Train, Plane and Automobile

Published by Bobby Laurie | 2 comments

I’m in the midst of one of the longest trips in my off-time that I’ve been on in months. It’s not all for pleasure either, I’m trying to make my way home from Portland, OR where Gailen and I appeared on MORE Good Day Wednesday morning, and it’s turning into quite the adventure.

I knew when I headed up to the Pacific Northwest that this trip wasn’t going to be easy. We had a jam packed schedule and the flights in and out of the city were tight, not a good time to make a last minute reservation.

I arrived in Portland at 11pm on Tuesday night, the airport was empty, but flight after flight pulled in offloading a ship load of passengers. As they all walked past me, they looked at me as if I was about to be one of those people that slept in the airport because no one else was around. Just me. In a chair. Designated for those persons with disabilities. Finally, at 11:35pm Gailen’s flight from Dallas pulled in. The Aluminum 80 herself brought the Aluminum Lady to Portland. He didn’t have an easy day. He was scheduled to fly Miami-Houston-Los Angeles-Portland and because of weather in Houston he missed his flight to Los Angeles and got rerouted through Dallas and then up to Portland. We went to baggage claim, and waited..and waited.. and waited.. and his bags never arrived.

We then realized that maybe his bags continued on his reservation with Alaska airlines, so we bounced from Alaska to American a few times trying to find where in the world his baggage was, not alas, no one knew. Without his bags we headed off to out hotel.

Finally, falling alseep at 2am it seemed like within minutes my alarm at 645am went off to start the process of getting ready to head over to the studio. For the first time in my life I’ll say it: Thank god for makeup. They covered up what looked like two black eyes. It looked as though I had been beaten up in the fight of the century, but you couldn’t tell.

We returned to the hotel, worked on a few projects, napped, had a few conference calls, worked on a few more projects and slept. Then, our adventures home began.

Gailen arrived at PDX to find that American had cancelled his reservations. It seems that after he was rerouted in Houston, the agent cancelled his return flight, because — well, who the hell knows. He eventually got it worked out and was once again flying through Dallas instead of through Boston.

For me on the other hand, I boarded an Amtrak train to Seattle. Business class, thank goodness. The trains, much like the flights out of PDX were booked solid. There wasn’t a seat to be had. After more napping and working (thanks to free wi-fi on the train) and a snack I arrived at Union Station in Seattle at 12:05pm. Boarded the light rail off to the airport, checked in and here I sit at 3pm waiting for a flight to Los Angeles at 5:45pm. The only flight with availability for miles. Once I get to LAX, I’ll get in my car and drive back home.

Other than by boat, I will have encountered every form of business within the travel industry in the past 2 days. Hotel, included.

It’s funny though. Today’s a long day. I won’t be home till 8:15am, just about 12 hours after I left Portland. But theres got to be something said about not having to be somewhere. Just go along for the journey, and take in the sights. It’s been kind of relaxing.