Welcome to The Middle Seat! For those that don't know me or
who are not familiar with this Blog, I will get you caught up shortly. I say
caught up because this Blog has actually existed for the past year and a half.
I should explain a bit more. I started the Blog in May of 2011 and I
"retired" it in July of 2012...more on that in a minute.
Flash forward to today and The Middle Seat is back...you can
thank The Reading Eagle for agreeing to carry The Middle Seat as part of their
Digital edition. This was important to me because as much as I enjoyed writing
about my travels I also found at times the Blog made my travel worse...I looked
for problems so I could write about them. I also realized I needed some
affirmation (okay lots of affirmation) that people actually read it (they did)
and liked it (some did or so they
said). I discovered this more after I put this Blog into
"retirement". In any event, the Blog has returned. Now let's get you
up to speed...
I travel for a living. Actually I negotiate labor agreements
for a living and since my "territory" is the entire United States, I
travel...a lot. The work does not come to me so I go to the work. Now I know other business people travel more than
I do but given that I am "on the road" at least 40 weeks a year, I
felt that qualified as enough travel to tell people. When you travel that
much...things "happen" and that is what I will be sharing with
you...my "adventures". For instance, two years ago I flew to Florida
in mid-December (with my wife) simply so I could achieve the highest status on
my preferred airline. It was a brilliant plan and I did achieve my status...our
flights home were also canceled which meant we drove home to Pennsylvania (I
needed to be back for work). Oh yes, and I got the stomach flu somewhere around
Rocky Mount, North Carolina. It wasn't pretty. My wife drove by the way...
Some ground rules. I think this is important so you
know what you are signing up for here (you got an idea just a second ago). This
is not
a travel site Blog. You most likely won't learn a significant amount about air
travel, rental car or hotel tips and "best practices" from a veteran
traveler...unless you pay really close attention and have a great imagination.
What I have always tried to accomplish is to provide some humor for your week
while along the way sharing a bit of my travel life with you. If this seems like
it is not something you want to invest your time in...I fully understand. If,
on the other hand it is something you do want to follow...welcome.
Posting: I will make every reasonable effort to post
once a week. This should be fairly easy to accomplish since I have roughly a
year's worth of previous posts that I can tap into if need be...and I probably
will. On occasion I may use a previous post if it makes sense to provide new
readers (I know huge assumption on my part) a bit of insight about me, my
family or the site...and if I run out of time! I plan to have new posts on the
site by each Monday morning...we'll see.
Grammar: I do my own editing and proofing. I am bad
at this. Understand that and you will feel less compelled to write me and tell
me about all of my "errors".
Comments: Please do so! I welcome the feedback on the
Blog site, topic ideas and of course your positive comments!!
So without further delay and with my apologies to "veteran"
readers, I am posting my original post from May 11th, 2011. I am doing so because
I think it will give you an immediate understanding of me, the type of Blog
this is and how I think...in other words, it's a great way to get to know The
Middle Seat. I hope you enjoy...buckle up.
Departure Day: (Originally posted on May 11, 2011)
Monday:
4:45 AM: The alarm on my
smart phone blares the calypso music my wife calls “Caribbean Dance Party”. It
is departure day for another business trip and like most nights before
departure day, I sleep fitfully. Not wanting to oversleep I awaken roughly
every hour calculating how much time I have before I must get out of bed. It is
a ridiculous exercise I repeat for nearly every trip. My smart phone has never
failed me even though hotel wake up calls have. Nonetheless, I am a creature of
habit. Inevitably I hit a deep level of
REM sleep moments before the alarm sounds. Today is no exception and I groan as
I exit the bed.
5:15 AM: After a slow start
I move steadily now to meet my self imposed 5:45 AM departure deadline multi-tasking as I go. I am not
a good multi-tasker. I have coffee brewing, eggs cooking (slowly) and I decide
to pack the car while all this is going on. I enter the mud-room and awaken
Chase and Murphy, our Golden Retriever and Chocolate Lab “experiment” (he is
NOT a pure breed). While I am not a deep sleeper, I do sleep better knowing the
dogs will at least startle any potential intruder providing me some sense of
security as the “protector” of the house. That comfort has now been thrown out
the window. Today they would be better named “Coma” and “Tose” as both are out
cold. They look like teenagers being awakened for the first day of school,
squinting through the bright glare and seemingly asking, “What’s your problem”? They follow me out and while I
load the car, they take care of their morning “business”, except Murph is
taking longer than usual. Eventually, I discover why, I have solved the mystery
of the missing Ziploc bag from the table a day earlier. The car is packed, the
dogs are back in bed and the eggs are overcooked.
5:47 AM: I congratulate myself
for basically hitting my deadline. The weather forecaster on “Way Too Early”
(It is by the way) says it will be a beautiful day in the Northeast and the
Mid-Atlantic (I live an hour from Philadelphia).
“Thunderstorms cropping up in Minneapolis…expect
airport delays and rough weather out that way”. I connect through Minneapolis…
7:14 AM: I have parked my
giant SUV in the parking garage. My car hits the yellow colored “no vehicles
larger than 6 ft.” sign with a loud screech and bang every time I enter the
lot. While the car seems no worse for the wear, the sign could use a coat of
paint. I continue this ritual as I have yet to get stuck in an up or down
ramp. I head to the self-serve kiosk to
print my boarding pass. I checked in yesterday but with a new company issued
laptop, I am unable to print on my printer at home. This technological speed
bump is easily fixed by most people except me. I have neither the patience nor
the ability to remedy this situation without using a debit card…so I complain
and work around it as much as possible. While checking in I failed to notice my
seat assignment so I am thrilled to discover that I am in First Class to
Minneapolis. I am on a waiting list to San
Francisco, my first destination this week. For the
first leg at least, my Florida
trip in December has paid off.
7:52 AM: Philadelphia to Minneapolis. I have boarded the plane, A Boeing
757. Unlike most aircraft, on these you board at a secondary door behind first
class and go left instead of right. While I am thrilled to be among “the elite”
this morning, the boarding procedure eliminates my primary way to pass the
boarding time. That is, to see what passengers look like “famous” people. Given
the circumstances, I am happy to skip the game.
11:44 AM (CDT): Minneapolis to San
Francisco. COACH!!! I AM IN COACH!!!? I obviously
spoke too soon and now I question why I would take a weekend out of my life
last December to become “Super-Duper Elite” only to be assigned seat 20B on a
flight over three hours. The “B” must stand for “Basically no leg room” or
perhaps “Be miserable for the next three plus hours”. Either way, there isn’t
and I am.
1:55 PM (PDT): We land in San
Francisco and while it was not an enjoyable experience
my emotions are tempered as a “medical emergency” occurred on board that
required paramedics to greet our flight and remove a passenger. No word on her
condition but she walked off under her own power…barely. My smart phone prompts
me to switch to west coast time but I reject it as “too much technology”.
Getting out of my seat I bang my head on the overhead bin. A number of people
gasp and many ask if I am okay. I do my best “that didn’t hurt impression” and
pack up. No medical emergency just humiliation as I appear to be some “rookie”
flyer…the label further enhanced by my seat assignment of 20B.
3:07 PM (PDT): I have retrieved my rental car and arrive at my meeting
destination. Late. The drive over was temporarily improved by the fact that my
rental car had satellite radio. Unfortunately no one had activated it and while
the “preview” channel tries to be enticing. It isn’t. After a two hour meeting
takes three, I depart for a dinner meeting and then head off to my hotel.
Lights out at 10:00 PM left
coast time and my nearly twenty-one hour day is complete.
Tuesday:
1:45 AM (PDT):
The Caribbean Dance Party starts all over…my “smart” phone thinks it is 4:45
AM…too much technology and my day begins way too early…
Posts
Great to have you back!
ReplyDelete