I planned a trip to North Carolina recently to visit with my
cousin and some old friends. It was to be seven days in peaceful, scenic
Pinehurst/Southern Pines. I was really looking forward to it.
It was not to be.
I drove into Boston on a Saturday and realized it was so
much easier to fly on a day that did not involve fighting commuters on their
way to work. Arriving at Logan Airport I followed the signs to the Economy
Parking Garage.
This is the new name for what used to be called Long Term
Parking, which then was a euphemism for “about as far away from the terminal as
you can get.” Now the new “Economy
Parking” is a euphemism for “we are going to construct parking spaces as far
away from the terminal as possible but close enough that we can still charge
you $20 a day.”
I parked the car and got on a shuttle bus that treated me to
a complete loop of the airport, visiting each of the terminals, until finally
we arrived at my stop. My advice to fellow travelers is to give yourself a full
extra hour just for this portion of your adventure.
I got into line to go through security. It was a huge line.
While I was standing there I noticed another line that had only three people. It
had a sign with a little symbol. I looked at my boarding pass and the symbol
was on my pass. So I worked my way back out of the long line and went to the
uncrowded line. I looked closer at the sign and saw that anyone over 75 could
use this line. Well, I am a little long in the tooth, but not yet over 75, so I
asked why I was treated to this privilege. Absolutely no one I asked had any
idea, they just smiled and sent me on my way. I was through that check-in and
security clearance in a New York second! It was wonderful. I passed all the
people in the long lines, had my own screener, did not have to take out my
laptop, remove my belt or shoes, just scurry through and on to my gate.
I never applied for any special treatment.
I never paid a fee for a fast trip through security.
I am not over 75.
But whatever put me there, it was a good sign that the trip
was going to be great.
It was not to be.
I boarded my plane. Had a nice flight down to the
Raleigh/Durham airport. I was met by my friend and his wife and we drove to
their home. It happened to be their anniversary so we went out for a lovely
dinner and then retired for the evening.
That was it folks.
The beginning and the end of a fine planned vacation.
Next day I awoke with a cold. I wasn’t worried. Midday my
friend’s wife got a call that required she leave for a family emergency and
drive to Indianapolis. So our planned week together changed drastically. My
cold got worse.
The following day my friend got a call that his
sister-in-law had passed away in Ohio. This news put him in an understandable
funk as he tried to determine what his plans would now need to be. My cold got
really worse.
I got to see my cousin briefly each day. But he is ill and
in rehabilitation facility and I was worried about visiting him in my
condition. We grabbed some time each day but it was not what it would have been
if I had been well. We have visited often and each visit has been memorable but
I felt lousy, he felt lousy and my friend felt lousy. The cold now involved laryngitis,
post nasal drip, watery eyes and a painful chest cough.
As the days dragged on with me sleeping less and coughing
more I finally got to Wednesday. I was scheduled to fly back to Boston on
Thursday. There was no way I was getting on a plane with this head cold.
That began the negotiating with the airline. When you buy
your non-refundable ticket you are pretty certain nothing can go wrong.
Illness can happen.
They wanted a fee of $200 to let me change my return flight
from Thursday to Saturday. I spent an entire day. I spoke to my doctor. I spoke
to a second doctor. I spoke to the airline. The bottom line was that if my
doctor spoke to the airline they would only charge me $50 for their
inconvenience. The cold got worse.
My friend and I spent most of our time in the family room.
He watched television while I hacked and wheezed.
The cold started to run its course. I wasn’t completely well
but I felt OK to fly. He took me to the airport. I was relieved to be heading
home. I had enough Sudafed in me to qualify me for an alumni trip to Hippie convention.
We boarded on time.
The flight wasn’t overly full.
We left the gate on time.
And then we sat on the runway while maintenance came out to
handle an unlatched door problem. This door led to the emergency lighting
system. They had opened it when a signal indicated it might not be working.
They found everything in order but then they couldn’t shut the door.
Who knew that an airplane could fly with an open door on the
exterior of the plane? Well, that reassuring news was given us by the pilot
along with the less happy news that to do so meant they would have to fly at a
much slower speed and that our 90 minute flight would now take over two hours,
added to the wait time on the runway.
We took off and the flight attendant passed out pretzels,
about 12 of them. This was an improvement because on the flight down I got
about 6 pretzels the size of a quarter. Now I had 12 but my sharp eye noticed
these were called mini-pretzels and they were about the size of a dime.
Landed in Boston.
Took another whole airport tour by bus on my way to Economy
Parking. The cost of my economy parking was $140. The cost of my two day delay
of trip was $50. The cost of the air ticket was about $300. The cost of the
Sudafed was about $10. But Oh Happy Day, the pretzels were free, both ways.
