Monterey Bound.
I got up Friday morning at 5:00 am for a 7:50 flight from Love. Dallas is typically 45 minutes to an hour away (yeah, right) so I was certain that leaving about 6 am would give me plenty of time (yeah again, more than enough time). In preparing to leave to pick up Eldest at her apartment, I leaned over and my cell phone slipped out of my pocket and shattered on the tile floor. I couldn't make it work at all so I figured I'd just have to replace it at the earliest opportunity. I called Eldest on Youngest's phone and told her I had no phone so we weren't going to be able to confirm on-the-fly my arrival time and pickup and suggested we just meet at the gate (the original plan was for me to pick her up at her apartment, thus the Love Field departure). By 6:20 and I was on the road, a little behind schedule, but confident I could make up for lost time on the highway. But, while there were stretches of I-20 on which I could drive my four door sedan like a formula race car (and feel like I was actually making good time), overall, the d*** traffic at about 3 funnel points IN DALLAS was literally a parking lot. I didn't even get close to the airport until 7:40, ten minutes before departure time. Now, I do remember the days when I lived in Dallas, close enough to the airport that I could make it from my apartment to the gate in 10 minutes even when I had to stop at ticketing. Of course that's all changed. Even so, with those days in mind and an enormous amount of confidence, I paid extra to park up front and charged off into the terminal. As I ran through the automatic doors that have been there since before JFK, I immediately saw the change. The L O O O O N G line at the security check point. I spewed off under my breath a couple of less than satisfying [expletives deleted] even thought I really had no specific object for my anger other than the ridiculous fact that no matter how much I wish it were different, Dallas is simply no longer an hour from my house! At that point I knew I could use the next few minutes to try to persuade the TSA agents to let me through because I'm about to miss my flight (as if they hadn't heard that one already), but it occurred to me that someone in a huge hurry trying to bump to the head of the line probably gets extra scrutiny from TSA and thus more delay and frustration when forced to return to ticketing anyway for a flight change. So, instead, I ran directly to the ticket counter and asked for a flight change all while subtly giving the ticketing agent a fair opportunity to tell me the flight was delayed or that he could hold it, or that elephants were flying backward that day and I could still make it. He had no delay or elephant flying news for me but did say after tapping on his keyboard a minute or so that for no extra charge (just because I was making the change BEFORE THE FLIGHT LEFT), he could confirm an alternative flight leaving about a half hour later to Austin, LAX then San Jose. It arrived in San Jose about 2 hours or so later than I planned, but that seemed ok. I called Eldest on the house phone and she was able to get on the original flight, so we were both on our way. Whew!
I got up Friday morning at 5:00 am for a 7:50 flight from Love. Dallas is typically 45 minutes to an hour away (yeah, right) so I was certain that leaving about 6 am would give me plenty of time (yeah again, more than enough time). In preparing to leave to pick up Eldest at her apartment, I leaned over and my cell phone slipped out of my pocket and shattered on the tile floor. I couldn't make it work at all so I figured I'd just have to replace it at the earliest opportunity. I called Eldest on Youngest's phone and told her I had no phone so we weren't going to be able to confirm on-the-fly my arrival time and pickup and suggested we just meet at the gate (the original plan was for me to pick her up at her apartment, thus the Love Field departure). By 6:20 and I was on the road, a little behind schedule, but confident I could make up for lost time on the highway. But, while there were stretches of I-20 on which I could drive my four door sedan like a formula race car (and feel like I was actually making good time), overall, the d*** traffic at about 3 funnel points IN DALLAS was literally a parking lot. I didn't even get close to the airport until 7:40, ten minutes before departure time. Now, I do remember the days when I lived in Dallas, close enough to the airport that I could make it from my apartment to the gate in 10 minutes even when I had to stop at ticketing. Of course that's all changed. Even so, with those days in mind and an enormous amount of confidence, I paid extra to park up front and charged off into the terminal. As I ran through the automatic doors that have been there since before JFK, I immediately saw the change. The L O O O O N G line at the security check point. I spewed off under my breath a couple of less than satisfying [expletives deleted] even thought I really had no specific object for my anger other than the ridiculous fact that no matter how much I wish it were different, Dallas is simply no longer an hour from my house! At that point I knew I could use the next few minutes to try to persuade the TSA agents to let me through because I'm about to miss my flight (as if they hadn't heard that one already), but it occurred to me that someone in a huge hurry trying to bump to the head of the line probably gets extra scrutiny from TSA and thus more delay and frustration when forced to return to ticketing anyway for a flight change. So, instead, I ran directly to the ticket counter and asked for a flight change all while subtly giving the ticketing agent a fair opportunity to tell me the flight was delayed or that he could hold it, or that elephants were flying backward that day and I could still make it. He had no delay or elephant flying news for me but did say after tapping on his keyboard a minute or so that for no extra charge (just because I was making the change BEFORE THE FLIGHT LEFT), he could confirm an alternative flight leaving about a half hour later to Austin, LAX then San Jose. It arrived in San Jose about 2 hours or so later than I planned, but that seemed ok. I called Eldest on the house phone and she was able to get on the original flight, so we were both on our way. Whew!
Incidentally, my flight was uneventful except for the tatooed lady with two screaming 2 year olds in front of me and the family with the chatty kathy 3 year old behind me. That's another story.
I did learn that with no smart phone, all I could do to check email and try to communicate with Eldest and Youngest was wifi-up at each airport and send an email. That was frustrating, time consuming and sometimes didn't work at all. I kept silent, but the pressure was building as I realized how overly dependent I've become on the cell phone. It's a lifeline, but also a repository for phone numbers, schedules, confirmation numbers and who knows what else until you absolutely need it. That's a sad fact.
I did learn that with no smart phone, all I could do to check email and try to communicate with Eldest and Youngest was wifi-up at each airport and send an email. That was frustrating, time consuming and sometimes didn't work at all. I kept silent, but the pressure was building as I realized how overly dependent I've become on the cell phone. It's a lifeline, but also a repository for phone numbers, schedules, confirmation numbers and who knows what else until you absolutely need it. That's a sad fact.
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