Travel-Daze

Chatting with your buddy....3 rows back

2016-02-08T07:42:00.001-06:00

Travel story! I haven't been traveling for awhile but already have a new story for my 6 am flight. Boarding a flight this morning, sadly I was in Southwest "C" boarding group. Man do I miss A list! Any way, flight is packed and looking for the coveted middle seat closest to front. Found one with a woman already asleep on the window seat so not bad. As I sit down, aisle seat guy is Mr. Carry on A conversation about some software technical specs with the guy 3 rows back. So he is now kneeling in his seat next to me talking to the guy 3 rows back. Finally his buddy tells him..."dude stop talking and sit down. You are making everybody uncomfortable." Don't be that guy....ever.

Mechanical delays!

2013-06-02T16:01:00.002-05:00

My lovely wife is currently in the midst of her own travel adventure to Virginia. She had an interesting time where they boarded the plane, then approached her and asked her to deboard as there was an issue. They brought her completly off the plane, then finally told her that there was a group of unaccompanied minors that they were trying to seat together and were moving my wife. FROM HER ISLE ROW TO A CENTER ROW FOR A 3 HOUR FLIGHT. Needless to say, she was displeased. This created a delay for the flight. Which got me thinking about my various previous delays.....

I had posted this about a year ago to my FB account.....the joys of travel.

July 9, 2012: KCI

Crazy day at the airport. Mechanical delays. They had us board. Then deplane. Then line up at the next gate. Then sit and wait. Now we are lined up at original gate to reboard the original plane. — at Kansas City International Airport.

What are some of the creative delays that you've experienced? I've heard of flights being delayed due to the lavatory light being burnt out!

Only by the grace of God, no travelers where harmed in the writing of this blog! Safe Travels!
Pat

I now also have a poorly written twitter feed: @travel_daze

Classy California

2013-01-27T11:38:00.002-06:00

Originally Facebooked: July 13th at Huntington Beach Dog Park/Beach:

Just watched a person kick a layer of sand over their dog's business. Heaven forbid using one of the countless doggy duty stations. If u aren't going to clean up after your pet, don't buy one. Stay classy California!

Only by the grace of God, no travelers where harmed in the writing of this blog! Safe Travels!
Pat

Just created a new twitter feed: @travel_daze Please follow and share along

I'm rich and fly discount airlines!

2013-01-24T22:16:00.000-06:00

Originally Facebooked on July 20, 2012: The day of the Batman Shooting:

In light of today's tragic shooting, here is a travel story from lax to hopefully brighten the mood.....a dude is holding court with his 4 travel companions talking loudly of how much better he is than his ex. So far he's mentioned how he vacations a couple times a year in Hawaii, how he just bought new 4 wheelers for he and his daughter, how his ex is always hitting him up for extra $, and he's dreading the pending "back to school shopping" request he is sure to be coming. Not that he minds cuz the $ isn't an issue, he is just annoyed. My observation: you are flying southwest buddy. Get over yourself! — at Los Angeles International Airport.

Only by the grace of God, no travelers where harmed in the writing of this blog! Safe Travels!
Pat

Just created a new twitter feed: @travel_daze Please follow and share along

Governmental efficiencies

2012-12-16T09:40:00.002-06:00

June 29, 2012

There are like 9 TSA people standing around while one guy is looking at id's and boarding passes. Governmental services at their finest. — at Ontario Intl Airport.

Only by the grace of God, no travelers where harmed in the writing of this blog! Safe Travels!
Pat

Just created a new twitter feed: @travel_daze Please follow and share along

Torrential Rain and Temper Tantrums

2012-10-21T16:40:00.001-05:00

June 11, 2012 - 6AM Flight to Cali

Today's travel is off to a great start. Torrential rain drenched me while walking from the car to the shuttle. Now an 8 year old is throwing a temper tantrum not wanting to travel. Currently on cell phone crying to his mom to come back to pick him up at the airport. Good start to the week!

Only by the grace of God, no travelers where harmed in the writing of this blog! Safe Travels!
Pat

Just created a new twitter feed: @travel_daze Please follow and share along

Connecting thru Vegas!

2012-10-21T16:32:00.001-05:00

June 25, 2012:

What is it about 6:45 am flights to Vegas that make it socially acceptable for vacationers to have beer for breakfast? Maybe I'm just jealous? Other than that, pretty uneventful start to the travel week. — at Kansas City International Airport.

Another fun thing about Vegas flights is the connecting thru Vegas Flight. Granted half of the plane are likely business travelers or others with a connection. However, there are the blood shot eye group of people who are heading home from a weekend of debauchery in Vegas.

I've heard stories of people partying all night and heading to the airport from the bar, passing out on the floor in front of their gate in hopes of not missing their flight.

I firmly believe what happens in Vegas....makes good stories for elsewhere! I also firmly believe that the human body is only designed to handle 2 and 1/2 days of the Vegas strip and all the fun that goes with it.

Only by the grace of God, no travelers where harmed in the writing of this blog! Safe Travels!
Pat

Just created a new twitter feed: @travel_daze Please follow and share along

Stuck in a metal tube breathing recycled air

2012-10-21T16:27:00.002-05:00

June 13, 2012

Attention everyone: if you will be traveling in a confined space, for example, an airplane, please use deodorant that day!!!

Only by the grace of God, no travelers where harmed in the writing of this blog! Safe Travels!
Pat

Just created a new twitter feed: @travel_daze Please follow and share along

I pity the Fool!

2012-10-21T16:26:00.001-05:00

Originally fb'd February 28, 2012

Today's travel stories are off to a good start. Lady wearing enough costume jewelry to give Mr T. a run for his money can't figure out why she keeps setting off the metal detector. I usually wear as much gaudy jewelry as possible when traveling. Just makes things easier. — at Kansas City International Airport.

Followed by miss "I fly swa but refuse to check my bag" not understanding that your laptop needs to be out of your bag to go thru scanner. I'm sure she will make a scene later when she boards and there isn't room for her carry on / luggage and laptop in overhead.

Had one other good one. Guy in front of me handed his boarding pass to the agent at the gateway folded in on itself in quarters. Even if you don't understand the scanning of the barcode, one would think its universally understood to hand your boarding pass to the gate agent in a manner that would allow them to easily read it! Lol.

Only by the grace of God, no travelers where harmed in the writing of this blog! Safe Travels!
Pat

Just created a new twitter feed: @travel_daze Please follow and share along

Rude people are awesome!

2012-07-28T10:55:00.001-05:00

This happened around July 18, 2012, give or take and has never been posted to my FB travel stories. So it's a new one!

To set the scene, this occurred at the Pacific Palms Resort, a pretty nice, even extravagant hotel, conference center, spa, and 36 hole award winning golf course. You get the drift. My company uses it frequently, so we get great rates there. No slumming it for me! And an added bonus, it's super close to my jobsite, so zero commute in LA traffic once I'm there is really nice.

The hotel elevator lobby has 3 elevators. And is not easy to get to. You can either ride an escalator up a story to the level that the main elevator lobby is on, take the stairs (my usual route) or take a small single elevator up to it. Then you enter a little elevator lobby that is narrower than most. The fun thing is that there are also some conference rooms past the lobby, so often times people who are lost may wander this direction from those rooms.

One particular evening after returning from work there was quite a bit of congestion in the elevator lobby. There were easily enough people in there waiting to completely fill 2 elevator cars. So I simply hung out in the entrance area to the lobby with the the other recent arrivals, forming what you and I like to refer to as a "Line." My British friends refer to it as a Queue. The point is, I think globally, most people understand the concept of waiting your turn.

As the first elevator arrived, those presumably there first started working their way onboard. In the midst of this, a group of approximately 6 travelers, each with luggage, entered the lobby area, pushing their way through the previously mentioned line and into the elevator, where 2 of them pushed their way onto this first elevator. The rest of us were basically just shocked by what we'd seen.

About the same time those doors closed, the next elevator door opened. Any guesses what happened next? Yup. The remainder of the new people immediately became FIRST onboard the next elevator.
They were joined by those next in our line.

These travelers were not native English speakers, so I have no idea if they understood the conversation the rest of us began having as the doors were still open. It was the conversation where we were all saying things such as "Oh, pardon me" and "Sorry for being in your way" and "You must really need that elevator." In the mean time, another guy presumably belonging to the line crashers arrived and again, pushed his way thru. He rudely pushed me in the back going by me. I turned around and said "Oh, I'm sorry. My backpack must have hit you. Sorry it is a large back pack and sometimes I accidentally run into people with it while I'm standing still." He may not have understood the language, but he got the point. He observed the fact there were still essentially 2 elevator cars of people waiting and he resigned himself to waiting. He yelled out in a foreign language what I presume to be "Have a cold one waiting for me, I got stuck behind these rude Americans who were already here waiting in line."

Rude people are Awesome! They make the stress of traveling that much more enjoyable.

Only by the grace of God, no travelers where harmed in the writing of this blog! Safe Travels!
Pat
Just created a new twitter feed: @travel_daze Please follow and share along

Bon Voyage!

2012-07-27T21:04:00.000-05:00

Hello, my name is Pat and I have a travel problem.

I travel for work. Frequently. Which means I've developed into a people watcher. I've heard a quote somewhere that airports are the only place where not only is it acceptable to people watch, it's expected!

I started posting little tidbits about travel observations on Facebook and have been doing that for about a year. Some are about oddities I see and hear while while traveling, others are situations I encounter. I decided to start this blog as a place to share. I'm new to the blog world, so point out what I do wrong!

I will post a bunch of my previous fb posts here in the next blog updates.

I hope you follow along and enjoy. If you like what you see, feel free to pass on the link. Feel free to chime in with comments, lol's and your stories too.

No travelers were harmed in the writing of this blog. Safe travels!
-Pat