(no subject)
So I write all that forgetting the purpose of this journal entry. My Christmas vacation. It all started fairly uneventfully. I spent the night prior drinking beer with the magic man and watching skate videos. Woke up early Friday morning to do my laundry and pack for my trip. Kathy, of course, reminded me that I had promised to cook for her before I left. Ooops…thanks for the late reminder. So anyway I proceed to grill some chicken breasts that I had set to marinating two nights prior so I could make her favorite, chicken salad. I like to think that my recipe is best…but of course all my cooking is best. Heh. After a couple hours her chicken salad is done and storing away in the fridge, I get back to my journey preparations. What a long and slow morning that Friday was. It seems like 1300 came round so slowly. Was I actually anxious to go to the place I described above as hell on earth? I guess I was a bit misguided before I actually knew what I was getting into. 1300 rolls around and I head off to the Long Beach aero port to catch my 1430 flight to Atlanta, GA by way of Dallas/Ft. Worth. The check in was totally uneventful and with electronic self-check was a cinch. I settle into the terminal to await my flight only to learn it is going to be delayed. After double-checking my itinerary to see how long between landing in Dallas and my connecting flight I learn that I don’t have much time at all…great. All things perfect I was going to land in Atlanta at 2345, and now it looks as though I may not even get there before Christmas day. Joy. The plane arrives finally and I’m off to Dallas. The flight was perfectly fine and completely uneventful. I land in Dallas and see that I have only 25 minutes to make it to my connecting flight, which, it just so happens, is in a different terminal on the other side of the aero port. I notice that the American terminal in Dallas has a train that circles the entire aero port and which should get me to my gate in about 5 minutes. Whew I may still make it. I wait the allotted 2 minutes for the train to arrive and it never does. Finally a worker comes by and says he thinks the train is stopped and broken at the stop prior to the one I am waiting at…fucking hell. How is it on the busiest travel day of the year they can be so completely uncooperative. Anyway, after wasting 3 minutes or so I decide its time to walk all the way round the my departing gate. I was actually not feeling too bad about the whole thing as I was thinking that I could complain my way into either an upgrade or maybe at least some free booze on my flight for their error in making me late and miss my connection. When it comes to airlines a little creative complaining can go a long way. I head up the escalator to start my walk around the terminal and just as I hit the top I hear that same worker say, “Oh, here comes the train now.”
I immediately hustle back down the stairs and make it just in time to catch the train. As the train is circling around I’m wondering if I would prefer to be late and miss my flight and hope for free booze or if I would rather make the flight and just et the whole thing over with. Ah well…it really doesn’t matter one way or the other…both seem like perfectly fine options when I really think about it. I hear the little computer voice over the intercom state, in her monotone southern drawl that the C Terminal stop is coming up next. According to the map this is my stop. The train stops I get out, look around and notice that this is not my stop.
“Oh shit, I must have gotten off 1 stop too early, or maybe I read the map wrong”, I hink to myself. “No big deal, I’ll just hop back on the train and go 1 more stop.”
I knew that I had paid careful attention to each and every stop so I knew that it wasn’t a stop behind me. It had to be the very next stop. I hop back on the tram and take it 1 more stop down the like. I get off the train and look around. I’m right back where I started…concourse A. Thinking I was a complete dumb ass I look around and notice that al the others on the train with me are in the same predicament. The fucking tram completely skipped the stop we all needed. At this point I have only 10 minutes to get to my flight (leaves not boards) and I had about a 15-minute walk ahead of me. Pissed as all hell I start the trek around the aero port toward C27, my gate of departure. The whole walk over there I am planning exactly what I am going to say to make sure I can get the most possible out of the airline. After the long walk ‘round the terminal I finally get to the gate at about 10, maybe 15 minutes after the plane was supposed to have left the terminal, only to find that they just now started boarding. I was actually pissed. I had so worked myself up to getting free shit from the airline that I didn’t even want the plane to still be around. Now I actually have to get on my plane, with no free drinks, no perks, and STILL arrive in Atlanta late. Those stupid fuckers. I can’t believe they had it out for me this way. All my disappointment aside, I finally board my plane for Georgia. The flight itself was uneventful and I sleep through most of it. 2 hours or so later the plane touches down in Atlanta and I am spending my first ever time in the ‘dirty south’. It is 0030 Christmas morning, and I’m 45 minutes late. My mom and sister are there waiting to take me to my bed for the next 4 days. We hop in the car and a short hour later I’m lying on my sisters couch waiting for sleep to catch me.