It’s Official – I Hate Traveling
Early on in my career, I traveled a lot. I was proud of my premier exec status on United which you archived by flying over 50,000 miles in a year. Maintained that status for many years. It was a badge that us travel warriors wore proudly. I was also a savvy traveler. I made sure to take flights on planes that had to most upgradable seats to maximize my chances of sitting in business class or first class. I planned my hotel stays at the same hotel chain to acquire even more points. It was a lot of planning, but at the time, I thought it was fun. Boy how things have changed.
Over the last few years, I have lost all my status on United and I really don’t mind. I think I made one trip all of last year and that is just fine with me.
Unfortunately, I have recently become involved on a project ( using ApEx ) that has required me to again join the traveling world. Twice in the last two weeks I had to make a day trip from DC to Boston. Not the worst trip, but still not fun. Getting up at 4-4:30AM to make the 7AM from IAD to BOS and to get the 6:30PM back home is not my idea of a good time.
Not only am I losing out on my beauty sleep, on my most recent trip, I lost my suit coat. Yup, gone. Let me explain. I was on the 6:30PM out of BOS back into IAD. Delayed, of course, for 45+ minutes. Not horrible but not how you want to finish up your day which started at 4:30AM. So anyway, after we landed, all I wanted to do was get the hell off the plane, back to my car ( parked over a mile walk away ) and home. There was a glass of Merlot with my name on it there. Well, I’m not sure if I retrieved the wrong jacket out of the overhead bin first, or the other guy did, but somehow I wound up with the wrong coat. I carried it off the plane and all the way to the car. When I tossed it in the back seat, I noticed it looked a bit off. Then I noticed that it was a single breasted jacket while mine was a double breasted and the dark blue was a bit off from my pants. This coat had a half eaten pack of Mentos in it and I don’t even like Mentos.
Sign, what to do? Well I decided to walked back to the ticket counter ( probably another 1/3 mile ) which of course was closed. It was now 9:25PM, and it closed at 9PM. I could not get back to the gate since you can’t get through security without a boarding pass. So I went to the lost luggage department. After waiting in line for 15 minutes I finally spoke with someone. She called down to the gate, but nothing was found on the plane. So I left the jacket I had there with a note on it that if someone came to claim it, they would know how to get in contact with me to return my jacket. I waited around for 15-20 minutes in the hopes that the other party had discovered the mix up before going home but no luck.
So not only was my latest trip extra long ( I got home about 11:30 or so ), but I’m also out one blue suit. Anyway, if you happen to be the other person on this flight:
Flight/Equip.: Jetblue Airways Corp 1259 Airbus A320 Depart: Boston (BOS)/Wednesday July 30 6:30 pm Arrive: Washington (IAD)/Wednesday July 30 8:15 pm Stops: non-stop Miles:413 Class: Coach
or know was, contact me and we can each save hundreds of dollars replacing a dark blue suit.
“but at the time, I thought it was fun”
Bingo! Tell me about it!
Fully sympathize.
I think I’ve been on that flight, delayed, but I lost a bluetooth headset and a book. The Joy of flying.