggest an alternative - a direct flight from BOS to STL in the morning (exactly what I wanted all along, right?). When they tell me that's kosher, I ask them to switch my return, since I won't have my car waiting for me at PVD anymore. She makes that happen, and I'm all set. The only catch was that I would need to retrieve my bag at PVD before heading home for the night. No big deal, right?

Well, there's no one at the gate to ask about my bag, and I already know there's nobody at the ticket counter, so I leave the secure area and head to baggage claim. Turns out, AE doesn't have a baggage office @ PVD. I go back to the ticket counter, and ask the other airline agent if he can try to get the AE rep on the phone again. He's unsuccessful. I ask the information booth to page AE for me... 2 pages, no response. Finally, I call reservations for their help - but all they could do was insist that I hadn't looked hard enough for the baggage office, and then put me on hold to call the phone number they had on file for said office. After 5 or so minutes, she comes back and tells me that "oddly enough, nobody answered!"

I eventually had to go back through security, and wait around at the gate for someone to show up. Theagent (same one I dealt with earlier) finally arrived. I explained the situation, she made a phone call, then told me to go wait at carousel 3, where my bag would arrive in "5-10 minutes." After about 20 minutes, I realize that nobody is going to make an extra trip from the gate to baggage for me, and that my bag will get to the carousel along with the bags from the delayed inbound flight. (That's what happened - another half hour later)

I generally am a pretty happy flier. I roll with the punches when flights get delayed, canceled, etc. AA certainly did their part... I got to my ticketed destination, later than planned, but certainly within a reasonable time given the weather issues. However, I am really disappointed at the complete lack of any service (good, bad, or otherwise) available at PVD. It seems to me that so long as there are inbound or outbound AE flights still running, they should have someone accessible to customers on either side of security checkpoint. It also seems absurd that they only staff the ticket counter until 5:30 when they have a 6:40 scheduled daily departure, which obviously gets delayed at times.

Oh well. Like I said, I got where I was headed only slightly later than planned... was able to cancel my hotel room for the missed night here... and I get to fly home to my own city, rather than have an hour drive when I land.

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Channel 4... what have you done to me?

  • Jan. 22nd, 2007 at 10:49 PM
Me at the Getty
So, I might have already mentioned (or maybe I didn't) that EVERYONE here has been talking about the scandal on Big Brother. Are people in the US talking about this? It's EVERYWHERE here. It's been on the front page of the Irish Times and the Irish Independent every day... and featured on BBC News and Sky News regularly. It's ridiculous... but the publicity is great for the show... and I've been sucked in. I have been watching the show, "just to find out what the row is all about." Oh yeah, I'm hooked. Fortunately, I don't think it's available back home, so I can't stay hooked.

Today was a good day. Got LOTS of work done at the hospital. Went into town to get a pint and a burger and met some cool kids at the bar. Now I'm back at the hotel, about to go to bed. I have a few extra postcard stamps... last chance!

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My Goodness, My Guinness!

  • Jan. 21st, 2007 at 5:10 PM
Me at the Getty
Well, I had a fairly productive day, given the fact that I didn't roll my tired & lazy ass out of bed until nearly noon!

Last night, I ended up getting to Davy Byrne's too late for dinner (everyone around here is totally done serving food much earlier than back home), so I went back to the hotel and got a quick dinner before going back out. I ended up at some pub and had a few drinks... it was actually a lot like going out on a Saturday night back home. Nothing terribly exciting, but still a good time.

I got back to the room and fell sound asleep by about 1am... and didn't wake up (as mentioned above) until nearly noon. I needed the sleep, apparently.

So today, I packed up my things at the Westin (I was only staying downtown two nights - tonight it's back up to the outskirts of town to go back to work)... checked my luggage with the concierge, and made my way back to Davy Byrne's Pub. I did my best to not be an obnoxious American tourist... but managed to get in to the shot of a group of film school students making a movie there. As soon as I saw the camera rolling, I played it casual and tried to blend in. They thanked me profusely for not looking into the camera... and it turns out that I'll probably end up as an extra in some student project that nobody will ever see. Go me! Anyway, lunch was tasty, and it felt pretty cool to be sitting in the pub that Leopold Bloom sat it (at least in a fictional sense). It's sorta like going to the Life Cafe in NYC...

Anyway, after lunch, I walked to the Guinness Storehouse where I took the tour of their museum... apparently, they actually made the stuff at that building for nearly 90 years, but they moved the brewery next door and turned the place into a museum. It was a good time, and my admission included a pint at their 7th floor bar with panoramic views of the city.

Now, I'm walking back towards the Westin to pick up my bags before going back out to my other hotel... either by bus or by cab... not sure which yet. Either way, the Internet access at my hotel is so expensive (€7/hour!) so I stopped at a little Internet and call shop on my way. For only €1, I get an hour on a computer. Not too bad... although it's kinda funny how everyone around me seems to be young kids from elsewhere in Europe checking their e-mail, myspaces, and LJs!

Anyway - tomorrow morning it's back to work... I've got a long day ahead of me at the hospital... I might come back downtown on the bus after work... since there's not much to do near where I'm staying... but maybe not. Tuesday should be a pretty easy day at work... just wrapping up and shipping things back home... although that might take a bit more than I expect it to. Wednesday I have a 2pm flight to London, then a 6pm flight to Boston... I'm going to get to the airport first thing in the morning and see if I can standby for the 7am flight and spend the day exploring London. Technically, it's not allowed, but I might be able to sweet talk the Aer Lingus folks into letting me do it, right?

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Trip so far...

  • Jan. 20th, 2007 at 8:28 PM
Me at the Getty
So... let's see.... trip so far...

Getting to London was pretty easy... my plan to be totally exhausted and sleep most of the way over worked out pretty well. Not quite a full night's sleep, but I was out before they even did the "how to wear your seatbelt" presentation. Landing in London was pretty windy and choppy, but overall not too bad. As I posted before, the connection at Heathrow was really great, thanks to the hospitality of the British Airways Terraces Lounge.

Getting to Dublin was a bit more of a challenge, however. By the time we got across to Ireland, the wind was gusting at over 60 knots. As we began our descent, it started to get EXTREMELY turbulent... We approached the landing runway... and it got even choppier... so much so that at about 100 feet (my estimate, really), the pilot aborted the landing, hit the throttle, and we were climbing again. He came on the PA and told us that he was going to circle around try again... but that if we couldn't land on the second try, we would have to divert to Belfast! The second time was just as windy and choppy, but I think the pilot was more determined... and we touched down (very smoothly, actually). Instead of a Jet-Way, they drove an Air Stair up to the plane, and warned us that it was VERY windy so we should be careful as we walked down. You have NO IDEA how windy it really was. I had to grip that handrail SO tightly the whole way down... and once I got to tarmac, I nearly got blown over several times... once I actually had to push myself back up with my hand!

Anyway, once we were finally safe and sound in the Dublin airport, we got the exciting news that it was too windy to open the cargo hold doors - so none of the planes were offloading checked luggage. For several hours! After about an hour and a half, I was finally able to make a report so that they could deliver my suitcase (I had to break my "never check luggage" rule since I had so much work stuff with me), then my boss and I took a taxi to the hospital where we're working. Despite being pretty tired and jet-lagged, we got a lot done at work (Beaumont Hospital) on Thursday and checked into our hotel.

As it turns out, the Express by Holiday Inn - Dublin Airport is quite a nice place for only €75/night. I didn't get a chance to take any pictures of it, but I will when I'm back there Monday-Wednesday. So anyway, they have these keycard readers INSIDE the rooms at most hotels here - you have to put your key in to activate the lights and climate control. It's a pretty cool concept, no way to waste power once you're gone. But, I didn't realize how it worked... so I dipped my keycard in, which activated the lights for about 60 seconds. I got all settled in, and it went dark! Anyway, I figured out how it worked eventually.

Thursday night, my boss and I went to dinner at Kealy's Roadhouse, a pretty nice place not far from our hotel. Friday, I was back at the hospital... the boss gave a talk to the med school faculty and students... and I enrolled a family into our research study. My boss headed back to Boston, and I finished up the day at work.

After work on Friday, rather than pay €20 for a taxi, I took the bus (€1.60) to my "weekend" hotel downtown. Since I had a two "free nights" saved up with Starwood that are set to expire in February, I figured I'd spoil myself over the weekend and stay at the Westin Dublin... OMG NICE HOTEL! I had about enough energy left to explore the city a bit on foot, and pick up a few munchies at Spar convenience store. By the time I got back to the hotel, and had my snacks, I was ready to take a shower and call it a night. I slept like a baby in the Westin Heavenly Bed.

Today (Saturday) was quite productive: I got back to my posh room at the Westin and took a much needed (and slightly longer than planned) nap... I just woke up and took a shower, and now I'm off to Davy Byrne's Pub... usual hangout of James Joyce and one of his most famous characters, Leopold Bloom. I probably won't get a Gorgonzola sandwich and glass of Burgundy, though.

After that, I'll probably walk over and check out the night life at Temple Bar (not to be confused with Temple Bar back home (anyone detecting a pattern here? I could also check out the Landsdowne Road Stadium - not to be confused with the street behind Fenway Park, Landsdowne Street")

Anyway, I'm off to have more fun!

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Quick Ireland Update

  • Jan. 19th, 2007 at 7:03 PM
Me at the Getty
Expect a real update soon... but here's a quickie.

First, if you feel like running up a huge international long distance bill (or get good rates to Ireland), feel free to call me. I don't think my phone here gets charged for incoming calls! +353 087 320-7027

Second, I want to send people postcards, but I don't have anyone's addresses here. I'm only downtown through Sunday evening, so if you want a postcard (of course you do!) leave your mailing address in a comment. They'll be screened for your privacy.

I'm off to explore the city!

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So Civilised!

  • Jan. 18th, 2007 at 2:26 AM
Me at the Getty
So, instead of getting off my overnight trans-Atlantic flight flight feeling yucky and gross and waiting for my next flight in uncomfortable airport furniture feeling stinkier and stinkier by the minute... I am enjoying the hospitality of the British Airways Terraces Lounge here at London Heathrow Airport, including posh shower suites, a very nice breakfast buffet, all of the top-shelf liquors at the self-service bar, and comfortable furniture overlooking the tarmac. I think I blogged about getting Platinum status on American Airlines a while back... let me just say, that it was totally worth the trouble, even if only for this one chance to use the lounge. The other benefits are nice (being able to "guest" my boss through the premium check-in, premium security lines, and the lounges, too was a nice touch)... but this is the one that really makes me feel like I'm spoiling myself! Unfortunately, my lounge privileges are only in effect when I travel outside of North America... so I'll have to take a few more international trips! Also, the British Airways lounge here puts the American Airlines lounge in Boston to shame.

Okay, I only bought an hour and a half of internet time (£6? Yikes, that's like 12 dollars!) to split between my connection here today and again next week... so I'll be going now.

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It's OVER!!!!!

  • Jan. 16th, 2007 at 9:10 PM
Me at the Getty
So, Fall 2006 was hardly a good semester for me, but I'll say one nice thing about it... it's OVER!

My final exam tonight (Proteomics) turned out to be long, tedious, and difficult... but that made it just like the midterm, and what we were all expecting. Also, unlike the exam last week, several topics covered on the practice exam actually appeared on the actual exam... in fact, several questions were the same. Of course, he didn't give us an answer key for the practice exam for that very reason... and even with our notes, textbooks, etc. many of us didn't have complete answers for the practice questions... but either way, he knows that his exams are long and difficult, and grades (and curves) accordingly. I'm not terribly worried.

Now, if there's any way I passed the exam last week, I might really be okay with this semester.

So, tonight I stay up all night, for several reasons:
  • I have a meeting a 7:30 tomorrow morning. I don't make it to 7:30 am meetings unless I've been up all night. Yes, for those of you keeping track, I'm back to that total lack of ability to wake up in the morning... but that might change soon (keep reading!)
  • I am leaving for a weeklong business trip tomorrow (to Ireland! HOW COOL, RITE?!!!111oneone) and haven't started packing.
  • In addition to not having started packing, I need to do laundry (w00t 24 hour laundromats!) for the trip.
  • I have a 6 hour overnight trans-atlantic flight at 7:10pm tomorrow night. There's NO way I will be able to sleep at that early hour unless I stay up all night tonight. If I'm exhausted from being awake for so long, I'll sleep most the entire trip. Hooray for earplugs, inflatable neck pillows, and being short enough to fit reasonably comfortably in a coach seat. Let's hope I don't drool on my boss.


The one nice thing about traveling to Ireland and back is that if I adjust to Ireland time, when I get back home, I'll be 5 hours early for everything. Seeing as how I already like to fall asleep at about 4am and wake up at about 11am, that should put me on some quasi-normal schedule, right? Eh? Maybe? Pipe dream much?

Also, whoever last used this computer (I'm at the computer lab at school) visited [info]b0st0n. It was still up on the screen. I swear, this spring I'm finally going to pull off my "everyone wears their LJ username today" event... I'm sure I pass other LJers on the street every day!

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First Class, Baby!

  • Sep. 28th, 2006 at 1:53 PM
Me at the Getty
So I just flew from Boston to San Francisco (en route to Eureka/Arcada Airport)... and since I have some frequent flyer miles in my United account that I'll probably never use for a free flight, I decided to use some to upgrade myself to First Class... it was my first flight EVER in first, and I have to say, it was awesome. Not worth the price difference to PAY for the more expensive ticket... but I think if I had to choose between using 15,000 miles to upgrade a ticket to first and using 25,000 miles to get a free round trip... I'd take the upgrade. Usually I can find cheap fares where I want to go, and those reward tickets have so many limitations on them that I usually can't use them anyway.

Anyway - so this first class experience... it felt so CIVILIZED compared to coach. First off, the seat was much wider with a LOT more legroom... granted, I'm short and (sorta) thin, so I CAN fit into a coach seat easily... but for 6 hours and 24 minutes, it sure is nice to be able to move around and stretch out without getting out of my seat. Also, the recline is MUCH lower on the seats in first... so I really was able to sleep without feeling like I was sitting painfully upright.

Okay... so that was the furniture... but what really felt great was the service... in coach, there are usually some 80 passengers and 3 flight attendants. In first, there were 20 passengers and 2 flight attendants... I had my first glass of orange juice about 60 seconds after I sat down, and had time to finish it before they closed the cabin doors. They draped a cloth napkin over my tray table before serving me a real breakfast on real dishes with real silverware (except for the knife, which was plastic)... everything was walked to our seats on trays, no sign of that trolley that blocks the aisle in coach.

While I enjoyed my egg frittata (with potatoes, and fresh fruit on the side), a flight attendant came around and offered me an assortment of breads (danish, croissant, bagel, etc), and more juice or water (served in real glasses, of course). After breakfast, I reclined my seat back for a good nap, then woke up to the smell of warm chocolate chip cookies... which were served with a glass of milk, of course!

In between the napping and eating, I managed to watch a movie (X-Men 3) and get about half of this week's reading done for my Nationalism class. At least I made the most of my 6+ hours in the air.

I have to say, the whole experience was a bit surreal, especially since 100% of my air travel up to this point has been in coach. I'll have to try to do this again sometime... I have elite status on American Airlines... plus I get frequent flyer miles every time I use my credit card... so I should be able to upgrade without paying every once in a while. Unfortunately, coach will never be the same again now that I've seen the other side of that damn curtain!

Anyway, it's almost time to board the flight to Eureka... definitely the furthest north in California I'll have ever been. Once I get in, I drive to Willow Creek, then to Redding where I'll stay tonight. Tomorrow I drive down to Sacramento... Sunday I fly back to Boston... and get in just in time to get home and change for Kol Nidre (I hope!)

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Nothing to see here...

  • Sep. 15th, 2006 at 10:42 AM
Me at the Getty
Not a whole lot going on this week... although the past few weeks have been crazy busy. Funny how the more things I have going on, the more I want to record them here, but the less time I have to do so, so the less likely they are to be recorded. (uh... that was dizzying)

Anyway, I was in NJ the weekend of Aug 25-27 for Jeff & Blair's wedding. The whole weekend started off on Thursday night when I finally got to see [info]Fiona... I had owed her dinner for somethin like a year! Hopefully I'll get a chance to see her in London sometime this fall... that is, if I ever get this work trip to Dublin scheduled, and if I can take a few extra days to isle hop. Anyway, after dinner, I finally got to meet JuJu's beau (after hearing about him for months), although it was unfortunate that JuJu wasn't around to hang out too. Finally, we met up with [info]Dinah and I got a chance to wish her a happy birthday. Woo hoo!

Anyway, so Friday was the "quality time with the parents" day - which went pretty smoothly. I think 5 hours is about the right amount of time to spend with my parents before things devolve into violent chaos. Speaking of chaos, they took me to this new Mexican restaurant they like... the food was great, but there were about 14,500 young children in the place, all screaming. Also, my mom got a new car - I'm jealous:

(Stock photo from Lincoln - not actually my mother's car.)

Okay, so Friday night I drove over to the hotel where they were having the wedding, and checked in. Instead of the regular room I had booked, I was pleasantly surprised to find that all members of the wedding party had been upgraded to rooms in the hospitality suite. My room actually had its own conference room:

Not to mention the spacious bedroom or swanky bathroom:

Speaking of swanky, check out this tux that Jeff picked out for us groomsmen to wear:


So the wedding was a lot of fun... and a great experience to be a part of. Jeff and I realized that we've known each other for some 18 years... crazy, huh?

So anyway, I got back to Boston after the weekend in NJ... spent Monday at work, then left for Denver first thing Tuesday morning (Aug 29). The first 3 days of the trip were all business - I spent them at National Jewish Medical & Research Center getting them up and running on two of our research studies. I also got a chance to go down to Colorado Springs and see some old friends from when I spent a few months living there. Oh, Tejon Street and your silly bar scene, how I've missed you. But seriously, one of my favorite places, 32 Bleu, was gone, and Tequila's is now Vue... at least Phantom Canyon and Twin Peak are still there. I didn't have too much time to reminisce before the drama started. At the last minute, someone's boyfriend decided to join us on our bar-hopping... but totally disappeared several hours later in Rum Bay (Springs' own "8 bars in one" joint). We spent almost 2 hours looking for him... but eventually dropped his tipsy and crying girlfriend off at home without him. The rest of the trip was mostly uneventful...

I got home just in time to spend Sunday and Monday of Labor Day Weekend unpacking, catching up on laundry, and re-packing for my next trip.

Tuesday (Sep 5) I left for Florida... where I spent 2 days at the University of Florida in Gainesville getting them up and running on one of our studies... then driving to Melbourne and Ft. Lauderdale for study visits before coming home on Thursday afternoon (480 miles on the rental car in less than 3 days on the ground!).

I got back late Thursday night, with just enough time to get to bed so that I could wake up on Friday morning (Sep 8) for the CERFP exercise we had last weekend. The exercise went well, but when it's 88°F, and the sun is shining, it gets pretty damn hot in these suits:
(Stock photo from National Guard Bureau- not actually us.)

So that was last weekend... and then there was this week. Not really a lot going on this week... I'm hoping to finish reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest this weekend so that I can watch the movie (sitting in my apartment waiting for me a-la-Netflix). Once classes start next week, I won't have much time for leisure reading...

Hrm... it's 2:15 pm on Friday. I feel like calling it a week. Tonight I head down to the Cape for drill weekend (with a stop in Brockton on the way to see [info]Lindsay)... tomorrow will be crazy, but Sunday is family day so I'll probably get out early (and apparently the uniform of the day will be civvies!)

Long week of traveling...

  • Jun. 1st, 2006 at 7:40 PM
Me at the Getty
(warning, this is a long post that's mostly me whining about travel - it might be entertaining, but don't be surprised if after reading you realize that you've wasted 5 minutes of your life that you'll never get back)

Whew, this week is turning out to be pretty hectic... and it's only a few days old! Tuesday morning I started my work trip by flying to Kansas City... from there I drove north to a tiny little town in northwest Missouri (on a beautiful lake)... then after my stop there, I headed over to Columbia (CoMo, as it's sometimes called). In CoMo, I had a great recommendation to check out the Flat Branch Pub & Brewery, so I did... and it was good! I almost got some beer to go, since I have a bit of a trend of bringing home some not-available-in-Boston beer every time I travel. But I still had a few days to go, and no good way to bring the beer along with me. In CoMo, I found out that because I have Priority Club, I can check out of my hotel at 2pm instead of 11am... which was nice, since I didn't need to be on the road until about... well... 2.

Anyway, from CoMo I continued down to Jefferson City, where I had a great stop for work - for the most part everything went well, and the family I was visiting with were just all a lot of fun. The only problem was that there were so many people there (some participating in my study, some not) that everyone kept getting distracted, and what should have taken 4 hours took more like 6.

So I finally left at about 9pm for St Louis, meaning that after the 2+ hour drive, I wasn't going to have much time to get out and see St. Louis (boo!). Anyway, the drive took extra long since I hit the worst rainstorm I think I've ever driven through... at one point the rain was falling so hard I couldn't even see the lines on the road right in front of my headlights! Instead of 70 MPH on the interstate, we were all moving about 20. I almost started building an arc. Anyway, the rain stopped, and I finally got to my hotel in St. Louis at about 11:45.

Speaking of the hotel, in St. Louis, I stayed in what should have been the nicest hotel of my trip, and would have been, had it not for the elevator... the elevator had these 8 halogen lights on the ceiling which made the whole thing about 200 degrees... plus it smelled awful.

Anyway... this morning, I got up bright and early in St. Louis, with the intention of shipping some things back to the office and catching a 9:30 am flight. Well, the earliest FedEx in town (which I thought opened at 7:30) didn't open till 8:30... and there's no way I can get on the plane with the items that I needed to ship (they're diagnostic samples and such). So while waiting for FedEx to open, I called the airline and changed to a later flight... unfortunately there are only two flights a day from St. Louis to Paducah, and the next one wasn't until 3:40pm. So I had to call the people I was meeting with here in Tennessee to reschedule for first thing tomorrow morning instead of this afternoon.

So I finally get to Paducah... on a tiny little 18-seater plane piloted by two people who I swear couldn't have been older than 20 years old each... through a rain storm... which the two young pilots tried hard to avoid... but we still got tossed around a bunch. I get to the Airport - and I use that term loosely since it was officially the second smallest airport I've ever been to - and check in at the Avis rental counter. After waiting for about 25 minutes while the one woman working tries to find a missing car, it's finally my turn. I find out that my rental does not include unlimited mileage (which might be an issue since I'll be doing so much driving), and that this location doesn't even offer unlimited mileage reservations (or non-smoking cars). Anyway, I finally get in my stinky, dirty, smells-like-a-smoker's car, cigarettes and ashes still in the ashtray, car... and start the lovely drive (no sarcasm there, it really was a nice ride) to Union City, Tennessee. At one point, I stopped at a gas station and was convinced I'd find Drew and Lonny playing Dueling Banjos (25 bonus points if you know what that's from)...

Anyway, so I just checked into the Hampton Inn here in Union City... and can I please take a break from all of this whining to say that that Hampton Inn is my new favorite hotel chain. It's always reasonably priced for the market I'm in, the rooms are always clean, with nice furniture, and the extra touches are awesome... like a clock radio with stations pre-programmed by genre, a padded lap-board for getting work done while sitting in bed, and their way of making every printed piece of paper has one word in bold that makes it little bit more clever than anyone else: For example, instead of "do not disturb" the door tag says "Relaxing." There are even an assortment of pillows... one is firm, and has a card in front of it with hands holding an egg... another is soft, and on its card, the hands are holding a baby chick.

Anyway, two stops in Tennessee tomorrow morning, then I drive back to Paducah, drop packages off at FedEx, and start my 3-segment journey back to Boston. Woo hoo!

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