A Day Trip

I took a day trip this past week. The red-eye to Houston.

3:30 am - wake up
4:30 am - drive to the airport
5:45 am - plane takes off
7:10 am - arrive in Houston
7:50 am - arrive at the office
8:00 am - meet new people
9:00 am - 2:30 pm - brainstorming and process mapping session, lunch
3:00 pm - leave for airport
3:30 pm - arrive at airport
4:50 pm - depart Houston
6:10 pm - arrive Tulsa
7:00 pm - arrive home
7:15 - 8:45pm - out for dinner
8:46 pm - hit "the wall" (as in, I have to go to bed NOW!)
9:10 pm - snoozing in bed

It was a L O N G day.

I used to make this Houston trip on a semi-regular basis. I don't bounce back from it as quickly as I did a few years ago. I was exhausted the next day.  :-(

What did you do this week?

Hello, my name is Cindy and I'm an...

Overpacker!

If you follow me on twitter, you know that this past week I have been in Calgary, Canada.

I arrived home this afternoon and immediately unpacked my suitcase. I had the expected dirty clothes, but I also unpacked the following CLEAN clothes:

• two pairs of pants
• two shell tops
• one cotton, 3/4 sleeve top
• one set of "unmentionables"
• one swimsuit and cover-up

All of this after The Husband challenged me to not pack too much and I removed several items from my suitcase before leaving last week.

I'm better at packing than I used to be, but I still think I need to take extra items for "just in case." This is not a good thing nowadays, since the airlines are so strict about suitcase weight and are quick to charge extra fees.

How about you? Are you an overpacker? If not, how do you decide what items you need to pack?

P.S. Photos and commentary from my trip will follow in a day or two!

Airport Security

There's a lot of discussion occuring now on airport security. Specifically, the enhanced body scanners and new physical pat down procedures (if you refuse to go through the body scanner.)

In early 2009, the Tulsa airport was one of the first 10 airports in the nation to receive the new body scanners. I have been through the scanners numerous times. I don't have a problem knowing that a TSA (in a remote location from the scanners) is reading the scan; because 1) faces are blurred and 2) the image cannot be saved to a hard drive for later viewing.

One time, shortly after the machines were installed, I was subjected to a physical pat down after the scan.

Why, you ask? Because of the underwire in my bra. Yes, it's true.

The TSA who frisked me was a woman who was very professional and asked me if I wanted a private screening and also told me exactly where and how she was going to touch me. Subsequent trips through the scanners did not trigger a pat down, so I assume they learned to recognize the underwire in bras!

I do not dispute that all of the enhanced security measures are an added pain when traveling. I confess, I've been known to moan and groan about them. But I will tell you, I'm ultimately happy to abide by the rules if it makes flying safer. I do not ever want to see on television what we saw the morning of September 11, 2001. And I certainly don't want to be a passenger on a plane that is used for a terrorist attack.

For all those people who are screaming about an intrusive government infringing on personal rights, might I suggest you get in your car and drive to your destination? Thanks. With you out of the way, the security line will move much faster.

United Airlines Breaks Guitars - Song # 3

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Dave Carroll and United Airlines.

Dave is a musician and was on a United Airlines flight where his guitar was mis-handled and damaged. This post of mine has links to his first two songs.

As you can imagine, Dave was not happy. He spoke to a number of UA employees trying to resolve the situation and ended up writing 3 songs to express his frustration.

Here is his third song.

Because of this situation, Dave has had a lot of publicity. I say "good for him" and I hope this exposure helps his singing career.

I would think that United Airlines is not looking forward to hearing this third song!

"Up In The Air"

The Husband and I went to see the movie, "Up In The Air" this week. We really enjoyed it and laughed out loud several times.

After spending the majority of our careers in the corporate world, we have not only worked for and with people who have been laid off, but have been the receipent of the dreaded "package" ourselves. The movie very accurately depicts how people can react to the news.

Another accurate depiction in the movie is that of a professional "road warrior" aka the professional business traveler. The scenes of the main character packing his suitcase and getting through the airport security line are so true! Later in the movie, the advice he gave his younger co-worker on how to select the least problematic airport security line was dead on accurate.

I would recommend this movie. It was amusing.

United Airlines Breaks Guitars

I watched The View one day last week and they had musician Dave Caroll on the show.

Dave is famous on You Tube because of his songs about United Airlines breaking his guitar and his efforts to get them to admit responsibility and compensate him.

He has promised three songs about this situation. The following are the first two.

Song #1 Very cute!

Song # 2 Again, very cute.

Here's a link to his website. Dave Caroll Music

Good Luck to Dave. I hope he profits from his 15 minutes of fame!

Neck Ties

Last week when I was on the bus to the rental car center at the Houston airport, a couple stepped up to board and I noted they had something on the handles of their new, black suitcases. I realized it was braided NECK TIES! I came home and tried to re-create their look. It was something like this (theirs was better):

Since I have for years had a curly shoe lace tied to my suitcase for identification, I laughed and thought "What an inventive way to mark their bags and a great re-use of an existing piece of material."

Heating Up...

As I've mentioned here, I've been traveling to Houston since April to assist with a big project for a global company. We are implementing a new system that is replacing existing systems and websites.

We are now officially a week away from the "go live" of the new system. There are tasks still to accomplish, decisions still to be made/agreed and action plans to be implemented. All of these activities are typical at this point in a large project.

A number of people have worked on this project 1-3 years. A good many of these folks have worked on this project for many months, and then there are newcomers like me who have arrived at, what seems to be, the last minute.

Personally, I had been tasked with keeping one of the old systems operational until it's replacement date. Since April, I've been juggling my old job, along with trying to understand the new system and the specific task I was asked to help with.

As you can imagine, people are tired and stressed. They are working 12, 14, 16+ hour days; and have been for an extended time. Some folks live in Houston, but many of us are traveling from far flung US locations every week.

Everyone's families are impacted. Personal milestones like children's school events/graduations, family birthdays, anniversaries, vacations, deaths, purchases of new homes, etc. have all, in MANY cases, taken second place. Let's not even discuss the impact to friendships.

We turn on the new system June 25th. I'll keep you posted on how it goes...

TSA Stories from the Previous Week

At the Tulsa airport last Monday, I was frisked (whoo hoo) because I did not take off my long sleeve shirt, layered over a tank top. Now mind you, I took off my shoes, I packaged my liquids in 3oz or smaller containers and put them in a zip lock bag and I took my pc out of my brief case, but that was not enough. Okay. I can accept that.

At the Houston airport last Thursday, I was allowed to get all the way to the TSA checking my id against my boarding pass. One of the TSA's who had just allowed me to pass through the line came up to me and following is the conversation:

Her: "Your bag is too big. You must check it."

Me: "I take this bag through security every week and gate check it."

Her: "Your bag is too big. You must check it."

Me: "See the Continental gate check tag? I gate check this bag every week!"

Her: "Your bag is too big. You must check it. Take it to the counter. If they say it is okay, you can bring it."

She's a TSA. I do not want to argue at an airport. I want to get home...I do not want to be locked up in a small windowless room in an airport! So, I go to the Continental counter. There are a number of customers using the kiosks. The Continental employee helped all of them and finally asked me if I needed something. I repeated my conversation with the TSA:

Continental Employee: "It's fine. What is her problem?"

Me: "I don't know. I pointed out the existing gate check tag."

Her: "It's fine. Go back to the line."

Me: "Thanks so much. What is your name, in case she asks?"

Her: "Connie"

Me: "Thanks, Connie."All the while thinking "I could NOT make up: Connie from Continental!"

I went back to the security line and told the TSA that "Connie from Continental" told me the bag was okay to gate check. The new TSA said "Okay, if she say so."

Travel is getting harder and harder. Is it really necessary that it be so hard?

On the Road - Packing Dirty Clothes

So, what is your system? Of course, I have one.

I check into my hotel room and unpack everything. I hang clean clothes in the closet and put the remaining items in the dresser drawers.

Every evening, I take my worn clothes and repack them, resulting in layers of dirty clothes in the suitcase.

This is a good system for me, because on my last morning in the hotel I don't have to scoop up all the dirty clothes off the floor of the closet to stuff them in the suitcase. All I have to do is drop my hair brush, etc. into the case and I'm good to go.

You wonder why I wrote this post? Because I love efficiency and this is one of the things I do that makes my life easy during travel. :0)

Think of me as you read this post, as I am on my way home today!

Air Travel

My first day last week of resuming corporate road warrior status did not have a good start.  I'm the type traveler who allows plenty of time to get to the airport, through security and to the gate.  Last Monday I was directed to the "expert traveler" line and the TSA checking ids was, without a doubt, the slowest I have ever encountered.  I counted 11 people in the line next to me who were passed through the checkpoint by another TSA before the woman ahead of me and her two children were cleared and I moved to the front of the line.  Why were they in the "expert traveler" line you ask?  I don't know.

At the front of the line, my documents are scrutinized thoroughly and I'm directed to the line that is using the new whole body imager.  This piece of equipment seriously slows down the process.  You step into the scanner, hold your arms above your head, the machine scans you and you step out.  Once you are out, you are held in line by a TSA who is waiting for someone to communicate with them via an earpiece that your scan is clear. If it is not clear, they frisk you.  I got a frisking that day, yes I did.  I'm still not sure why, since I was not wearing a bra with an under wire!!!

Finally, I proceed to my gate with plenty of time before departure.  Well, lo and behold, I see a "delayed" sign posted next to the sign for my flight.  Delayed 2.5 hours worth.  We have a plane, but no flight crew.  I arrive at the office in Houston in the middle of the afternoon.  I certainly did not accomplish much on this day.  

My return flight last week also had it's challenges.  Early morning storms across the Southeastern US caused delays in the flights across the country.  Even though my flight was at 5:30 in the evening, airlines and airports were still playing catch-up. (Not to be confused with ketchup!)  Anyway, I was about an hour and 15 minutes late arriving home.

In the big scheme of things, these delays do not amount to much individually.  But for folks who are road warriors and travel every week, they are very frustrating and cut into the precious time we have at home.

I'm going to have to work on my zen attitude over the coming weeks!

Your Reservation Requires Special Handling

The Husband and I have been on vacation this past week. Here's how it started:

Continental Airlines phoned The Husband on Friday, March 13th, inquiring if we had any flexibility in our travel plans, since it was spring break week and all flights were full (code for overbooked).  They offered travel vouchers and a later flight, but those options did not work with our plans.

The Continental representative advised The Husband to be sure and login to Continental.com and check in for our flight as soon as possible AND to arrive at the airport early the next day.  The Husband phoned me and repeated the conversation, which we both began to think of as strange since the tickets were booked using my Continental account and points, so why didn't they phone me to have this conversation?

In any event, I obediently logged on that afternoon and the website would not allow me to check in.  It said something to the effect:  "Your reservation requires special handling.  Check in at an airport kiosk."  So, I phoned Continental and spoke to a nice person who advised she could see nothing wrong with our reservations and to try again.  I tried a few times and it did not work.

We ultimately decided to drive to the airport to check in early, as we most certainly did not want to miss our flight on Saturday.  The ticket counter and kiosks were closed.  A Continental employee spoke to us and advised they were closed and that we could check in on-line.  We explained the situation and she immediately went to the counter to help us, even though she could have sent us on our way.

She immediately logged into the system and started doing all the mysterious things airline employees do to check in travelers.  I was a bit worried when she pulled out several pages of instructions that were covered in a multitude of hand written notes. She kept pecking away at the terminal and eventually asked for our ids.  She looked at them, pecked at the terminal and eventually the boarding passes started printing.  She looked up at The Husband and said, "There was a problem because your name is on the federal No Fly list.  Someone's looking for you!"

Of course, no one is really looking for MY husband, just someone who has the same name.  We were both so glad we took the time to drive to the airport and that she was willing to help us after the counter closed.  

Here's a "shout out" to Crystal at the Continental Airlines ticket counter in the Tulsa International Airport for great customer service.  Thanks, Crystal!

Addendum to this post:

So, it's Friday, March 20th and we return home on Saturday, the 21st.  Again, Continental phoned The Husband, but he missed the call.  We logged onto their website and tried to check in on-line.  Again we were told, "Your reservation requires special handling.  Please check in at an airport kiosk."  He phoned Continental and spoke to two very nice women who assured us our reservations were fine, but perhaps he was on the federal No Fly List, since their system would allow me to check in, but not him.  

If this is how it is going to be every time we travel, this is not good.  It totally is not convenient to wait until we get to the airport to check in and get our boarding passes, since the majority of the time we do not check bags. Frustrating!  I guess we will do some research about the federal No Fly List to understand how a name appears on the list and then disappears from the list.  

Second addendum to this post:

Check in on Saturday, the 21st, went smoothly after The Husband showed his id.  The Continental employees were great.