Friday, February 16, 2007

The Boys are Back

I am happy to report that my boys are back home with me. Bentley got home yesterday afternoon to a very cute reunion with Peanut. They were so happy to see each other and they have not left each others side since. How cute is that?

And Karlo (barely) made it back home too. His journey was an interesting one. It went something like this . . . at noon on 2/14 his 8PM flight from lovely Detriot to Bradley gets cancelled. However, the first leg of his trip, from wherever the heck he was to Detroit, was not cancelled. So Karlo decided that he should get himself to Detroit and see what happens. I advised that he just gets a hotel in Detroit and take the afternoon flight back home the following day. But of course, that wasn't good enough for Karlo. He decided to switch his flight to Boston, which for some reason the airport was not shut down like Bradley was.

So Karlo calls me at 7 PM from Detroit with his brilliant plan of flying to Boston. My first question, of course, is . . . "How do you plan on getting home from Boston?" and his response "I was hoping you could come and get me." WHAT? He thinks I'm gonna drive to Boston in the middle of an ice storm when I'm too afraid to drive to Tolland to rescue my poor dog? He's nuts and I told him so. Then of course I get the guilt treatment of "It's OK, I'll take a bus." Uuuuugh. I told Karlo that I will arrange for a rental car that can be picked up in Boston and returned in Hartford. No problem.

Then the phone rings an hour later . . . "My flight to Boston got cancelled . . . can you cancel the car?" uuuugh. I knew this would happen. And I could have been on my way, driving in the ice to Boston by them. So while we are on the phone, the PA comes on and the lady says "For those of you travelling to Boston, looks like we are going to board you . . . and see what happens." So what are the chances that plane is really going to take off and land in Boston that night? Who knows. That was the last I heard from Karlo that night.

Tossing, turning, tossing, turning, feeling guilty that I flat out refused to drive to Boston when Karlo would have crossed the country for me if I asked him too. Of course I'm too logical to ever ask him to, but that's another story. I didn't sleep a wink and finally at 5:30 AM Karlo comes in the door. He told me his exciting story . . . the roller coaster plane ride in the 50 MPH wind gusts, the aborted landings, the 2 frozen gates and the 2 hour wait just to get off the plane. Then another hour wait to get the rental car and the amazingly scary drive home on the icy highways with completely a frozen windshield. Then he finally gets home and can't get the truck up the driveway.

So I asked him . . . "Was it worth all that just to come home a day early?" and he said "of course." He's crazy.

And to anyone that thinks all the business traveling that we do is glamorous . . . this story is the reality of what it's really like! NOT FUN.

2 comments:

lgaumond said...

You're marreid to a lunatic. All that cold, Canadian air has frozen his brain. But I'm glad he got home safe!

Anonymous said...

Actually everything has worked out perfectly this time. I could tell you a number of instances when it didn't. Have you heard about the Sky Blue flight this weekend? The poor souls spent 10 hours on the taxiway in New York. The plane froze up . . . they couldn't even see outside, the heat was not working, they ran out of water and the toilets where no longer functional.
My flight was heaven.