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Traveling, and the Art of Inconvenience
Jun. 9th, 2003 06:40 amWell, here's the trip update, sorta. Hopefully I won't get too derailed. Post was begun at 12:22pm on 6/8/2003, so we'll see how long it takes.
I'll start by saying that the PEOPLE I was visiting were fabulous. Delights, all three of them. It was the incidental twitches that weren't quite... right.
The entire thing was booked via ExpediaThe flight out was fairly smooth; we were late getting to check-in, so we didn't manage to get seats next to each other, though we did get close. The standard seats on the plane were just -barely- big enough to hold me; a snug fit, but I managed. American Airlines seems to brag an awful lot about 'roomier' seats and such - if it's true, I would've had issues with another airline's seats. Personally, I'm not buying it... it sounds too much like a slick ad campaign that's not really measurable. Megan was sick on the flight out, and miserable by the time we hit the ground. After several false starts and more walking than I was really up to, we got to the rental car lot.
The car we'd booked was unavailable. We ended up with a 'free' upgrade to the next size class, which didn't upset me overly, but it meant spending nearly 45 minutes in the Dollar office. It wasn't their fault (or Expedia's for that matter); an accident had taken that vehicle out of service. The rental car was was the only one of the big expenses that went well.
We drove for a longish while (Doug's directions made amused comments about driving till you're sure you've gone too far, and then driving some more), and finally arrived at Doug & Ysabet's place. We'd been warned that they were having some issues with water and plumbing, and I'd passed them along to Megan dutifully, but I just don't think she really grasped what 'the well's gone dry' and 'the pipes burst' really mean. It didn't phase me; I've lived in some pretty primitive conditions. It spazzed her that she couldn't take her daily (sometimes 2) shower. *rude noise*
I had a -marvelous- visit with Doug and Ysabet. The house is a great place, really. There is the issue of the pipes that affects part of the place, but that's in the process of being fixed. And once everything sorts out, city water is now available to them at the street, and that'll solve the well problems. They've got the matters in hand, but because they're fairly major projects, things take time. *shrug* It'll sort out, and then the place'll be even groovier than it is now. :) Ysabet gave me some positively glowing feedback on one of the pieces I've got in a 'started but not finished' state, we had long discussions on the rather anal retentive way some pagan organizations are being run, and generally had a blast.
Mid week, we said our farewells to D&Y and headed back north, aiming for the Ramada Inn O'Hare in Rosemont, one of the burgs surrounding Chicago proper. With my traffic info on Chicago being nearly a decade out of date, we landed ourselves on I90/I94 in the middle of evening rush hour, and spent -hours- getting across town. With Megan whimpering in the passenger seat, carsick and miserable, and me chainsmoking like a fiend. The Ramada was a relief to sight at last... a relief that turned into a slow, burning anger shortly after.
Expedia mentions that there may be incidental expenses, but also states that they try to list any major fees and include them in the price estimate. *snort* So it was a rather nasty surprise to be nailed for a $9/night parking fee. And to discover that the 'free cable' was actually 9 channels, four of them local stations, and a variety of pay-per-view movies that started at $10.99 each and went up quickly in price. And to discover that the bathroom looked like something out of a Flying J truck stop, complete with the same type of toilet typically seen in roadside rest stops. I had to step half into the damned bathtub just to shut the door, that's how cramped it was. The exhaust fan didn't work, either.
I shook my head and tried to shrug it all off, opting to just unpack. I was totally fried from being locked in bumper-to-bumper traffic, and really just wanted to have a final smoke and crash for a bit. Megan picked a bed and sat down, only to have the bed collapse. Helped her up, pulled the bed apart, put it back together and told her I was going out for a cig. Stepped out, noting that the doors just beyond our room were equipped with a passcard system just like the room locks, and thought 'At least I can get back in when I'm done'. Hah. Hah hah. Hah. Bullshit. Hoofed back up to the main doors, stopped at the front desk and griped about the broken (now fixed, it was unBOLTED for God's sake) bed and the broken card reader. Got a snippy 'Sorry about that' in response. Grr. Hit a payphone, called Rowan... chatted happily for a bit, made arrangements for the next day, and finally lurched back down to the room.
We decided we were both too fried to go out, so we just ordered something light from room service. The prices were high (expected), but Megan wanted the hot fudge sundae that was listed. Notation on the page says that an 18% gratuity is automatically added in. *sigh* Whatever. Just send me the damned food. When it arrived, I handed the guy the amount on the ticket (including the 18% gratuity), and he had the sheer balls to ask me for a tip. So I smiled and said 'Man who runneth behind bus get exhausteth.', waved jauntily, and closed the door. I normally tip 15% or better. I'm /not/ stingy with tips. But there was already an 18% tip there, and I'd already had a bellyful of the Ramada.
We'd been there less than an hour.
We opted to order actual -food- from Perry's Deli, a mistake I will NOT be repeating any time soon. Food took almost an hour and a half to get to us, and proved to be mostly inedible. Megan's BBQ ribs were so damned salty even I couldn't stomach them, and my sandwich was soggy and as devoid of taste as hers was salty. The garlic bread wasn't bad, but the rest... went in the trash. Megan foraged for snacks in the hotel gift shop; I went to sleep without anything more. I was just too tired to think about it.
During the night, we discovered more joyful tidbits. The walls were paper thin, so every time a door closed it sounded like a cannon. When the people in the room next door got in the shower at 5:03am the next morn, we discovered that the pipes weren't vented properly... and that the pipes SCREAMED the entire time water was running next door. I crawled out of bed feeling like I'd been run over by a circus train. At 6:00 am the construction crew returned to continue working out in the parking lot, giving us lots of fun booms, bangs, and beeps as the trucks milled about. At 7:00 am the maid staff started banging in and out of doors. At 8:00 am, I got fed up, went out to the car, moved it around to the back of the hotel, and slept for a couple hours -there-.
Finding Rowan's place was simple and straightforward. Rowan was every bit the delight that I'd expected, if not more. We geeked, watched vids (NEVERWHERE totally r0xx0rs!), talked about more topics than I can remember, and finally parted ways about 5 hours later so she could get a nap before work. Arrangements were made to continue the visit the next day.
Went back to the hotel, and got another bellyful of the Ramada. All phonecalls from the room -had- to be dialed as long distance, stacking more charges on what was already there. MY bed fell apart when I sat down, necessitating the same repair to it that I'd had to make to Megan's the night before. We talked about how bad Perry's was, how we didn't want to pay another dime to the Ramada room service, and opted to try and venture out in search of food. /That/ at least turned out decently; we found a Red Lobster and ate fairly cheaply, and returned to the room with warm and full bellies. Nothing on our whopping 9 channels of tv. We talked for a bit, and Megan decided to camp on my laptop and play WarCraft II. I curled up with a marvelous book I'd gotten from Ysabet: Sender Unknown by Sallie Lowenstein. Utterly marvelous. Rowan, darling, I was hawking this book while I was there, and I -meant- it. Get it. You'll like it. :)
The second day out with Rowan was even better than the first. While watching the second part of NeverWhere, we cuddled a bit. *dreamy smile* I just wish it hadn't stopped... and that I hadn't had time limits. It ... is an unacustomed delight to be taken as I am... it was one of the high points of the trip. I left a couple sizeable bags of stuff at Rowan's place, and money to ship it to me. And I still nearly didn't get everything back in the verdamnt suitcases.
Megan and I ate from the McDonald's across the street, and packed it in early. Our return flight left O'Hare at 6:39am the next day, and we still had to return the rental car before we could check in. The flight back (also on American Airlines) was on an even smaller plane. Seats were about the same size, but we shared the plane with a group of about 50 15-16 year olds on a site-seeing trip to DC. Noisy as all hell. Heavy turbulence for most of the flight made it all the more tiring, but the landing was the kicker here. The cloud deck went all the way down to the pavement, and either the instruments on the plane needed calibrating or the pilots weren't paying attention: we hit the runway so hard that half the overhead compartments flew open, and the jolt knocked Megan's glasses off her face. Ugh.
Which reminds me: Doug, Ysabet... /my/ glasses apparently got left at your place. Can you pretty please send 'em out to me? Reading's kinda hard without 'em. :/
We collected our baggage and finally found the shuttle stop. When we got to the satellite parking lot it was raining so hard we could barely see. Finding the car was... amusing. :p We were thoroughly soaked by the time we located the Saturn and got everything loaded into the trunk.
I'm still hazed from the trip... 'm hoping some sleep this morning will restore what's left of my wits. But I'd promised a trip update... and here it is.
Were I to do it over, we'd rent a car here and just drive... it'd be cheaper, and not really take that much longer.
But the Ramada O'Hare is on my hate list.
~Ellie-chan, globetrotting clockwork
I'll start by saying that the PEOPLE I was visiting were fabulous. Delights, all three of them. It was the incidental twitches that weren't quite... right.
The entire thing was booked via ExpediaThe flight out was fairly smooth; we were late getting to check-in, so we didn't manage to get seats next to each other, though we did get close. The standard seats on the plane were just -barely- big enough to hold me; a snug fit, but I managed. American Airlines seems to brag an awful lot about 'roomier' seats and such - if it's true, I would've had issues with another airline's seats. Personally, I'm not buying it... it sounds too much like a slick ad campaign that's not really measurable. Megan was sick on the flight out, and miserable by the time we hit the ground. After several false starts and more walking than I was really up to, we got to the rental car lot.
The car we'd booked was unavailable. We ended up with a 'free' upgrade to the next size class, which didn't upset me overly, but it meant spending nearly 45 minutes in the Dollar office. It wasn't their fault (or Expedia's for that matter); an accident had taken that vehicle out of service. The rental car was was the only one of the big expenses that went well.
We drove for a longish while (Doug's directions made amused comments about driving till you're sure you've gone too far, and then driving some more), and finally arrived at Doug & Ysabet's place. We'd been warned that they were having some issues with water and plumbing, and I'd passed them along to Megan dutifully, but I just don't think she really grasped what 'the well's gone dry' and 'the pipes burst' really mean. It didn't phase me; I've lived in some pretty primitive conditions. It spazzed her that she couldn't take her daily (sometimes 2) shower. *rude noise*
I had a -marvelous- visit with Doug and Ysabet. The house is a great place, really. There is the issue of the pipes that affects part of the place, but that's in the process of being fixed. And once everything sorts out, city water is now available to them at the street, and that'll solve the well problems. They've got the matters in hand, but because they're fairly major projects, things take time. *shrug* It'll sort out, and then the place'll be even groovier than it is now. :) Ysabet gave me some positively glowing feedback on one of the pieces I've got in a 'started but not finished' state, we had long discussions on the rather anal retentive way some pagan organizations are being run, and generally had a blast.
Mid week, we said our farewells to D&Y and headed back north, aiming for the Ramada Inn O'Hare in Rosemont, one of the burgs surrounding Chicago proper. With my traffic info on Chicago being nearly a decade out of date, we landed ourselves on I90/I94 in the middle of evening rush hour, and spent -hours- getting across town. With Megan whimpering in the passenger seat, carsick and miserable, and me chainsmoking like a fiend. The Ramada was a relief to sight at last... a relief that turned into a slow, burning anger shortly after.
Expedia mentions that there may be incidental expenses, but also states that they try to list any major fees and include them in the price estimate. *snort* So it was a rather nasty surprise to be nailed for a $9/night parking fee. And to discover that the 'free cable' was actually 9 channels, four of them local stations, and a variety of pay-per-view movies that started at $10.99 each and went up quickly in price. And to discover that the bathroom looked like something out of a Flying J truck stop, complete with the same type of toilet typically seen in roadside rest stops. I had to step half into the damned bathtub just to shut the door, that's how cramped it was. The exhaust fan didn't work, either.
I shook my head and tried to shrug it all off, opting to just unpack. I was totally fried from being locked in bumper-to-bumper traffic, and really just wanted to have a final smoke and crash for a bit. Megan picked a bed and sat down, only to have the bed collapse. Helped her up, pulled the bed apart, put it back together and told her I was going out for a cig. Stepped out, noting that the doors just beyond our room were equipped with a passcard system just like the room locks, and thought 'At least I can get back in when I'm done'. Hah. Hah hah. Hah. Bullshit. Hoofed back up to the main doors, stopped at the front desk and griped about the broken (now fixed, it was unBOLTED for God's sake) bed and the broken card reader. Got a snippy 'Sorry about that' in response. Grr. Hit a payphone, called Rowan... chatted happily for a bit, made arrangements for the next day, and finally lurched back down to the room.
We decided we were both too fried to go out, so we just ordered something light from room service. The prices were high (expected), but Megan wanted the hot fudge sundae that was listed. Notation on the page says that an 18% gratuity is automatically added in. *sigh* Whatever. Just send me the damned food. When it arrived, I handed the guy the amount on the ticket (including the 18% gratuity), and he had the sheer balls to ask me for a tip. So I smiled and said 'Man who runneth behind bus get exhausteth.', waved jauntily, and closed the door. I normally tip 15% or better. I'm /not/ stingy with tips. But there was already an 18% tip there, and I'd already had a bellyful of the Ramada.
We'd been there less than an hour.
We opted to order actual -food- from Perry's Deli, a mistake I will NOT be repeating any time soon. Food took almost an hour and a half to get to us, and proved to be mostly inedible. Megan's BBQ ribs were so damned salty even I couldn't stomach them, and my sandwich was soggy and as devoid of taste as hers was salty. The garlic bread wasn't bad, but the rest... went in the trash. Megan foraged for snacks in the hotel gift shop; I went to sleep without anything more. I was just too tired to think about it.
During the night, we discovered more joyful tidbits. The walls were paper thin, so every time a door closed it sounded like a cannon. When the people in the room next door got in the shower at 5:03am the next morn, we discovered that the pipes weren't vented properly... and that the pipes SCREAMED the entire time water was running next door. I crawled out of bed feeling like I'd been run over by a circus train. At 6:00 am the construction crew returned to continue working out in the parking lot, giving us lots of fun booms, bangs, and beeps as the trucks milled about. At 7:00 am the maid staff started banging in and out of doors. At 8:00 am, I got fed up, went out to the car, moved it around to the back of the hotel, and slept for a couple hours -there-.
Finding Rowan's place was simple and straightforward. Rowan was every bit the delight that I'd expected, if not more. We geeked, watched vids (NEVERWHERE totally r0xx0rs!), talked about more topics than I can remember, and finally parted ways about 5 hours later so she could get a nap before work. Arrangements were made to continue the visit the next day.
Went back to the hotel, and got another bellyful of the Ramada. All phonecalls from the room -had- to be dialed as long distance, stacking more charges on what was already there. MY bed fell apart when I sat down, necessitating the same repair to it that I'd had to make to Megan's the night before. We talked about how bad Perry's was, how we didn't want to pay another dime to the Ramada room service, and opted to try and venture out in search of food. /That/ at least turned out decently; we found a Red Lobster and ate fairly cheaply, and returned to the room with warm and full bellies. Nothing on our whopping 9 channels of tv. We talked for a bit, and Megan decided to camp on my laptop and play WarCraft II. I curled up with a marvelous book I'd gotten from Ysabet: Sender Unknown by Sallie Lowenstein. Utterly marvelous. Rowan, darling, I was hawking this book while I was there, and I -meant- it. Get it. You'll like it. :)
The second day out with Rowan was even better than the first. While watching the second part of NeverWhere, we cuddled a bit. *dreamy smile* I just wish it hadn't stopped... and that I hadn't had time limits. It ... is an unacustomed delight to be taken as I am... it was one of the high points of the trip. I left a couple sizeable bags of stuff at Rowan's place, and money to ship it to me. And I still nearly didn't get everything back in the verdamnt suitcases.
Megan and I ate from the McDonald's across the street, and packed it in early. Our return flight left O'Hare at 6:39am the next day, and we still had to return the rental car before we could check in. The flight back (also on American Airlines) was on an even smaller plane. Seats were about the same size, but we shared the plane with a group of about 50 15-16 year olds on a site-seeing trip to DC. Noisy as all hell. Heavy turbulence for most of the flight made it all the more tiring, but the landing was the kicker here. The cloud deck went all the way down to the pavement, and either the instruments on the plane needed calibrating or the pilots weren't paying attention: we hit the runway so hard that half the overhead compartments flew open, and the jolt knocked Megan's glasses off her face. Ugh.
Which reminds me: Doug, Ysabet... /my/ glasses apparently got left at your place. Can you pretty please send 'em out to me? Reading's kinda hard without 'em. :/
We collected our baggage and finally found the shuttle stop. When we got to the satellite parking lot it was raining so hard we could barely see. Finding the car was... amusing. :p We were thoroughly soaked by the time we located the Saturn and got everything loaded into the trunk.
I'm still hazed from the trip... 'm hoping some sleep this morning will restore what's left of my wits. But I'd promised a trip update... and here it is.
Were I to do it over, we'd rent a car here and just drive... it'd be cheaper, and not really take that much longer.
But the Ramada O'Hare is on my hate list.
~Ellie-chan, globetrotting clockwork
