(Almost) Home for the Holidays

When flying home for the holidays, I always fly to Houston and take the puddle-jumper connection to Victoria, Texas, 150 miles SW of Houston where my mom lives. 

I flew to Houston on Christmas day and ended up at Houston Intercontinental for the next 26 hours after Continental kept cancelling the 30-minute flights to Victoria due to lack of passengers (they kept citing “maintenance” problems.) 

There were no rental cars available to make the 150-mile drive. 

They cancelled my 3:30 pm flight on Christmas day after having delayed it every hour for five hours. Then, they cancelled the last flight out at 9:30 pm. They put us in a hotel that night and placed me on a flight at 3:30 pm the next day. I found out that there were very few passengers on that flight, so I had little assurance that they wouldn't cancel that one too. Finally, I became so frustrated that I just threw in the towel and asked to be flown back to Chicago, which they did.  

Sleigh Ride was incessantly playing in the background while I waited for my flight-in-defeat back to Chicago.

So, I never made it home for the holidays. I was 150 miles from home, but couldn't get there. I spent Christmas day eating bad Mexican food by myself in Terminal A at George W. Bush Intercontinental. Isn't that THE saddest holiday tale EVER?

I've submitted lots of documentation to Continental, requesting compensation due to me according to their own cancellation policies. I was provided with a voucher for $410 after the first flight was cancelled.  After the following flight was cancelled and having to wait an additional 15 hours, I deserve more.  Much more!

I’m a very nice guy, but being a somewhat-obsessive “people-pleaser” has seldom served me well.  So, whenever I need to assert myself, (especially at a board meeting) I always think of this Joan Crawford scene. This is my "go-to" scene. If anything, it provides me with comic relief and, moreover, reminds me of the mindset in which I need to be.

So, if Continental Airlines doesn’t accommodate me by honoring their own cancellation policy, I will go all “Joan Crawford” on them. 

Baggage Claim

Having traveled about the country quite a bit, I’ve realized the value in having just the right piece of baggage for the trip. 

A plain, black carry-on is fine, but once you’re standing at a crowded baggage carousel, you’ll soon realize how many other passengers have baggage that looks just like yours. Once your plain, black piece of baggage is lost, you’ll feel like a dolt telling the airline rep to be on the lookout for a plain, black piece of luggage. 

I used to tie a red bandana to the bottom of mine in order to identify it. That was always a great idea. I could easily spot my bag as it inched its way around to me. Finally the bandana became tattered and barely red at all from all the traveling about. 

I get a chuckle when I see these expensive sets of luggage on display at nice department stores like Macy’s. Here are these gorgeous, color-coordinated, designer sets in maroon and moss-colored paisley print. Sure, that piece would look lovely rolling through the terminal, but that bag is going to be shoved along dirty conveyor belts, dropped onto muddy tarmacs, and crammed into cargo holds along with other nasty pieces of god-knows-what.   

One trip across the Midwest on a snowy night and you’ll find yourself dragging a five-hundred dollar, muddied-up piece of paisley crap through a terminal in Des Moines. 

I took this video at O’Hare on Christmas day after watching pieces of luggage smash into each other and drop to the tarmac. Keep this video in mind when packing that bottle of expensive olive oil you’re bringing as a gift. 

One can practically hear expensive Christmas gifts being smashed to pieces. 

So, after many years of traveling, I’ve come across the perfect piece of luggage. It’s a carry-on piece that comes in hard plastic (can be wiped clean), it comes in black, blue, or brown (I chose blue because I like blue and it’s easy to identify. Isn’t it pretty?

And here’s the best part: It also has a garment bag inside. Wow! Large enough to accommodate a 42-long suit with nary a wrinkle:

I’ve traveled with it and it fits perfectly into the overhead compartment. 

You can order it here at Amazon. Trust me. It’s a great piece of traveling equipment. 

Leave that designer, paisley stuff on display at Macy’s -- where it belongs.