San Diego

Posted on January 24, 2015January 24, 2015 by Dusty Roads

I’m Back! I didn’t expect to be gone quite so long.

Last week was our annual company meeting. I was in San Diego at the company’s expense from Wednesday 1/14- Saturday 1/17. Actually Wednesday was a travel day. I deliberately took an early morning flight because I wanted a chance to see a little of San Diego.

Last year we had the meeting in San Diego too but a winter storm on the east coast delayed my flight so much that it was quite late when I got there. Once the meetings start there’s no time for sight seeing. You are busy from 9 am to midnight.

This year the weather was cold but clear and I had a 5 am flight. I was arriving in San Diego at 11:30 am and would have the afternoon to do some sight-seeing…or so I hoped.

The best laid plans of mice and men can go astray and seems like that applies to my plans too. I guess I should be glad I’m not an army general.

My flights were pleasant and uneventful. I was flying Southwest Airlines and I used their early bird check in so I didn’t have to worry about checking in to get the best seating. It’s $12.95 but it was money well spent. I got great seating. I was also wearing a warm sweater because it was very cold , about 9 degrees, when I left to go to the airport. Sometimes the cabins are a bit cold when you hit 30,000 ft.

We made good time and landed in Chicago ahead of schedule. I had time to grab some breakfast before the 2nd leg of my journey. Chicago to San Diego was smooth too and once again we landed early. Unfortunately we landed without my luggage. 🙁

San Diego was sunny and warm with a sea breeze. A sweater was definitely out of place and by the time I caught the shuttle to the hotel I was in full melt down mode. I checked into my room and settled down to wait for news of my wayward bags. Southwest assured me they weren’t lost just delayed. The best I could do was hang out around the hotel and wait. I needed a change of clothes before I could go exploring.

The call finally came at 4 pm. My bags had made it to the airport and would be delivered to me no later than 8 pm. So much for any sight-seeing. I guess San Diego will have to wait for another year.

Knoxville

Posted on May 15, 2014May 15, 2014 by Dusty Roads

I think I may have jumped ahead in my trip narrative so I’m going to back up just a tad. I have to mention the Knoxville Airport.

It is beautiful. As you leave the secured area and enter the main concourse there is a water feature with rocks and flowers. The glass windows allow the sunlight to create a natural looking oasis.

I did something I rarely do in airports. I stopped to take a picture.

I’m not sure if it was just a coincidence or if they are really that efficient but by the time I made it to the baggage claim my luggage was already circling on the carousel. I heard other passengers making surprised comments as well. I was off to the car rentals in record time.

I’m using Enterprise this trip. And it was at the Enterprise counter that I realized the first thing I had forgotten to pack… my GPS. Yes I can get one from Enterprise but at the cost of $11.00/ day. Normally I’d say skip it but the directions to the resort seem kind of involved and I don’t have a partner in adventure this trip so I would have to keep stopping to read them myself. I bit the bullet and added the GPS. (It was a good choice if a tad expensive)

The other unusual decision I made was to add the extra insurance. This essentially doubled the cost of my rental and again deviates from what I usually do. I had coverage on my own insurance and also coverage on my credit card but one thing neither of these insurances cover is the “loss of value” that the rental companies are now pursuing. It’s no longer good enough to cover the cost of the repairs if you have an accident. Now you have to worry that the accident will lower the resale value of the vehicle. (Show me the car fax)

Usually I take my chances that I won’t have any accident so won’t have to be concerned about resale value but for some reason I can’t explain I just wasn’t comfortable with that risk today so I took their insurance. Go ahead, call me stupid but at least I have peace of mind.

GPS set, luggage stowed, seat adjusted and it was time to hit the road. Gatlinburg here I come!

Where’s the Fun?

Posted on May 13, 2014May 13, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Traveling is so much fun.

You know I love to travel but maybe it’s time to clarify something. I love visiting new places, I don’t love getting there. I can’t wait for the day we can just “beam” ourselves to our destination.

I roused myself at 6 am to feed the cats, shower and head to T.F. Green Airport for my flight to Knoxville.

I am not now and never have been a morning person. At my age I doubt that I am going to change that so any morning that starts at 6 am is a challenge to begin with. The only reason I can do it is for the reward at the end of the tunnel.

When I arrived at T.F. Green I was pleased to find out that I was Prechecked by TSA or something like that. Apparently it’s something new to make the TSA appear to be kinder and gentler. Passengers are selected at random (or so they say) and get to skip some of the more intrusive pre-screening at the security check point.

I didn’t have to take the laptop out, or my shoes off or even my sweatshirt (jacket). I just put everything on the belt to be screened and trotted through the scanner, not the new full body scanner but one of the old ones where you just walk through. Easy Peasy! I like this.

I flew US Air because Southwest doesn’t fly into Knoxville. I got to pick my own seats when I booked my flight. I like that so much better than Southwest’s first come first serve policy. Anyway boarding went off without a hitch. We boarded like normal down the jet way. We were on one of the little skinny planes.

Sandy (my sister) calls them pencil planes, just 2 seats on each side of a single aisle and 1 flight attendant. I had to change planes in Washington at Ronald Reagan International. The flight was just 1 ½ hours. Pretty short by my standards.

I was in for a surprise at Ronald Reagan. We landed and taxied not to a gate but to some spot in the middle of the tarmac. The stairs were lowered and we climbed down that way where we were ushered onto a waiting shuttle. It was sort of like a bus with the interior of a trolley or subway car. There were hand loops and poles but no seats. This shuttle delivered us to the terminal.

Hmmmm. I felt like all that was missing was the paparazzi with flash bulbs popping and cameras clicking. Isn’t that where the president steps out onto the stairs of Airforce One and waves for his photo op?

I killed the time between flights by having lunch. The special of the day was Maryland Lump Crab Cakes so I gave them a try. Good but not worth $15.00 and the waitress wasn’t rude but was severely lacking in the personality department.

When it came time to board for the 2nd leg of the journey we were once again loaded into a shuttle and ferried out to a row of “pencil planes” sitting in the middle of the tarmac. We were in a line of shuttles. Smaller utility vehicles buzzed around making me think of scenes from Star Wars where all the little robots and droids are zipping around.

Eventually we were unloaded and escorted to one of the pencil planes that had the stairs down. 1 ½ hours later we landed in Knoxville. The flight was uneventful which is always a plus.
Oh and we exited off a jet way this time. No steep stairs in the middle of the airport.

A Plan for Getting There

Posted on March 20, 2014March 20, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Now that the activities for Tennessee are planned and my time off approved I have to make sure I can get there. I’ve been watching the airfares and they are all over the place. Up one day and down the next!

I think it’s time to commit. Southwest doesn’t fly to Knoxville, the closest airport. There are a couple of nice flights and connections but they are out of Logan and I avoid Boston and Logan airport like crazy. I’d drive to Hartford, CT first!

Finally I found a flight from Providence to Knoxville for under $400.00. Yup $380.00 to be exact for round trip so I grabbed it. I don’t have to get up in the middle of the night either! The flight leaves at 9:23 am. There’s a layover in Washington D. C. so I’ll have time for lunch then arrive in Knoxville just before 3pm where I have a rental car reserved.

I can’t check into the resort until after 4pm so this works out perfect because MapQuest puts the drive from Knoxville to Gatlinburg at 59 minutes.

The return trip wasn’t quite as perfect but still not bad. Check out is 10 AM but my flight isn’t until 6pm so I’ll have the whole day to poke around in, take my time driving to Knoxville and finish up sight-seeing. Even with such a late flight and a layover in Washington again, I will still be in Providence by 11:30 and home by midnight.

The cat sitter is lined up and ready to go. She’ll make 2 visits everyday except the first day when I’ll only need her to stop in for the afternoon. My kitties will be in good hands.

It’s so nice to have everything in place…and paid for. I love paying for everything ahead of time. Then I don’t have to count pennies while I’m away.

Now I just have to make myself relax and wait for the big day to roll around. 🙂

Olympic Fever

Posted on February 9, 2014February 9, 2014 by Dusty Roads

The 2014 Winter Olympics are underway in Sochi. News coverage has been considerable. Does everyone have Olympic Fever?

Russia is using the Olympics to showcase its post-soviet resurrection and why not? Doesn’t every country that hosts an Olympic Games put their best foot forward? Too bad the Russians haven’t been able to accomplish that.

When the press arrived in Sochi to unfinished construction, toilets that wouldn’t flush and hotel door handles that wouldn’t lock, the Sochi Olympics got their first black eye.

The Russian response boiled down to this: Some reporters are sabotaging Sochi’s Olympics accommodations for splashy headlines. Russian officials know this because they have surveillance cameras in hotel rooms. And at least some of those surveillance cameras are focused on hotel showers. Oh Oh! Voyeurism at it’s finest!

You can’t clean your teeth because the security scare has you packing your tooth paste in your checked luggage if you get to bring it at all, so what’s a little body order to go along with bad breath?

I wish the Olympics had all star commercials like the Superbowl. Coke has a cute commercial with a Puffin and the Polar Bears. I liked that one.

Every year a new event gets tried out. This year an event called Slopestyle, a snow boarding event, was getting some exposure but before the first bell the competitors were backing out. American Snowboarder, Shaun White called the course “Unsafe” and withdrew. According to news reports he’s just one of the contestants to express concerns with the course for the new event.

I have no bone to pick with the Olympics. They all seem to have their share of problems and bad press no matter where they hold them. I wish all the competitors the best. Leave your tooth paste in your checked bags, avoid the showers and may the best man and/or woman win.