Travel Adventure Friday!!
I didn't expect the day to take the twists and turns that it did. But there I was, quietly "working" away. And by "working" I was killing time before my breakfast meeting that was cancelled due to my hungover rep (well, it is Wine Week. *shudder*). Little did I know how the morning was going to change.
#1 - 10a
I checked my e-mail this morning and found an e-mail from Spirit Airlines. A flight was changed for our South American trip. No biggie. A changed flight. A few minutes here. A few minutes there. It's all good. Then I checked the change. Our flight didn't just change by a minute or two. Or an hour or two. Nope. Our flight changed by two days. TWO DAYS!! Unfortunately, our flight leaving two days early isn't suave, cause we'll be leaving Easter Island that day. It's not going to be physically possible to get from Easter Island to Lima in time (check a map...these places are far away from each other).
After two conversations with the Spirit Airlines Indian Call Center (Sonia was great. The other guy...had a little problem with the thickness of the accent), we found out our flight was indeed cancelled. We could either change our Easter Island portion of the trip (ummm...no...) or we could move our flight to the day after we were originally supposed to leave Peru (much better). The bad news is that we'll get back to Chicago at 1030p instead of 9a. The good news is that we don't need to use another vacation day. Whew.
#2 - 12 noon
I'd been working with Liz to figure out a weekend to go to New York. I've never been to New York and have always wanted to. Liz's sister lives in New York, which means we have a place to stay. Liz and I had talked about going to New York over President's Day Weekend. But I was just coming back from Orlando and couldn't handle two trips in two weekends. Especially after a Disney trip, where exhaustion is expected. So we thought about going sometime in April/May. Which coincidentally is right around my birthday...
Imagine my surprise when today was the day that the New York trip came together. Seriously?? After the crazy Spirit Air morning?? Seriously.
We came up with the weekend. But because of my vacation day usage (and potential usage), I don't have any extra days to spare for trips. Liz and I both agreed that it would be better to fly in on Thursday so we could have all day Friday to work/play. And then the idea came to me. The best idea I'd had all day long. I'd work at C-K New York.
Sure, I'd thought about that before. And I'd even floated the idea past Angela one day (which didn't go over really well). But this time...I had a plan. Fly in on Thursday, then on Friday morning, I'd go to C-K NY. I would set up meetings with my New York Radio reps and work as I needed to in the NY office. I could use my phone and iPad (cause I WILL have one by the time I go to NYC) for the basics and I could always use an open computer in the C-K office. This time, I had the details. And this time...Angela said yes. Yes!!
In minutes, I had a flight saved and a radio station on alert. Fantastic. I'm going to New York!!
#3 - 1p
In the midst of all of this, I get an e-mail from Adele. "They just changed our BA flight from Easter Island." Come on!! Are you freaking kidding me with this?? What in the world is going on in South America today?? Adele took charge on this one. The good news is that this was only a minor change (later departure, but a stop in Santiago, Chile instead of a direct flight) and it didn't massively alter our plans. But still. Our hope has always been that we would have one more day in Easter Island. An extra day would be fantastic. But because we are using miles, we are traveling on the whims of British Airways. And there is no alternative. Oh well. At least it was just a small change. Not like Spirit Airlines.
At this point, our South America plans are so precise that delays and changes could cause a complete collapse in the trip. We don't want any additional delays. Bright side though, because of the changes, it's forced us to figure out the last hotel in Lima. We're almost there. And we have two months to go.
I bought trip insurance tonight. I don't think I should tempt fate any longer...
#1 - 10a
I checked my e-mail this morning and found an e-mail from Spirit Airlines. A flight was changed for our South American trip. No biggie. A changed flight. A few minutes here. A few minutes there. It's all good. Then I checked the change. Our flight didn't just change by a minute or two. Or an hour or two. Nope. Our flight changed by two days. TWO DAYS!! Unfortunately, our flight leaving two days early isn't suave, cause we'll be leaving Easter Island that day. It's not going to be physically possible to get from Easter Island to Lima in time (check a map...these places are far away from each other).
After two conversations with the Spirit Airlines Indian Call Center (Sonia was great. The other guy...had a little problem with the thickness of the accent), we found out our flight was indeed cancelled. We could either change our Easter Island portion of the trip (ummm...no...) or we could move our flight to the day after we were originally supposed to leave Peru (much better). The bad news is that we'll get back to Chicago at 1030p instead of 9a. The good news is that we don't need to use another vacation day. Whew.
#2 - 12 noon
I'd been working with Liz to figure out a weekend to go to New York. I've never been to New York and have always wanted to. Liz's sister lives in New York, which means we have a place to stay. Liz and I had talked about going to New York over President's Day Weekend. But I was just coming back from Orlando and couldn't handle two trips in two weekends. Especially after a Disney trip, where exhaustion is expected. So we thought about going sometime in April/May. Which coincidentally is right around my birthday...
Imagine my surprise when today was the day that the New York trip came together. Seriously?? After the crazy Spirit Air morning?? Seriously.
We came up with the weekend. But because of my vacation day usage (and potential usage), I don't have any extra days to spare for trips. Liz and I both agreed that it would be better to fly in on Thursday so we could have all day Friday to work/play. And then the idea came to me. The best idea I'd had all day long. I'd work at C-K New York.
Sure, I'd thought about that before. And I'd even floated the idea past Angela one day (which didn't go over really well). But this time...I had a plan. Fly in on Thursday, then on Friday morning, I'd go to C-K NY. I would set up meetings with my New York Radio reps and work as I needed to in the NY office. I could use my phone and iPad (cause I WILL have one by the time I go to NYC) for the basics and I could always use an open computer in the C-K office. This time, I had the details. And this time...Angela said yes. Yes!!
In minutes, I had a flight saved and a radio station on alert. Fantastic. I'm going to New York!!
#3 - 1p
In the midst of all of this, I get an e-mail from Adele. "They just changed our BA flight from Easter Island." Come on!! Are you freaking kidding me with this?? What in the world is going on in South America today?? Adele took charge on this one. The good news is that this was only a minor change (later departure, but a stop in Santiago, Chile instead of a direct flight) and it didn't massively alter our plans. But still. Our hope has always been that we would have one more day in Easter Island. An extra day would be fantastic. But because we are using miles, we are traveling on the whims of British Airways. And there is no alternative. Oh well. At least it was just a small change. Not like Spirit Airlines.
At this point, our South America plans are so precise that delays and changes could cause a complete collapse in the trip. We don't want any additional delays. Bright side though, because of the changes, it's forced us to figure out the last hotel in Lima. We're almost there. And we have two months to go.
I bought trip insurance tonight. I don't think I should tempt fate any longer...
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