Tuesday May 27th

Travel Adventures

I am writing this because it’ll be therapeutic for me and hopefully entertaining to read. I had a trip planned to visit family and friends in Iowa. Most of my travels throughout my whole life have been road trips. I am a road trip queen. I hate public transportation, but I’ve been forcing myself to do it in hopes that I’ll get used to it and it’ll feel less stressful. So, even though I considered renting a car and driving there, I decided flying was the most logical choice.

Right when I got to the airport I got a notification that the flight was delayed by almost 3 hours. Luckily I drove myself there and decided to kill some time near but not in the airport. Luna, my dog hadn’t pooped since that morning so that gave us some time to be outside for her to finally do that. She wouldn’t do it earlier because she knew I was getting ready to leave all day and her being anxious about me leaving (or trying to rush her) makes her not able to relax and do the deed, lol she’s sensitive.

This was the first time I parked my car at the airport. This was pretty straightforward to figure out because you just take a shuttle to the airport once your car is parked. There are many different lots to choose from and a lot have security. It was Luna’s first time being on a bus and she was a champ.

We eventually got to the first TSA line, lines were so long because it was Memorial Day weekend. Due to lines being so long they kept telling us to move… We were in 3 separate TSA lines… Girl. I know.

Luna was getting so tired since she hadn’t napped all day and was very active the day before. As we were in the third line I noticed a nice looking outdoor area. I noted that because both Luna and I need some fresh air any time we go to that god forsaken place. Her and I were both sweating our balls off the entire time we were wandering around like chickens with their heads cut off in that place.

Flight Cancelled

I check the airline’s app and notice it says our flight is cancelled… But I continue towards the gate anyways because um wtf and so I can ask them, wtf?

I asked a nice man who worked there a question, and mentioned that I thought my flight was cancelled. Then I get a text confirming the flight is for sure cancelled. We were waiting to get on the train (inside the airport) to get to our gate and I went to ask the guy something else and then realized ‘oh, shit I’m about to cry’. I said, “nevermind” and I quickly walked away to find a corner to cry in. I had a lot of stress built up and it all came bubbling up and the tears had to come out. Any time I cry around people, especially in public I feel the need to run away and hide. I stayed away from people as much as possible and after I cried a little, I felt hella better. At least better enough to go to the gate.

At this point it felt like we had been there all damn day but I was going to walk another I what, 5 miles to get to the gate to ask these people ‘wtf?’ By the time I got there the line was crazy long. It was probably everyone who was supposed to be on the flight also wondering, WTF. Talking with fellow passengers made me feel better like my frustrations were shared. I told a couple that I started getting ready that morning and if I would have driven myself I could have been there by now. The one guy said he was thinking the exact thing.

My feet hurt and I was too tired that I couldn’t get myself to stay in the line to talk to the agents. There were no other flights with that airline anytime soon. With other airlines it would have been almost $500… So yeah that’s not happening. It’s a flight from Denver to Iowa definitely not a $500 flight.

Car Rental

I was able to get a refund through the app on my phone so I left the line and went home. I decided I’d rent a car the next morning and drive the 11 hours and 20 minutes to my friend’s house. My parents live an extra hour east and when you’re doing a drive like that going from 11 hours to 12 hours makes it pretty awful. I much prefer driving over flying, I am a road trip kinda gal. Luna is the best traveler as well, we’ve done many road trips together.

I decided I’d park at the airport so that after the flight back to Colorado I’d have my car there rather than relying on someone to pick me up. I reserved a rental car near the airport. That ended up being its own disaster… It was impossible to drive into the lot with the rental car company. I eventually did and had to park in an employee lot and walk to find someone who worked there. Basically, he told me that I’d have to park my car in an airport lot, take a shuttle to the airport, take a shuttle back to the rental place 🙄. He suggested I walk since I didn’t want to do all the wacky shuttle business. I park my car in a lot that costs $18 a day… whatever. Then I walked 15 minutes with my hands full and my princess dog, Luna. There was a busy street with no sidewalk and the little shoulder area had pokey things that would hurt Luna’s feet if she stepped on them. This whole walk was sort of a nightmare.

Then we get to the rental place only to find out I need a regular, physical credit card in order to rent the car… I have rented cars before without running into this problem. I have multiple lines of credit that I mostly use online. We tried using PayPal Credit which is connected to my Google Wallet, and the payment wouldn’t go through. I use PayPal Credit for so many things it definitely should have worked.

Not Meant to Be?

Nothing the manager and I tried would work. I had previously decided that if I ran into any other major hiccups on this trip then that means it wasn’t meant to be. My mom put that idea in my head because I never once considered not going on the trip. If I plan to do something I’m doing it no matter what. But I kept having silly bad luck along the way.

After being in the airport all day, we took the shuttle back to my car and I was so excited to leave that damn place that I forgot my backpack which was full of many important items. Thank the heavens that the driver noticed it and got my attention. Oh my goodness how silly. I’m forgetting other parts of the story but that’s the bulk of it. I have powered through the day today with a migraine and a lot of stress. Here’s hoping I get through my 10 hour work day tomorrow. ✌️