Travel makes me crazy

Up at 5AM(PDT), I'm packed, ready & waiting to go to the airport, in 3 hours. After a layover in DFW, on to DBL in CT. Pick up rental and drive 1-1/2 hr. thru Mass. and up into VT. Head will hit the pillow around 02:30AM Eastern Standard Time. 960x0.jpg
 

My last international trip started out as a mammoth cluster-fumble for the first three days including a sleep-over on the hard cold marble floor at Charles DeGaulle with a thousand or so of my new friends, sandwiched between two nights of trying to sleep on a plane. There was also 8 hours of standing in line, several riots almost broke out, and a bomb-scare complete with snarling dogs and soldiers/police in riot gear brandishing frightening weapons.

Then when we finally got to New Delhi three days late, our bags were MIA and got to us 8 days later.

My sister caught the flu and I broke my foot falling over a Hare Krishna.

Other than that.....we had a great time.

I really want to go back but I'll swim before I ever get on an Air France flight again.
 

Last edited:
Ha, Ha, Ha! Here is one for you folks to "chew" on.

I'm a Canadian looking at an Alaskan Cruise. Now, the price for a 7 day/inside cabinet is around $360. What a wonderful bargain.............. it seems.
When I researched the cost of a hotel near the cruise port in Vancouver, some places are asking $600/night plus tax.

Willy Shakespeare said "There's something rotten in the state of Denmark."
Packerjohn (me) says, "There's something rotten in Canada's cruise ships from the west coast."

A fool and his money are quickly parted but I'm hanging on to mine. Ha, ha!
 
Nathan said:
I guess it's just "getting older" but I don't do well handling the uncertainties of travel. Airport parking...plane flight~connecting plane flight...car rental...hotel arrangements. View attachment 289369

Leaving tomorrow to visit wife's dad for his 90th birthday and Father's Day. Have reservations for a room in Brattleboro, VT, we won't be getting there'til about 2AM, but the front desk closes at 11. I've been calling them, nobody answers the phone! 🤬
I feel like cancelling and making reservations at another hotel, but would still owe this place a days rent plus a pile of fees. 🙄

Another issue is car rental, the agents typically try to make the experience as painful and expensive as possible. 😑
Click to expand...
By all means stay home unless the trip is important. Dad’s 90th sounds important. If enough people stopped traveling, it would be a better experience for me.

Arriving at 2:00 AM in a small town and expecting the employees and owners to be up for your convenience is not the mark of an experienced traveler. I do agree with you on car rentals. Just be firm and politely let them know they are wasting their time trying to get you to signup for extras.
 
Packerjohn said:
Ha, Ha, Ha! Here is one for you folks to "chew" on.

I'm a Canadian looking at an Alaskan Cruise. Now, the price for a 7 day/inside cabinet is around $360. What a wonderful bargain.............. it seems.
When I researched the cost of a hotel near the cruise port in Vancouver, some places are asking $600/night plus tax.

Willy Shakespeare said "There's something rotten in the state of Denmark."
Packerjohn (me) says, "There's something rotten in Canada's cruise ships from the west coast."

A fool and his money are quickly parted but I'm hanging on to mine. Ha, ha!
Click to expand...
What does the hotel cost have to do with the cruise line? Separate companies! Plus $600 a night really sounds like a pretty nice hotel instead of a more basic one or an AirBnB. The cruise is a bargain especially for people who live in Vancouver who would only need parking or use of public transportation.
 
Well, sometimes the best plans laid of mice and men just don't pan out, the flight leaving from our local airport was cancelled, after numerous "flight delayed" email notifications. Time to recite the Serenity Prayer.
The American Airlines agent was such a saint, she worked with us, got us the best option, which was a flight tomorrow from ONT to PHX to DCA to BDL. Consider today as a dry run, we're now familiar with all the eccentricities of the airport, and air travel in general.
We drive the 40 miles back home, grabbed some fish tacos at a local eatery, and will sleep in our own bed again tonight.
 
What drives me the craziest about airlines is when you're sitting there and they keep making the announcement that "we will be boarding momentarily" ("momentarily" is their favorite word). The problem is, you're sitting there by the windows and you can see VERY CLEARLY that there is no plane out there. No plane sitting at the gate completely negates any form of "momentarily". The damn thing probably hasn't even left Chicago yet but in defiance of all laws of time and logic, they contend that we will be boarding "momentarily". That's their story and they.are.sticking.with.it.

If the airlines would just be honest with everyone, things would go much smoother.
 
Packerjohn said:
Ha, Ha, Ha! Here is one for you folks to "chew" on.

I'm a Canadian looking at an Alaskan Cruise. Now, the price for a 7 day/inside cabinet is around $360. What a wonderful bargain.............. it seems.
When I researched the cost of a hotel near the cruise port in Vancouver, some places are asking $600/night plus tax.

Willy Shakespeare said "There's something rotten in the state of Denmark."
Packerjohn (me) says, "There's something rotten in Canada's cruise ships from the west coast."

A fool and his money are quickly parted but I'm hanging on to mine. Ha, ha!
Click to expand...
First, why would you want to book an inside cabin on a cruise through Alaska? The scenery is amazing.

Secondly, you can always book your own hotel room at a much lower price.
 
seadoug said:
First, why would you want to book an inside cabin on a cruise through Alaska? The scenery is amazing.

Secondly, you can always book your own hotel room at a much lower price.
Click to expand...
Because it’s so much cheaper and you can sit on any of the decks for beautiful views. That’s exactly what we did.,
 
Teacher Terry said:
Because it’s so much cheaper and you can sit on any of the decks for beautiful views. That’s exactly what we did.,
Click to expand...
Same here. I'm not the type of person who can sit out on a balcony for long periods of time and stare at things. When I get the urge to stare at things, I can go up on the deck and stare at things or stare at things out windows all over the ship. I'm really good at staring at things from different angles and places.

In an inside cabin, I eat at the same restaurants, go to the same shows, participate in the same activities, walk the same decks as those in outside cabins. However, I have extra money to spend on shore excursions. Besides, I love the darkness of inside cabins when I'm taking a nap in the middle of the day. I'm in the cabin to sleep, shower and change clothes.

That's me. YMMV.
 
@Packerjohn, what month were you looking at booking your room in Vancouver. $600 seems like a bargain, especially if that includes all the taxes. I was searching for early July and was hitting in the 700s or more, pre-tax for the DT area that I wanted. The cruise industry must be improving, post Covid. In 2019 I had to be there for a surgery. The hotels were running at $1000 per night in June and we needed 5 nights. Ended up in a horrid hostel for $400+/night.

PS. Probably the majority of cruisers are from the US. Translating the $600 Can is about $400 US, so reasonable for them. Even less if part of the cruise package.
 
Flying military is much easier. When the schedule reads they are leaving at 5 a.m., you better be onboard, if you were planning on going with them. Usually, if they are flying from a military airport, they are on time. It's when they leave from a commercial airport that things go haywire.
 
Traveling drives you crazy? Try being a pilot for a living. Flying the plane is the easier part. Getting through the airport and hooking up with our ride to the hotel can sometimes be confusing and frustrating. I usually asked the Purser to call the hotel for the ride, but sometimes we are told the driver is just now on the way back to the hotel. We request that he turn around and pick us up. They have said, we can't do that. He is instructed that once he has his passengers to come directly back to the hotel. That's what Holiday Inn in Denver tells us. That's about a half hour wait at the curbside and if you happen to be in Denver in the winter, standing outside for a half hour is no thrill.

Another one is airport food. If we are flying a nonstop flight coast to coast, then we have food onboard and much to many people's surprise, I have preferred to eat the airplane food over the airport food. Not always, but now and then. I don't know why, but Chili's food in the airport tastes different to me than at one of their restaurants outside.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top