Panic Sets In

T-4 days until I leave for ISU in Beijing, China and it seems like the world is conspiring against me getting ready to leave. Over the weekend I traveled to Phoenix to visit friends and attend the Wingin' It Pool Party. The flights to and from this event have been close to the worst ever. When first arriving at the Dublin Airport Friday morning, I found the flight delayed over 2 hours. This delay immediately destroyed the entire day's flight plans.

The complicating factor was that I had two separate flight plans, one with airline A, the other with airline Z. Due to the delays, airline A redirected me to Phoenix. The problem was, they never told airline B. I spent hours, on little sleep, arguing with both airlines about why I have two reservations to Phoenix. The overriding fear being that they would cancel my return flight if the situation was not cleared up. Eventually, I made it to Phoenix, ensured that I had a return flight home, and was refunded several hundred dollars in the process. John met me in Phoenix Overall, it was a long day, for me, a 32 hour day.

The party was fun. We had a good time socializing with the podcasting crew in Phoenix.

All was going well until the flight home. We flew from Phoenix to Los Angeles and then planned to take the red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Baltimore. Once the plane landed at LAX, we sat on the tarmac for 30-45 minutes. This delay caused us to miss our flight. Thinking I was confirmed on a flight to Dulles, the customer service agent sent John on a flight to Chicago and then on to BWI.

Unfortunately, I wasn't confirmed on the Dulles flight. We ran over to the gate, put me on the plane, only to find that the open seat they wanted to put me in, belonged to a man in the bathroom. They had to bring back the jet way to get me off the plane.

At this point, the next flight wasn't until the following morning, meaning... no work on Monday and one more lost day preparing for ISU and China.

I spent the night in a crappy hotel (for free) and took the morning flight to BWI. Unfortunately, due to time zone issues, that means I didn't get home until after 5:30 PM.

Should I start counting the time to ISU by hours? Perhaps so.