Hubris- No

Nov18
by on November 18, 2016 at 12:01 am
Chapter:

… To continue…

We left off the story as I was five hours at the airport trying to get to either San Jose or Monterey.  Either would do, but of course there were complications.

So here’s some advice.  Ship your caricature stand instead of flying with it.  Paper (and a drawing board) is heavy.  Easels, even the ones that collapse down for travel, are large.  Ship them.  It solves a lot of problems.  First, it means you can take smaller luggage.  I still didn’t want to pack a couple of nice suits in a tiny carry-on, but I COULD have.  Secondly, it means that the people who are X-Raying your suitcase don’t see something that looks at a glance like a small Gatling gun.  And when that’s beside a double handful of markers, those markers suddenly look suspiciously like high caliber ammunition.  Thirdly, it means that, if your flight goes utterly squiffy, you don’t have to worry about getting your stuff at the other end- that’d be the shipper’s problem.  Yes, the hotel will charge you to keep them for you until you arrive, but trust me.  Sweating it out over hours at an airport is less zen than shipping that stuff on ahead.

Also, I should point out that when two or three gate agents are scrambling around trying to get you to Monterey (with special attention for making sure your luggage gets there too somehow) remind them constantly that it’s Monterey CA, not Monterrey Mexico.  If they get a consternated look on their faces and ask another gate agent for help because the flight they try to get you on kicks out of the system every time, you might say something like, “You’re not trying for Monterrey Mexico again, are you?” and they’ll smack their foreheads and say, “Hang on… let me……….” and they’ll be back on track trying to get you where you’re going.

Another thing not to do, in a tizzy about not making your caricaturing event that evening, is text both your client and the Big client that the flight’s already gone bananas and you’re looking for alternative in an attempt to make the event in time.  Text your client and leave the Big Client, who is technically NOT your client, out of it until your client handles that.  I’m an idiot.

So.  They finally scrapped my flight, but I was already pre-booked on two others by the time that was official.  Off I went to Dallas for a layover.  I would not make that evening’s event, but the following day had two events.  I would make those.  Surely.  Right?

Should I point out now that I have only once had a layover in Texas that didn’t go utterly nutzy-coocoo?  I’m talking random hours-long delays, snow delays (which they don’t handle well in Texas), a hurricane, and a guy who had a heart attack and dropped dead sitting next to my wife.  Texas layovers are cursed.

But on to Dallas!  I had a two hour layover there, which I hoped would be long enough to get me there in time to make the second leg of the flight, and short enough that the world didn’t have time to plan to explode or something.

Ta-daaaaa!  I made it.  And the next leg of the flight got me to San Jose.  I can now answer the song’s question.  Yes, I technically DO know the way to San Jose. I don’t like it much, but I know the way.  And that’s where the rental car was arranged for, so that’s a plus, right?

And I will continue this story later.

 

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