Jet-Settin’ in the Wild, Wild West

Today I write from a beautiful hotel room at The Magnolia Hotel in downtown, sunny Houston, Texas. I am tagging along on a business trip with Chris to the USITT conference (United States Institute of Technical Theater). Chris won their top award this year, The Golden Hammer, and I am here technically to be his cheerleader. In actuality, I’m here because I needed to be anywhere other than my office for a while. And the parties at this conference are not all that dull…

The trip to Houston yesterday was just about the worst travel experience I’ve ever had. Let me take you through the painful steps because I am a firm believer in the whole “misery loves company” thing:

12:00 PM – Our flight from Hartford to Dallas was cancelled.

1:00 PM – We were put on a different airline flight to Newark, NJ.

2:00 PM – Flight takes off from Hartford…wait, we aren’t taking off. We’re sitting on the runway for AN HOUR.

3:00 PM – Flight actually takes off from Hartford.

4:00 PM – Flight arrives in Newark about 10 seconds before our connecting flight to Houston departs three terminals away.

4:10 PM – I plow down an 80-year old Italian grandmother and her daughter as I haul my ass through the Newark airport to catch my connection. Grandma was none too pleased and I half expected to wake up with a horse head in my bed this morning.

4:12 PM – Chris and I make it on the flight to Houston.

7:00 PM – Our plane hits “a little weather, folks,” according to Pilot Bob and bounces down the Houston runway. By the time we come to a complete stop, I don’t know whether I should throw up or burst into the Hallelujah chorus.

7:30 PM – After half an hour waiting for our luggage, we logically determine that it was not able to run as fast as we did through the Newark airport to make the connecting flight and is now, in fact, lost.

8:45 PM – All flights into Houston are canceled due to weather and no one in the baggage claim office can tell us where our luggage has been routed to. (Side Note: It would have been incredibly helpful in this situation if I had paid attention in my college Spanish classes. “Donde esta mi hot pink luggage-o” apparently does not have the meaning I thought it did.)

9:00 PM – In defeat, we head out to grab a shuttle to our hotel.

10:30 PM – We make it to our hotel, change, and head out to meet friends feeling tired, slightly nauseous from the flight, dirty, and ready for a cold beer.

It was a long day and I have never slept so good. Our luggage was delivered this morning at 8:00 AM, just in time to get ready for the day. I love it when a story has a happy ending!