On Wednesday, I traveled to [tag]New York City[/tag] to make a presentation about [tag]JobDig[/tag]. [tag]The Big Apple[/tag]. How exciting!

Here is how the first day of travel went:

11:30 AM: I arrived early for the 12: 50 PM flight. Bonus–I upgraded to first class for only $75, since I was saving about $300 taking [tag]Sun Country[/tag], I spurlged.

12: 15 PM: We are all on board.

1:15 PM: We take off, not so bad.

2 PM: The pilot informs us that due to weather and bad karma, we are being held over Wisconsin; since the traffic is so bad going into NYC. Wisconsin, New York; New York, Wisconsin—we are not even close, and we are circling?

3 PM: We are still circling over Wisconsin and the pilot now says ‘they’ want to bring us back to Minneapolis. Again, bad traffic into NYC, he says. Luckily, for us, yeah right, he has convinced “them” to allow us to land in Green Bay. All that circling has taken too much gas and he needs to refill. So, we land and re-fuel.

4 PM: We take off from Green Bay. It is going to be awfully difficult to make our 4:25 PM scheduled arrival time at JFK.

5 PM: The pilot says that we may have noticed that he had been turning slightly to the north. That is because he has been told to zigzag across Canada, again because of the delayed traffic getting into NYC.

5:05 PM: I forgot to mention that over one row and one row behind me, is a screaming baby. Normally, screaming babies don’t bother me. This one had a sort of croupy cry mixed up with one that sounded like someone was sticking him with a needle. This was constant, I kid you not.

7 PM: We are now on the way to NYC.

7: 45 PM: We are circling, waiting for our turn to land. I get the feeling that air traffic control helps the big carriers first, ignoring the smaller independents like SunCountry. I feel we are getting a condescending pat on our collective heads, “Wait Your Turn, you cheapasses.”

8: 30 PM: We land. Some of us are cheering. The crying baby doesn’t seem to notice at all, so it was not his ears. He continues to cry, some people say they feel like crying too.

8:35 PM: The ground crew is not expecting us, so we don’t have a place to park the airplane. We are out on the ramp some where, and it is now raining hard, and evidently it has been raining like this all day.

9 PM: We park the plane.

9: 30 PM: Thirty minutes later, we get off. That is because we parked in a place where they had to send a bus to pick us all up to take us to the airport proper. What is this, 1965? The bus is all full with standing passengers, elbows, bad breath and sweat. It must be 100 degrees and 98% humidity.

10 PM: I find SunCountry baggage claim.

10: 30 PM: Announcement is made that ‘they’ have closed the ramp due to lightening. This means they can’t get the luggage off the plane? Are you kidding me? Have you ever heard of such a thing.

10:40 PM: Some male passengers are starting to organize, we think we know where the plane is and why don’t we just go out and get our freaking luggage. It is starting to get nasty. Luckily, this was all in my head at this point and not really happening. But it could have!

12 midnight: I am serious here. Two hours later. Now, a poor young girl has been sent to make this announcement: “Peeple, peeple, bag claim guys got sent home, due to ramp closed. Bags are not here, come back tomorrow. Not coming tonight.” English was not her first language…and I actually felt sorry for her. Let’s just say, she was on the wrong end of a real shitstorm. No bags. My meeting was at 10 AM, and I need that suit.

12: 30 PM: The taxi line is like hundreds of people long, this might take ’til morning just to get a cab. All flights have been cancelled. But we are saved. A native NYC guy, says for us to follow him to the bus, then to the subway into Manhattan.

12:32 PM: About 20 of us follow this guy through the rain and board the bus at 12:50 AM, 12 hours after we left Minneapolis. The bus ride costs $2 and the surly driver says “coins only.” I give him $5 and ask him to call the cops. He pockets the money.

1 AM: After a half hour of stopping every three minutes and getting up close and personal with some of the other passengers who are hanging on for dear life, we reach the end of the line. No subway??

1: 15: Our tour guide guy, says hey it is right around the corner. It is raining hard and I have no freaking idea where I am. If this is Queens, it really sucks.

1:30: Subway ride. OMG, words escape me now.

2: My stop I think, someone tells me it is close to my hotel. It is.

2: 15: I am at my hotel. This is another story, suffice it to say, that $200 does not get you much in NYC.

5 AM: I wake up, and have to figure out how to get back to JFK, find the SunCountry baggage claim, and get back with enough time to change . Traffic, they say is terrible…and this is 5 AM!

5:30 AM: I take the hotel limo out to JFK, and convince George to wait for me. We agree on $100 for both ways.

7 AM: I am wandering around JFK, terminal 4, looking for baggage claim. Our bags are not where they should have been last night…they must have been taken to a safe area. I notice several people from the night before. One guy stayed at the airport all night long. He is really pissed.

8 AM: I find a locked room with bags in it. I find my bag. Success. We are like rats who just found the pantry door open. People are grabbing bags, whatever.

8: 15 AM: I find George, my limo guy. He actually waited for me.

9:15 AM: I am back at the hotel, and get ready for my first meeting.

10 AM: In a taxi, now I am officially lost. My directions said “west” and it should have said “east.” And, I can’t call because I have lost my cell phone. I left it in the limo.

10:15 AM: So, I blow off this first meeting, and actually get in touch with George, who does have my cell phone, and gets it to the hotel for me by 11:30 AM.

12 PM: I arrive at the venture conference, and have to make a speech to about 200 venture capitalists. I am the 13th presenter out of 20.

[tags] business trips, bad trips, getting around New York, bad flights, NY travel [/tags]

Thanks to Robert for inspiring me with his own blog.