Reasons why you shouldn’t drive in New Jersey.

On yet another business trip I discovered that New Jersey is the worst state to drive in.  Reasons being:

1. You can’t turn right.

2. You can’t turn left.

3. You can’t turn period.  If you must turn you generally have to go 12 miles out of the way then enter into a specified “U-turn” turning area and do your turn from there.  In one case I had to go 2 miles down the road, enter on the interstate, exit the interstate on the next exit (.2 miles away) and then continue in the opposite direction of my original route…all to make a left turn into a major shopping area.  And this was how the turn was posted…I didn’ t mess up.

4. They don’t believe in speed limits…to drive Jersey style you must either go 10 mph below the limit or 15 mph above and then alternate between those every 2 minutes or so.

5. Trucks drive in any lane they want.

6. You must pay tolls everywhere you go.

7. Once you pay the toll you better pray that you chose the right lane, otherwise you will have to cross 6 lanes of traffic to get to your route.  Here is an idea: maybe they should put signs up before the toll telling you which side to be on…just a thought.

8. It smells like landfill and asphalt everywhere you go.

9. You are guaranteed to get lost 3.2 times per trip.

10.  It’s New Jersey.

For Reals Yo

OMG!  It’s official people.  Ben and I are really getting married!!  We signed the contract today and set a date.  In one year, 3 weeks, 6 days, and 13 minutes Ben and I will tie the knot!  In other words, the date is November 15th, 2008.

Wohoo!!

We are meant to be together…don’t you think?

Redemption

Ha!  It’s about time.  After my weeks of terrible travel luck I finally get some redemption.  I arrived at the airport early in hopes of going standby on a much earlier flight…this was a risky move considering the two flights are 4 hours apart.  I was told that I was too late for the earlier flight and there were 3 people ahead of me on the standby list.  I sucked it up and accepted the fact that I would be on the later flight.  Once I got to the gate I thought I would ask…just one more time.  She said there was one seat left and one person on the standby list already.  I was about to give up but then she asked if I was a member of the mileage plus club…I say yes and she goes to work on her computer.  Turns out, I got the seat!!  I bumped the person ahead of me! 

After I got over the excitement of getting on the flight I started to feel really guilty.  I mean, I bumped a guy that deserved the seat.  Sorry Mister…I didn’t mean to bump you.

Lesson learned: it pays to be really polite and suck it up when you have bad luck.

This is not happening

So I thought my bad luck was behind me. 

This morning the alarm went off at 4:00am and I began my usual preparations for an early morning flight.  It was raining when I woke up so I asked Ben to take me to the train so I wouldn’t get drenched getting there.  I made it OK and had to wait a little longer than usual for the train to arrive but nothing terrible.  I got to the airport, checked in like usual and then BOOM on the screen it says I am too late to check in.  I know the rule that you have to be there within 45 min of departure which generally I am very good at following but today I was exactly 2 minutes late.  I asked if there was any leniency and they said NO, unless I wanted to carry my bag on.  (Here is where Ben will start to roll his eyes at me and start arguing that I should never check bags).  I contemplated throwing out all my liquids but after a quick calculation I realized I would have to throw away about $50 worth of stuff.  Given that I am now on a very strict budget, I opted to keep my stuff.

Then I decided to visit the gate where my original flight was to depart.  Guess what?  The flight was delayed.  That means I was here an hour early, which I was anticipating a delayed flight due to the rain which explains my lackluster approach to get to the airport and hour and a half early.  So I talk with the people at the gate and pleaded with them to let me on the flight.  Nope, sorry, you have go with your bags.  Word to the wise…your bags ALWAYS go on the earliest flight, always.  That means my bags will be on the original flight but I won’t be. 

I just realized I need to become a better liar.  I should have lied, dammit. 

I digress.  Now I am sitting at the airport, approximately 4.25 hours before my next flight which I am on the standby list.  If I don’t get on I might have to veto traveling for a while.

All this after I already conceded to carry my bag on this weekend for a trip to FL.

Oh, and wait.  I scouted out a very secluded corned in the airport and two ladies just sat down directly in front of me…mind you there are about 30 other open seats in the gate.  I am watching them eat their McDonald’s and listening to them worry about how little the plane looks.

UGH!

Update: Just as I had suspected…my bag was waiting for me when I got to Lexington.

Three times in a row!

Yet another tale from my traveling adventures…

So last Friday Ben and I hopped a plane to visit our friends Charlotte and Mike in Boston.  We were looking forward to seeing them since it has been a little over 2 years since we have been to Boston.  We get there without any trouble and make our way to baggage claim.  There we wait, and we wait, and we wait.  Once we hit about 30 min I went to talk to the stellar United employees only to be told that the bags are on the carousel…really?  I didn’t know that.  I then decide to go to the little baggage claim office where everyone dreads going and talked to a very nice competent lady.  There I got the “I’m sorry Ms. Peters but your bag is still in Chicago, we can have it delivered to you by 2am.”  Sweet.  No big deal though, Char and Mike were waiting outside and my excitement to see them shadowed my frustration with my bags.  To make a very long story short…I didn’t get my bag until 11am the next morning…I also had someone tell me I was lying to him and that I was wrong.  Good business practice?  I think not.

After a wonderful trip Ben and I headed back to Chicago where I actually had to hop on another flight to Detroit.  Our flight from Boston was delayed over an hour and I barely made my Detroit flight…needless to say, my bag was delayed again. 

Once again, I talk with the lady in India (this is not a generalization, I really think that is where she was) and she tries to fluff me telling me they appreciate my business and thank you for being a member of their Premier club…blah blah blah.  It was everything I could do not to scream “JUST TELL ME WHERE MY DAMN BAG IS” or some variation of that.  For the sake of the readers I will eliminate what I really wanted to say. 

So once again I wait for my bag.  The bad part about this was that I had to cancel one of my appointments in the morning because I had nothing to wear, nothing for my meeting (I was to train a bunch of people) and nothing opens early enough to replace all these things.  Anyway, I get my bag around 10am the next day.

THEN, on my way back to Chicago from Detroit, you guessed it…THEY LOST IT AGAIN.  This time it was lost in the O’hare system.  Luckily, they delivered it to me early the next morning.

To add insult to injury…some lovely person stole something out of my bag!  Nothing serious, work will replace it but still.  Seriously people…leave me alone!

I know everyone is going to tell me that this story is why they never check a bag, and yes I agree it is a little risky.  But when you travel as much as I do, complying with the no liquids rule is REALLY annoying to deal with. 

I think I am still recouperating from all my frustration but I think I will survive.  It taught me that if nothing else…if you look really tired and frustrated they give you $50 of travel vouchers.  I might have to try that more often.

Happy travels!