So, get up in the morning. The Cab drive is here – I only managed to get about 3 hours of sleep, but, the phone is still in the cab, despite him having other fares after me last night. Go to US Air. Spend an hour in the queue. Us Air confirms the flight is still cancelled, and find me a seat in continental – but then they discover I am really a united fare, and they can’t just transfer me over – I have to go back to United.
Stand in Queue again. United tries Continental – but the seat is gone by now. Try all kinds of other combinations, and nothing works – until they find a Delta flight. Move to Delta ticketing, wait in line. Delta rep can’t find the flight. Brief panic moment until they realize that United just had a typo in the flight number. So, I am heading off to Cincinnati. I probably can even make the Firestone 200 Indy car race at the Nashville speedway.
Later: Of course, this was not the end of it: the flight was uneventful, the Change in Cincinnati routine. I even found my luggage at Nashville. Went to the long term parking lot. Had some minor trouble locating the car, but nothing to write home about. Took the bus to the long term parking lot.
And then the car would not crank over. The battery was dead.
So, I walked over to the bus stop, hit the big red emergency button, and explained the situation. They said someone would be right over. So, waited at the bus stop. And waited. The busses kept coming, dropping people off, and leaving. Went to the car. Popped hood. Made sure I could push the car out so the front would be accessible. 45 minutes passed. Called again. Same response – someone shall be right over. Busses continued to go by. A bus driver stopped, flagged me over and told me to keep calling for a jump, or else I could be here for ages. Finally, after about an an hour from the first call, someone came, and I was on my way (14:00 hours).
Made it home by 14:50. Added tandoori masala to the chicken. Changed. Showered. Out the door at 15:20, off to the races.
This’ll teach me to be early to the airport. Making the flight by the skin of my teeth seems to appease the vengeful gods of air travel, who want the experience to be fraught with anxiety.
manoj