January 14, 2009

This is how my day began

I went to the Internet to check in for my flight. I got the big red warning that something was amiss and to call the airline. After the typical "press one" and "please wait" messages I finally spoke to a real-life American. She informed me that my reservation had been cancelled. I called bullshit. She said I should contact my travel agent. I explained the deal to my wonderful agent. She called bullshit and said the reservation was open and available right there on her computer. She called the airline and fixed everything.

These are the headaches of travel. Welcome to my life. This is not the first time this has happened. Missed and cancelled flights, lost hotel and rental car reservations are all part of a typical day for us road warriors. I have completed well in excess of 600 flights. Not many by some standards -- a boat load compared to most people. I remember a memorable year when I posted more than 125 airline flights. You do the math. I also put nearly 70,000 miles on my car that year. Now I am with a different company. I bet you can figure that reason too.

The bottom line is travel is not the fun lifestyle most of you imagine. One Hampton Inn looks a lot like that Holiday Inn Express you stayed in last week. Dining alone is never fun. But in all I have travelled the world on someone else's dollar, and seen things I never could on my own. Even a trip to Fort Wayne or the suburbs of Chicago can give you a new perspective if you just look for it. The real truth is I would rather spend eight hours staring through the slush and road detritus of Interstate 69 caking my windshield than the gray walls of a cubicle or the oil misted air of an assembly line. Dealing with the long waits of airport security beats the heck out of the long waits in commuter traffic on a daily basis.

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