Merry Christmas from Roadboy!

The Glamor of Travel

In order to economize travel costs on a recent business trip to Wisconsin I booked a round trip through O'Hare. It meant a couple of extra hours of drive time, but would save some taxpayer money....

Everything was working. Drives were smooth and this morning delivered blue skies. I caught an on-time hotel shuttle and discovered short lines at TSA Pre.

We boarded on time. I got my exit row, the travel gods were smiling. Life is good.

Then we got the dreaded pilot PA describing too much baggage, an injured laser beam smoke detector and some other technical stuff all culminating in a "minor delay".

Soon, the minor delay became a full hour. 

Then we were asked to get off the plane and remove our luggage (never a good sign). 

Then the rolling waves of delay started to crash....

2 hours became 4 hours, 

4 hours became 6 hours, 

6 hours became 8 hours.
8 hours becomes 10 hours.

Fingers crossed......

So bummed.

Amidst all this, I had been wondering when I was going to get the chance to compose my holiday letter this year. Well I guess Airbus Industrie and American Airlines just stepped in to solve that dilemma for me!

It's really easy to get jaded about delays when things start to go wrong. Partly because over the years the airline industry has perfected special ways of compounding "wrong".

But this time of year I have to admit it just seems like a time to chill.

A joy of travel for me is people watching. And (maybe aside from the ambulatory freak show known as Las Vegas) there are almost no better places on earth to watch the human parade than big airports like ORD.

At the holidays you dilute tired business travelers with effervescent, wide-eyed kids and a few dazed college kids all returning home or off to Grandma's house.

There's the lady with the two friendly little Scottie dogs that came and sat down next to me attracting every kid for six gates.

And the impromptu guitar concert from a (very talented) fellow passenger.

Then (to their credit!) American rolled out a very well stocked food cart with real food (sandwiches and wraps, sodas and juice, not just granola bars). And a few hours later they rolled out another fully stocked cart.

OK, I'm starting to forgive them, a little.

All the while Diane Schurr's perfect pitch is serenading me in my wonderful travel headphones.

And O'Hare has got some pretty SpecT holiday decorations this year too.

Holiday's in O'Hare

Now if O'Hare would just fix their crappy Boingo® free Wi-Fi limit of 30 minutes.....

But I digress.

The point is no matter what life tosses at you, Roadboy says (especially this time of year) relax, its just life. Its also better than covered wagons and steam trains.

Roadboy also wishes you and yours smooth travels and a wonderful holiday season!

UPDATE 12-22-2017: 

I just received an e-mail from AA apologizing for yesterday's delay. It went on to inform me that 10,000 bonus FF Miles had been deposited in my account. Color me surprised (and even a bit more forgiving).

Roadboy's Travels © 2017