Mileage Run

A new first for me this week - a business trip which turned into essentially just a mileage run. The cancellation notice came out very late and while I was already in flight and incommunicado. Had I been a Crackberry addict, I still wouldn't have avoided the trip out, but could have immediately turned around on the red eye flight home.

Instead, I obliviously picked up a rental car, drove 60 miles, stopped for dinner, checked in to the hotel, called home, and then logged in to check e-mail, where I received the voice mail message not to fly out.

Faced with a choice of driving back to the airport at 1 am with no sleep, or driving back at 3 am with only two hours of sleep, prudence dictates the former. I then contemplated sitting around the check-in counters, waiting for them to open at 4:30, to ensure that I'm the first in line to get tickets, on the fastest route to my destination, ahead of all the other...

No Waiting Lines

But wait - I already have a confirmed e-ticket booking. A helpful AAgent tells me about the 24-hour Subway in the food court. After a whole day of healthy eating, it has now come down to pizza and coffee for breakfast. At this hour, all the booths with soft bench seating are occupied, by the lost, the unlucky, and the mentally ill.

It's quite surprising how many people are actually travelling around first thing in the morning. There are lines at security, and again at the lounge. Finally, we start boarding. All the way back in Row 41, I take my window seat and a long-delayed nap. Eventually, I arrive home 27 hours after I left. At least I got to see a couple of movies along the way...