Being Lucky isn’t always Without a Cost

I just got back from a business trip to Hawaii.  Yes, I’ve heard more than a few comments about how lucky I am and what I great job that I have.  I have to admit, it is a very beautiful place.  The water is bluer than I’ve ever seen.  The weather is almost perfect, although for a Florida girl, it’s quite chilly at night.  But as much as the location is pretty idyllic, the trip and location have a few draw backs.

Let me start with the trip.  I now know what a caged animal feels like, large one in a very small cage. Being 5’10”, sitting in one of those economy seats, where the person in front practically reclines into my lap, is no picnic.  Add to the cramped quarters the distance; Florida isn’t a quick trip and required two layovers.   The thought of it makes me start to get cranky all over again.  Add to that a 5:45 a.m.  departure means that I had no sleep the night before and one more thing…I took my 17 year old daughter along.  She decides that she wants to sleep the whole way to avoid flying and that my shoulder is the perfect headrest.  Well, it was just a peachy start.  May be not that bad, but this caged animal was testy and achy upon arrival some 18 hours after leaving home early that morning.

The other negative about a business trip to Hawaii is that Hawaii isn’t cheap…and the institution that I work for, is.  Or at least, they have rules that they make us live and travel within.  One is our travel budget.  My annual allotment wouldn’t cover much more than my airfare.  Thank heavens for the grant that I wrote that funded the rest of the trip.  And then there is the food budget, the per diem that is absolutely laughable.  The whopping $46 per day is meant to cover breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Did I mention that Hawaii isn’t cheap?  It’s just safe to say that I end up funding much of my expenses on my own.

The trip home could have been very promising.  Waiting at the gate, the airline requested volunteers to give up their seats.  Apparently they miscounted or calculated how many were on the plane and had majorly oversold the flight.  They offered a sizable carrot.  $400 voucher, two nights hotel in Waikiki, and transportation to and from the airport.  Yup – I’m right there.  We didn’t need to be home.  So, the agent rebooked us on a flight two days later, and we waited.  And waited.  And as they are boarding, we still waited.  Please be patient.  Sure, no problem.  Two more days!  I’ll be patient.  Finally,  the agent looks up and sees me…Oh, I was just getting ready to call you.  Here’s the deal… (Oh no!) I need one more seat and you are the only other volunteers.  You wouldn’t be willing to split up, would you?  (Really?  Honey, I’m with my 17 year old daughter.  I don’t think she’d be very happy doing that.)  No, I didn’t think so.  ….So, I’m going to call for one volunteer and if I don’t get it, I’ll take both of you.  (O.K. – damn!)

She asked, twice, and sure enough gets that one volunteer.  Damn you Justin Lee!  For the past hour, we had been listening to the other agent call over the P.A. every 5 minutes for Justin Lee to come to the desk.  Apparently, he was getting a seat reassignment but wasn’t listening too closely.  Why he had to listen closely to the offer to give up his seat I’m not sure, but he heard that one.  Oh well!  Extended vacation was not meant to be.

The flight home was worse still.  Major turbulence out of Hawaii had us bouncing all over the friendly skies.  No beverage service for two hours because the flight attendants were buckled in too.  The connecting flight was promising until we stopped backing away from the gate.  One of the instruments failed the check.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind.  I prefer my planes to have all their instruments working.  But, that meant a significant delay leaving and we missed our connection requiring our next flight to be rebooked.  Now an 8 p.m. departure from Detroit and …snow.  So add some time for de-icing and we finally land at midnight.

So, two entire days of my seven-day trip were spent on planes.  And the whole jet lag thing…it might not bother some people, but it has taken me two days to finally approach normal again.   In spite of it all, I love to travel.  And this trip gave me a lot of great experiences.  (I’ll write about them later.) But when people comment about how lucky I am for making the trip, I just smile…because I’m sure they don’t realize what goes into being that lucky.