Then there was this other time when I arrived back from a trip to find myself without transportation at the airport.
The snow was high, the weather inclement, the visibility nonexistent, the shuttles not running, no taxis, no rental cars, nothing.
Every time I traveled, I parked my car at the long-term parking lot at the airport; this time, because of the inclement weather, there was no bus to the long-term parking lot. Without a car, how do I get home? What to do?
Called the nearest hotel to see if they would send a shuttle to fetch me so I can at least spend the night warm and cozy, thinking and hoping to get my car out of the lot by morning and then going home. But no, the not very helpful attendant at the hotel had no way to get a shuttle under these weather conditions.
I sat on one of the very uncomfortable chairs and pondered; if the airport was not closed and if the plane was allowed to land on the runway, then it was not too bad outside. I decided to call all the hotels around the airport until I found one with a four wheel drive vehicle who would come to the airport and get me. I was in luck.
Called home to advise grumpy of my plans; he didn’t sound too impressed with my inventiveness as we live about 160 miles south and the weather at home was not as bad as up north. He thought I just wanted to be away from home one extra night.
The hotel was warm and inviting as we arrived to get settled; suitcases on hand, I went up the elevator to find my room. The key did not work. Left the suitcases on the floor, went down the elevator one more time and asked for a new key. The attendant asked me if I had inserted the key the right way and after looking at my very angry face decided I had. Another key was issued.
Went up to my room again, tried the new key, and again it did not work. By now I am not happy, beyond my patience and trying not to lose my cool.
I needed to go downstairs and make sure the key would work, but looking at the key again, I discovered my room number was 401, not 410 as I had been trying unsuccessfully to open. Do I need to apologize to anyone for my mistake?
The next morning, the weather had not abated and there was no transportation to the long-term parking lot. Called home once again and discovered the interstate was closed by the sheriff’s department and no one was traveling on the road north or south.
That evening, the roads melted some and I was able to finally depart from the city and make my way home. What normally would take 3-4 hours of travel, took about 5 hours. Called home and asked grumpy to meet for dinner in town; when he arrived he wanted to know if I wanted to go look at the Christmas lights, since we were in town.
What I really wanted, was to go home, take a shower, get into my warm bed and not think about the weather, the roads or anything to do with traveling. But we went around looking at the lights since he was in such a good mood, which is rare. Eventually we found our way home and I was able to relax, have a glass of wine and wait for the morning to unpack the suitcases. After all, I've been traveling all week.