7/11/2023

Hello Blog Readers,

Oh! I was so excited for this blog entry. It was going to celebrate my first time back in California since leaving the state almost two years ago, and it was going to highlight a fun day in the city of San Francisco. Yet, a simple five minute miscalculation on my end ended up costing me more than 13 hours in travel time (in hindsight, a foolish miscalculation). As a result, what was supposed to be an 11 a.m. touchdown in the City by the Bay followed up with touring around Union Square and the Marina District, ended up being an after midnight landing with my entire day lost and me feeling absolutely exhausted from a bunch of transfers and silliness. Oi. The ugly side of traveling.

So what happened? Well, this morning I had everything all packed and ready for my 7:09 a.m. flight out of Marquette, Michigan. The sun was out, the weather was perfect, and even that song “Best Day of My Life” started playing on the radio as I got into my Jeep to head to the airport. It seemed fated to be a great day. Yet as I was loading things up into my vehicle for my trip, I remembered that I forgot to water my plants, so I ran back to my apartment, watered my plants (it only took a minute or two) and returned to my car. From there, I drove to the airport, and made it to the airport at exactly 6:30 a.m. Being a small town, and with barely anyone even at the airport, I figured I was fine – I had 40 minutes to check in and get through the (virtually empty) security line. “Easy,” I thought to myself.

And yet, I’m apparently a clown. Because as I walked up to the counter to check my bag and get my tickets, there was no one there to help me. Like…the airport counter had no one stationed at it. Zero staff. A bit nerve wracked, I walked over to a self check-in computer kiosk, and the kiosk was entirely locked. I tried to check in through my phone – and I couldn’t. The phone check in service was also locked. I wasn’t the only one facing the issue – there were a few other people who also showed up around the time that I showed up and they seemed equally perplexed by the situation. Eventually, we decided to walk over to the security gate to explain the problem to the security guard and that there was no staff there to check us in. The security guard simply responded, “You’re too late,” and advised for us to wait for an attendant to assist us after the flight took off. It was difficult advice to hear or comprehend given that just over the security guard’s shoulder, people were not even boarded on the flight yet. Out the window, the airplane could be seen looking so, so close, and yet an impossible distance away. I watched sadly as the flight that was supposed to have a seat reserved on it just for me boarded and took off into the skies with me left standing there.

Following the flight taking off and me still being stranded in Marquette, a kindly attendant came over to assist us straggling passengers. He explained to us that the airline’s current policy is to lock all of its computers and restrict anyone from checking-in for flights less than 45 minutes from takeoff. While in the past, he probably would have assisted me to check-in at 40 minutes before the flight, with corporate now locking computers at exactly 45 minutes before the flight there’s literally nothing that any attendant can do…even if a person shows up just a few seconds or few minutes beyond the cutoff as I had done.

The attendant was actually very kind and got me re-routed in spite of this busy travel season, although it led to a lonnnnng day of flying and so many issues I broke down multiple times. I didn’t even make it to SF! I had to end up flying to Sacramento and ubering all the way here. Oh, and they lost my bag, so I have no clothes! It’s a train wreck, but thank God that I ultimately made it (at 1:30 am). I now find myself here in California, my former home. I wish that I had time to see it, but in a few hours, I’m off to my next flight – this one a morning flight taking my brother-in-law, sister, and me to Japan. That’s right, I’m traveling Japan…with no luggage apparently! So, time to scarf down my 2 am dinner of…beef jerky and cookies, sleep for a few hours, and do this again. Let’s hope that tomorrow’s travel goes smoother than today’s. It probably will so long as I get to the airport nice and early.  🙂

Cheers,

-Rob