Still likeXjet, just don’t “like-like” them anymore
Update from yesterday. Scheduled departure 2:05pm Time I left the airport to go home after weather-related delays: 3:45pm Time I’m supposed to leave today: 2:05pm So, it was a hassle. It cost me $9.95 for a one-day wireless pass. I sat in an airport sports bar for 9 hours. I listened to more National Public Radio on my Palm via Internet Radio than I think is legally allowed for what I donate each year. It started to sound like a parody, but between that and Italian Opera, it was a no-brainer. At least they changed my ticket with no charge, found my bag quickly and returned it to me, same nice attitude. I still like them, but – and it could have been a great love affair – I don’t like-them-like-them anymore.
Read MoreThings to Do While Stranded at the Airport
Scheduled flight time 6:30am. Current Time: 10:41am New Scheduled Flight Time: 2:05pm Not worth the drive back to the island, so airport sports bar it is. First, let me say how impressed I am with xjet 10 Minutes into the delay they called my name and handed me what I thought was a new boarding pass. It was not. It was a real live, actual, meal voucher. I knew you wouldn’t believe me, so I took a picture of it. But wait – there’s more. 2 hours later, after my free Frappuccino, muffin and vitamin water, they tell us that they’re flying in a dude from Houston to fix the plane. Now, normally I don’t get weirded out, but this time, I did. So I asked if I could rebook the 2pm flight. That plane originated in Austin, so I figured it would...
Read MoreWork Coma
I am finishing two large-scale design projects, simultaneously. Its all I can think about. I think, drink, sleep and breathe these two projects. Rather than the cliche’, “about to give birth” analogy; the endless diatribe about labor pains (ready to launch the sites), false labor pains (Dagnabbit – found a bug, can’t launch), baby (client) kicks, et al, ad nauseum, yadda yadda yadda… I’m going for the Work Coma description of life at the moment. I sense life and summer around me, but can’t participate. Hooked to my matrix, I feel the hub plant a kiss on the back of my head, but don’t look up. Boy, he smells good. I’m vaguely aware of my baristas in training (excellently raised daughters, if I do say so...
Read MoreThe Lost Innocence of Travel
After traveling to several countries alone in my late teens and early twenties – those golden times that my mother refers to as “The burning of the trust fund”, I found that I loved being lost in a foreign place with a water bottle, backpack and good shoes. No map, no itinerary, no cell phone, even. Looking back, and with two teenage daughters myself, I’m astounded and a little appalled that my mom actually let me run around Mexico alone, like my favorite travel writer Anthony Bourdain. Of course, he’s from Jersey, stands 2 feet taller than I, and runs with a posse of cameramen that would have his back if anything unsavory happened. I, on the other hand, was seriously alone. And loved every minute of it. I’ve realized that as...
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