24 hour whirlwind

Thursday, April 10th, 2008 | General

Okay so, first business trip. We get to PDX to fly Horizon to Seattle, no problem. We arrive in Seattle check our American Airlines connection - CANCELLED- CRAP- WE HAVE to be in Austin for the first event on April 10th. A (my colleague) hangs out to collect our baggage while I go wait up at the AA counter to find out what the hell is happening.

Stay in line, in line… talk to a person who was also on our cancelled flight. Slowly we learned that really AA is relying on ALL the other airlines to get their passengers to their intended destinations. The AA attendant checked all scenarios for us. NOTHING to get us to Austin that night. Luckily the person ahead of me from Austin recommended San Antonio (50 minute drive to Austin) and Houston (2. 5 hour drive to Austin) as alternatives.

Finally, we got on DELTA- god bless them. Next flight to Salt Lake City where we transfer to another Delta flight to Houston. Getting us into Houston by 11:40.

Luckily my supportive supervisor offered to help us change our car reservation to a pick up from Houston and drop off back on Monday the 14th at Austin.

Arrived safely in Houston. Luckily it’s really only 9:40 our usual time, so we had our rental car person help with directions and a GPS to help get us to Houston. Needless to say there were a few wrong turns. A few pullings off the freeway to make sure we were going the right direction. A stop at a market for some seriously needed nurishment or stress relievers (coke, red vines, chocolate, bananas, smartfood popcorn….etc).

The sight of our final destination, Austin and our hotel for that matter PRICELESS. Luckily it’s a 5 star. VERY comfy, nice, clean and just plain heavenly.

SO that was the closing of a tremendous journey and in 4 hours, arriving and then in bed finally by about 3:50 am. We had to be at our first event by noon and you guessed it our first event was 1.5 hours from the hotel. So we were up by 8:15 and ready to go by 10am. PHEW. Now it’s about midnight and the pillow is calling. I will keep you posted on the gps adventures and tonights outings tomorrow, hopefully.