I knew I hated to travel, even aside from (and even before) the TSA made things worse.<\/p>\n
I am stranded in the Miami airport. I arrived here with — so I thought — plenty of time to board my connecting flight to Parts Unknown. But no … the online company that ticketed me set me up with “only” an hour and 45 minutes between my arrival and my scheduled departure. Turns out that I must check in<\/i> two hours before the flight or no go.<\/p>\n
(Yes, I knew about the recommendation to arrive early at the airport very early for international flights. That’s why I was at the first airport three hours before departure this morning. Nobody — and certainly not the company that ticketed me — ever mentioned that I should have three or four hours between connecting flights.)<\/p>\n
So anyhow, I spent an hour rushing back and forth between U.S. carrier A and foreign carrier B — who are located in far corners of the terminal — with each of them passing the problem off on the other until finally a helpful woman at A put me in touch with a supervisor at B, who helped me with a new, strictly stand-by booking for tomorrow morning.<\/p>\n
I couldn’t really blame them for passing the buck. Neither airline was at fault. Both ended up being helpful.<\/p>\n
But then things got even crappier.<\/p>\n
Foreign carrier B. gave me a certificate for a Marriott Courtyard hotel. I would have to pay (“merely” 80 bucks), but he checked room availabilities and sent me out to wait for a shuttle. In the next half hour I flagged down three<\/i> Marriot Courtyard shuttles — only to have the driver of each tell me (in one case extremely rudely) that his vehicle didn’t go to that<\/i> Marriot Courtyard. There are apparently seven different Marriot Courtyards whose shuttles fly by here.<\/p>\n
But the one for my<\/i> Marriot Courtyard never did.<\/p>\n
So I went in and explained the situation to U.S. carrier A, who gave me a certificate — same terms, I pay, but they guarantee room availability, to a Howard Johnson’s. Even cheaper. Merely 70 bucks. Oh good. And shuttles arrive every 15 minutes or so.<\/p>\n
Nearly an hour later, a Howard Johnson’s shuttle finally pulled up. I checked. Yes. Right Howard Johnson’s.<\/p>\n
Less than 200 yards later, the driver pulled over, made a call on his cellphone — and there we continued to sit 15 minutes later. Not moving. And with loud rap music blasting out of two speakers on either side of me.<\/p>\n
I got out. Walked back to the terminal. And here I am. The air conditioning is blasting and I’m colder than I’ve been in my little trailer in the high desert. Back there, there are blankets, sleeping bags, and heaters. Here, only a cotton and silk tropical wardrobe. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay $70 and put up with another hour of waiting for a shuttle just to have a few hours in a bed.<\/p>\n
To top it all off, this damned, wretched, unfriendly airport doesn’t even have free wifi. Nor does any business within it. Oh, but if I stay at the one hotel that’s actually within the terminal — for a “mere” $175 a night, I can get wifi there. <\/p>\n
Yeah. Exactly. Like I’m gonna do that.<\/p>\n
Instead I paid 10 bucks for a month of wifi from a private company. It seems to work, though the airport system it’s riding on cuts me off every half hour.<\/p>\n
The good news is that there are now only 11-1\/2 hours of sitting here freezing my arse off before I can check in, and only another 2-1\/2 after that before I’ll know whether I’ll actually be on that flight. Oh, and only one more TSA probing before I get where I’m going. And the “security” lines here are something beyond worst nightmares.<\/p>\n
Did I mention that there were reasons I hated traveling?<\/p>\n
Thanks for bearing with me through this rant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I knew I hated to travel, even aside from (and even before) the TSA made things worse. I am stranded in the Miami airport. I arrived here with — so I thought — plenty of time to board my connecting flight to Parts Unknown. But no … the online company that ticketed me set me up with “only” an hour and 45 minutes between my arrival and my scheduled departure. Turns out that I must check in two hours before the flight or no go. (Yes, I knew about the recommendation to arrive early at the airport very early for…<\/p>\n