I don't think I've ever been as annoyed with traveling as I am right now. The business part of the trip (politics aside) went very well. The equipment is working, the OR staff was retrained and are happy, the doctors no longer want my head on a pike…all is good. However, the last 18 hours of the trip were very, VERY frustrating. Let me step you through my ladder of stress and aggrevation (please bear with the pettiness of my complaining):
As I am leaving the hospital grounds in my "wonderful" rental car I come to the realization that the AC no longer works. This is slightly annoying seeing as how the humidity of the state hovers around 98% year round. And it's HOT to boot.
So I do what any normal person would do in this situation..I open the windows in the car. Not perfect (or cool) but at least I am no longer baking in the car. More on this in a minute
I stop for lunch at a chain restaurant. Not fast food mind you but an actual sit down place with wait staff and everything. As most of you know my tolerance for children under the age of 8 is very low. I don't know how to relate, deal with, or handle them. Even the ones I like puzzle me. Well, there was 5-7 year old boy who apparently thought that everyone in the building needed to hear him, and see him, and feel his presence. I didn't get his name but for the purposes of this discussion we will call him Hell Spawn. So, Hell Spawn decides that it's time to play "Duck, Duck, Goose" with EVERYONE! Strike One. His parents corral him (literally, they corned him) and sit him down. Then he starts with his T-Rex impression. Strike Two. Then comes the crying, Strike Three. I asked to be moved to the complete other side of the restaurant. Thankfully they do.
I pull out and start driving, suddenly the AC kicks back on. THANK YOU GOD!. So now I’m on the highway and I notice that the back passenger window has opened, Odd, since I closed them after the AC came on. So, I try to close it, but it won’t move. The motor is shot. All I hear is a whir and a click. So, I pull over and after a few minutes I realize that I can't fix it. So, being a guy I duct tape the window shut. Or so I thought. About 10 miles down the road the tape lets loose due to the heat of the sun. I re-tape and continue on my way. I made it to the hotel with only a few more stops for re-taping.
The next morning I left for the airport. After explaining the duct tape to the rental car person I was on my way. I got there with plenty of time to check in so time was not an enemy. However, the baggage inspector lady was. She had me open my equipment case and quizzed me on EVERYTHING. This happens every once and a while but I still always enjoy watching their face when I describe how this stuff is used. After that she critiqued my packing materials. [It’s important to note that the materials I used for packing the equipment were the same for both the arrival flight on Sunday and the return flight on Thursday.] Apparently packing peanuts are not allowed on flights, something about them bursting into flame or something. This was a shock to me since on the flight down nobody mentioned this to me. That and UPS and FedEx allow them for use in Overnight Air packages that I’ve sent in the past. In fact, it’s the first airport that every told me this. So, I had to empty all the peanuts out.
I then asked if they had anything to replace the peanuts with. I figured I couldn’t have been the first person to have this problem. She said they didn’t have anything but gave me the option of using my clothes. Gee, thanks. So, after I "repackaged" everything I asked if they offered insurance on luggage seeing as how the case contained $50,000 worth of equipment being cushioned by my socks. Again, no. So, I shut the case (which is a Pelican case, made to military standards for shock and such) and shut all 7 latches. This thing won't open on its own, but she decides that I need to add the scotch tape with the airline name on it. At this point I don’t even care anymore. I do what I’m told and head for the security gate.
Thankfully the rest of the trip was uneventful but needless to say I will not be looking forward to my next trip for fear that the travel boogie man will attack again…sigh
As I am leaving the hospital grounds in my "wonderful" rental car I come to the realization that the AC no longer works. This is slightly annoying seeing as how the humidity of the state hovers around 98% year round. And it's HOT to boot.
So I do what any normal person would do in this situation..I open the windows in the car. Not perfect (or cool) but at least I am no longer baking in the car. More on this in a minute
I stop for lunch at a chain restaurant. Not fast food mind you but an actual sit down place with wait staff and everything. As most of you know my tolerance for children under the age of 8 is very low. I don't know how to relate, deal with, or handle them. Even the ones I like puzzle me. Well, there was 5-7 year old boy who apparently thought that everyone in the building needed to hear him, and see him, and feel his presence. I didn't get his name but for the purposes of this discussion we will call him Hell Spawn. So, Hell Spawn decides that it's time to play "Duck, Duck, Goose" with EVERYONE! Strike One. His parents corral him (literally, they corned him) and sit him down. Then he starts with his T-Rex impression. Strike Two. Then comes the crying, Strike Three. I asked to be moved to the complete other side of the restaurant. Thankfully they do.
I pull out and start driving, suddenly the AC kicks back on. THANK YOU GOD!. So now I’m on the highway and I notice that the back passenger window has opened, Odd, since I closed them after the AC came on. So, I try to close it, but it won’t move. The motor is shot. All I hear is a whir and a click. So, I pull over and after a few minutes I realize that I can't fix it. So, being a guy I duct tape the window shut. Or so I thought. About 10 miles down the road the tape lets loose due to the heat of the sun. I re-tape and continue on my way. I made it to the hotel with only a few more stops for re-taping.
The next morning I left for the airport. After explaining the duct tape to the rental car person I was on my way. I got there with plenty of time to check in so time was not an enemy. However, the baggage inspector lady was. She had me open my equipment case and quizzed me on EVERYTHING. This happens every once and a while but I still always enjoy watching their face when I describe how this stuff is used. After that she critiqued my packing materials. [It’s important to note that the materials I used for packing the equipment were the same for both the arrival flight on Sunday and the return flight on Thursday.] Apparently packing peanuts are not allowed on flights, something about them bursting into flame or something. This was a shock to me since on the flight down nobody mentioned this to me. That and UPS and FedEx allow them for use in Overnight Air packages that I’ve sent in the past. In fact, it’s the first airport that every told me this. So, I had to empty all the peanuts out.
I then asked if they had anything to replace the peanuts with. I figured I couldn’t have been the first person to have this problem. She said they didn’t have anything but gave me the option of using my clothes. Gee, thanks. So, after I "repackaged" everything I asked if they offered insurance on luggage seeing as how the case contained $50,000 worth of equipment being cushioned by my socks. Again, no. So, I shut the case (which is a Pelican case, made to military standards for shock and such) and shut all 7 latches. This thing won't open on its own, but she decides that I need to add the scotch tape with the airline name on it. At this point I don’t even care anymore. I do what I’m told and head for the security gate.
Thankfully the rest of the trip was uneventful but needless to say I will not be looking forward to my next trip for fear that the travel boogie man will attack again…sigh
posted by Jason at 10:51 AM
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