Hello Blogger World. Sorry I've been MIA for a bit. Life has been a bit crazy coming back from over a month out of country and away from home to prepping for a move to Guatemala in just a few days. As most of you know already, I was set to move to Guatemala this past Monday. Apparently the universe had other plans for me, as I'm still in the US of A several days later.
Since my family was out of town but set to fly in on Tuesday, I drove myself to the airport at 4:30 am. The plan was to leave the keys in the trunk and the parentals would pick it up the next day when they flew in. Something in my gut told me not to put those keys in the trunk until my bags were checked in, and boy was I glad I listened to that inner voice!
As I tried to get my 2,000 pound suitcases onto a luggage cart, I was reminded once again why it sucks being a tiny, bad-backed girl. I looked around the deserted parking garage (again, it was around 5am) for someone to help and I spotted a lone man walking towards his car. While I'm not too keen on approaching strange men in a dark, isolated parking garage in the wee hours of the morning, I quite frankly didn't have any options to physically get my luggage out of my car and into the airport. Turns out the man was not a serial killer (or at least didn't get me this time around, thank God), and instead, was a kind man from...Guatemala!
I could tell he spoke Spanish so we switched gears to hablar some espanol. I mentioned that I was heading to Guatemala and that's when he said it, "No, no creo que te vayas a Guatemala hoy. Hoy no sale el avion. Mi senora se iba tambien pero acaban de cancelar el vuelo." Did you get all that? Basically, what he said was I was F****ed! Yup, his wife was set to fly to Guatemala on the same flight and they had just told her it was canceled. Fabulous.
With this piece of wonderful news, I made my way to the check-in counter of Spirit Airlines (note to reader, do NOT fly them!) to be told exactly what the man had just said. The plane I needed to fly to Florida hadn't arrived the night before due to fog so I was not making it out in time to make my connecting flight in FL to Guate. Because of this, they wouldn't allow passengers to go. Now, in all my worldly travels, I've never actually had a flight canceled on me. But from what the rest of the world has told me, usually they get you on the next flight available so I wasn't too worried. Until I found out when the next available flight was....in 6 days! Yup, you read that right. They could get me on a flight in 6 days! As I stood in disbelief, trying to figure out what to do, all I was grateful for was that 1. this happened in Baltimore and not in FL 2. I still had those darn car keys to drive myself home and 3. I had brought my cell phone with me last minute "just in case" since I knew I couldn't use it in Guate.
To be fair, they did offer to fly me to Florida later that night or the next day...but I still would not have been able to fly to Guatemala for 6 days and the hotel bill and all else would be at my own expense in Florida. Needless to say, I decided on a big fat no for that offer. I tried calling my boss in Guate to inform him and see if he had any other ideas but couldn't get ahold of him. So, I threw my hands up in the air (singing eh-oh, baby let's go) and decided to drive back home to Columbia. Only problem was I now had to get those same 2,000 pound suitcases back into my car.
As I started towards the parking garage, I noticed about 8 cops standing around just talking to each other and drinking coffee. "Perfect!," I thought. After all, their job is to help people, right?! I kindly approached them, explained my situation, and asked if they knew who I might be able to call to help me get the bags into my car. I might as well have asked them to hand over their first-born children. After about 15 seconds of awkward silence and staring at me, one of the elder policemen offered to take all of Policeman X's calls if he wanted to help me.
Policeman X continued to hem and haw and ask me any question he could think of that would get him out of the situation when Policeman Y stepped up and offered to go if he wasn't going to. Finally shamed into it, Policeman X reluctantly followed me to my car (while I maneuvered all the luggage myself) and begrudgingly assisted me in getting the bags into the car. The entire situation left me a bit...I'm not even sure what's the right word here. While I was grateful that he did eventually step up to the plate, I'm also stunned at how our society has taken such a turn that with 8 big, strong men (policemen nonetheless, who have taken a vow to help people), it was such a task to get assistance for a lone woman. Granted, I do understand that their job does not entail helping people with suitcases at the airport, but shouldn't it involve just plain helping? Couldn't they have at least offered to call someone else who might have been able to help (I mean, that's what I originally asked for anyway)? Or even just as fellow human beings (forget the Cop part), shouldn't they have offered to help? Am I expecting to much from people to be kind and helpful towards each other when someone is in need?
Anyway, that's what happened to me on Monday. All in all, it's worked out fine. Luckily, my job was understanding (they had also experienced travel nightmares with Spirit Airlines) and because of the canceled flight, I was able to: a) see my family before I leave b) repack and rearrange things amongst my suitcases to avoid fees c) talk to my boss and get more clarity on my job description, things I don't need to pack, and confirm that I will indeed have electricity, a fridge, and a stove {3 things I didn't think to ask about until my dear friend, Becka pointed them out to me and worried me a bit : ) }
Oh, and the few things that I had ordered and hadn't arrived in the mail yet arrived on Monday so I now have them in time to take with me....and of course, more time with family and friends! So, I say, THANKS, Spirit Airlines. I won't be flying you again anytime soon, but thanks this time around! : )
Since my family was out of town but set to fly in on Tuesday, I drove myself to the airport at 4:30 am. The plan was to leave the keys in the trunk and the parentals would pick it up the next day when they flew in. Something in my gut told me not to put those keys in the trunk until my bags were checked in, and boy was I glad I listened to that inner voice!
As I tried to get my 2,000 pound suitcases onto a luggage cart, I was reminded once again why it sucks being a tiny, bad-backed girl. I looked around the deserted parking garage (again, it was around 5am) for someone to help and I spotted a lone man walking towards his car. While I'm not too keen on approaching strange men in a dark, isolated parking garage in the wee hours of the morning, I quite frankly didn't have any options to physically get my luggage out of my car and into the airport. Turns out the man was not a serial killer (or at least didn't get me this time around, thank God), and instead, was a kind man from...Guatemala!
I could tell he spoke Spanish so we switched gears to hablar some espanol. I mentioned that I was heading to Guatemala and that's when he said it, "No, no creo que te vayas a Guatemala hoy. Hoy no sale el avion. Mi senora se iba tambien pero acaban de cancelar el vuelo." Did you get all that? Basically, what he said was I was F****ed! Yup, his wife was set to fly to Guatemala on the same flight and they had just told her it was canceled. Fabulous.
With this piece of wonderful news, I made my way to the check-in counter of Spirit Airlines (note to reader, do NOT fly them!) to be told exactly what the man had just said. The plane I needed to fly to Florida hadn't arrived the night before due to fog so I was not making it out in time to make my connecting flight in FL to Guate. Because of this, they wouldn't allow passengers to go. Now, in all my worldly travels, I've never actually had a flight canceled on me. But from what the rest of the world has told me, usually they get you on the next flight available so I wasn't too worried. Until I found out when the next available flight was....in 6 days! Yup, you read that right. They could get me on a flight in 6 days! As I stood in disbelief, trying to figure out what to do, all I was grateful for was that 1. this happened in Baltimore and not in FL 2. I still had those darn car keys to drive myself home and 3. I had brought my cell phone with me last minute "just in case" since I knew I couldn't use it in Guate.
To be fair, they did offer to fly me to Florida later that night or the next day...but I still would not have been able to fly to Guatemala for 6 days and the hotel bill and all else would be at my own expense in Florida. Needless to say, I decided on a big fat no for that offer. I tried calling my boss in Guate to inform him and see if he had any other ideas but couldn't get ahold of him. So, I threw my hands up in the air (singing eh-oh, baby let's go) and decided to drive back home to Columbia. Only problem was I now had to get those same 2,000 pound suitcases back into my car.
As I started towards the parking garage, I noticed about 8 cops standing around just talking to each other and drinking coffee. "Perfect!," I thought. After all, their job is to help people, right?! I kindly approached them, explained my situation, and asked if they knew who I might be able to call to help me get the bags into my car. I might as well have asked them to hand over their first-born children. After about 15 seconds of awkward silence and staring at me, one of the elder policemen offered to take all of Policeman X's calls if he wanted to help me.
Policeman X continued to hem and haw and ask me any question he could think of that would get him out of the situation when Policeman Y stepped up and offered to go if he wasn't going to. Finally shamed into it, Policeman X reluctantly followed me to my car (while I maneuvered all the luggage myself) and begrudgingly assisted me in getting the bags into the car. The entire situation left me a bit...I'm not even sure what's the right word here. While I was grateful that he did eventually step up to the plate, I'm also stunned at how our society has taken such a turn that with 8 big, strong men (policemen nonetheless, who have taken a vow to help people), it was such a task to get assistance for a lone woman. Granted, I do understand that their job does not entail helping people with suitcases at the airport, but shouldn't it involve just plain helping? Couldn't they have at least offered to call someone else who might have been able to help (I mean, that's what I originally asked for anyway)? Or even just as fellow human beings (forget the Cop part), shouldn't they have offered to help? Am I expecting to much from people to be kind and helpful towards each other when someone is in need?
Anyway, that's what happened to me on Monday. All in all, it's worked out fine. Luckily, my job was understanding (they had also experienced travel nightmares with Spirit Airlines) and because of the canceled flight, I was able to: a) see my family before I leave b) repack and rearrange things amongst my suitcases to avoid fees c) talk to my boss and get more clarity on my job description, things I don't need to pack, and confirm that I will indeed have electricity, a fridge, and a stove {3 things I didn't think to ask about until my dear friend, Becka pointed them out to me and worried me a bit : ) }
Oh, and the few things that I had ordered and hadn't arrived in the mail yet arrived on Monday so I now have them in time to take with me....and of course, more time with family and friends! So, I say, THANKS, Spirit Airlines. I won't be flying you again anytime soon, but thanks this time around! : )
