Thanksgiving Trip
OK, this just had to turn into a blog. If you've read some of my other blogs, you know that I don't like change. I like things planned in advance so that I know what I'm doing before I have to do it. When things get screwed up at the last minute my world falls apart, which it did this morning.
While we are in Cape Coral, FL this morning, we were planning on traveling back to Cape Cod, MA for Thanksgiving. It was simple really. The Lovely Louise booked flights to Boston for tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. With an arrival at noon. There was, however, one small problem.
When we checked the flights today in preparation for the trip, the flight is at 9:00 at night, not in the morning. This means we would arrive after midnight when all of the buses to Cape Cod have stopped running.
Years ago, Louise said she would be our travel agent since she has more international traveling experience than I do. I'm not certain that's true but whenever she wants to relieve me of the obligation to do things I don't want to do, I do the right thing and immediately accept. I'm mostly just grateful that she is willing to take over things that annoy me anyway.
And so, I asked my “travel agent”, what do we do now? She promises to fix it, grabs the phone and calls the airline to try and rebook. It's not working. They're going to charge what seems to Louise to be an excessive amount of money just to rebook our flights. Plus, there's nothing available that works.
If we keep the flights, we'll have to take an Uber from the airport to our home. Quick check on Uber in Boston after midnight for a trip to the Cape. $150.00 with tip. A cab or car hire is about $250.00. Uh, oh.
No other flights out of Ft. Myers tomorrow. Time to check flights from Tampa. There are a couple that might work but the time isn't great. On to Miami. There are a few flights that will work and Miami's only two and a half hours away. Also, it's only another $176 each. Good deal.
Wait, we can't drive to Miami because then the truck with be in Miami and we'll be flying back to Ft. Myers. I can't leave my truck alone like that, especially over the holiday. It will get lonely. Turns out we can rent a car from Cape Coral and leave it in Miami for only $15 . . . I kid you not. Two o'clock flight, two and a half hours to Miami, gotta get the rental car at 8:00 a.m. Drop off the truck at the house and then on to Miami. Should arrive between 11:00 and 11:30. That's good. Flight's not until 2:17 p.m. Just enough time. Arrive in Boston after 5:00, hopefully catch the bus at 5:45 and back in Barnstable by 8:00. Have son pick us up and bring us home. I can live with that, I guess. Just another twelve hour adventure with four hours of unexpected driving time. OK, Cliff, hold it together, it's just a minor bump in your otherwise smooth life.
When asked about how the problem came about, Louise's reply was that is was not her fault, it's the airline's fault. “If they used a twenty four hour clock, I would have seen that it was for 21:00 hours and I would have known that was nighttime and the wrong time of day. It's not my fault since 9:00 could be either in the morning or at night.” This from my travel agent with all of the international travel experience. Sometimes, I honestly don't know how she ever got anywhere, never mind getting back.
Anyway, it looks like we will get back for Thanksgiving. While my travel plans that I thought were cast in stone were actually set in quicksand, it's really not the end of the world. It just feels like it. Time to put on my big boy pants, suck it up and try to look forward to a drive across Florida through Alligator Alley. Just what I hoped for.
