My High School
Reunion
AKA
The Vacation from
Hell
August 9,
2003
In early June, I went to the
Travel Agency to get my airline tickets and car rental reservations. I got
a pretty good deal on the airline tickets on AmericaWest at $245.00
round-trip plus a $20.00 service fee since the airlines won't pay the agencies
any longer. To my way of thinking, it is worth it to have the ticket in
hand when I get to the airport so I can use curb-side check-in. My flights
were for July 23, 2003 and the return was for July 29, 2003. I also got
a week-long car rental at Hertz for about $104.00.
I signed up for 3 reunion
events and 1 post-reunion event. Paid $100.00 for the 2 reunion events
that did cost. This is only important for the totaling which will come at
the end of this little account of my vacation.
Made my SuperShuttle
reservations a couple of days before the flight. This is a great deal.
Just $17.00 plus tip for door to curb service plus luggage
handling.
The SuperShuttle picked me up
on time at 6:45am on Wednesday and I was at the airport in plenty of time.
I checked my one bag at the curb check-in and hung around outside for quite a
while when I learned that it only took about 15 minutes to get through
security. Standing is not easy for me, but I made it. I was
surprised that I had to take off my shoes and walk in my stocking feet through
the metal detector. I didn't like getting my white socks dirty and
therefor my 'just washed tennies' dirty, also. I have to admit that the
security was handled much better this time than the last time I flew in October,
2001.
The flights and the
connection were uneventful. When I got to Albuquerque, however, things
started going downhill. The walk up the jetway was pretty tough for
me. When I finally made it, I sat in the boarding area for quite a while,
trying to catch my breath. What was happening was that the altitude was
getting to me. Not used to it any longer, since I now live at 19
feet. Yes, double-digit altitude. About died laughing when I saw
that sign- only 2 digits. OK, enough laughing- I then started my
trek. The restroom was about the distance it would be to the next
gate. I went in there and sat for quite a while, too.
OK, now onward and
upward. This time I made it across the concourse and sat down. I
think I was at the end of the moving sidewalk.
Took the moving sidewalk and
sat down to catch my breath. Took the only picture I took while sitting
there. 
It would have been a nice picture of a suspended biplane if a large
plate-glass window were not directly behind it and I certainly wasn't going
to walk anymore than necessary or stand. I walked across more
floor and took the escalator down and finally to the luggage
claim. The only place I perspire is on the head. At this point
my hair is sopping wet and perspiration is rolling down my face faster than I
can mop it up.
At this point, I should also point
out that my flight was a little early and I got in at about 1:30pm, I
think. Found the circular baggage drop for my flight.
Everybody already had their luggage, except a couple of people and
me. I got my bag and looked for a place to sit and rest. Alas, none
to be found. I had looked up and down and could not see the Hertz desk
that I know I have seen there a zillion times- right next to the Avis
desk. After much pondering I decided that I was not going to walk another
step if didn't have to. Walked out of the area and found a
wheelchair and sat down by another lady borrowing a wheelchair who obviously was
having the same problem as I was. I was sitting across from the
Visitor Information Desk and after a little while I walked up to the desk,
told the nice volunteer lady that I was without wind, could not walk
another step and asked her if she could page a Skycap with a
wheelchair.
I saw the Visitor Information
Desk lady (she was much older than I am) walk over to the skycap and speak with
him. She then came back and asked which airline I was flying with. I
told her that I was arriving and just wanted to find the Hertz Rental
Desk. She said that all of the car rentals had moved off of the airport
grounds and that I would have to go outside and catch a shuttle bus to the
off-site car-rental area, which I did.
After quite a little ride we
got to the new site and I found the Hertz Rental Desk. He took all of my
information, asked for my driver's license and my credit card. I gave him
my license and my ATM card which doubles as a credit card. He told me that
they don't accept debit cards. Jeez, I have never had my ATM card turned
down. Whoa, things are starting to get worse. I don't have a
regular credit card, didn't think I would ever need one- guess I was
wrong. Better get one. Anyway, I told him that I would pay him
cash. He said that they don't accept cash. What is with this?
What is our society coming to?
He said that he would call
his supervisor who just parroted what the first guy had said. The original
fellow disappeared. The supervisor was looking for a telephone number of a
small local car rental company. He had heard earlier in the day that they
had one car left to rent and he knew that they would take cash. Meanwhile
the original fellow came back and said that he had found out that Budget Rentals
would accept debit cards. Of course they are located at the exact opposite
position of the Hertz counter which was way down at one end and Budget was way
down at the other end. Just what I needed, more walking but down I
went. By this time my head and hair were sopping wet and the
perspiration was rolling down my face again.
The Budget gal said that
they would deduct an additional $150.00 which would eventually be
returned upon inspection of the car upon its return. I said
"fine". She said that the total that they would be deducting from my account
would be $750.00. "Whoa! How much is the car rental?" I almost
screamed. "$600.00", she said. I explained that I could go
everywhere I wanted to go by taxi for much less than that and I would not be
taking the car.
The Budget gal said she knew
of this small local car rental company that still had one car and would take
cash or a debit card. Same outfit as the Hertz guy was trying to hook me
up with. Found out later that the local company pays a referral. The
Budget gal called and she still had the car. I, getting smarter asked how
much and she said $269.00. Still more than double what I was originally
supposed to pay, but it was just about my last hope. They said that the
sales rep would be over to pick me up, so I went outside and waited and waited
and waited and waited. By now you know all about the perspiration problem
and it doth persist. Went back in to the Budget counter and ran into the
local gal coming out and away we go.
Her company was really,
really off-site. The watchdog was cute and friendly, though. When we
got into the trailer, where the air conditioner was not working
she gave me a bottle of iced-down water. Now that was appreciated.
Now might be a good time to tell you that this has been one of the hottest Julys
on record for Albuquerque. They had even had a 104 one of the days before
I got there and 5 straight days of 100 or better, also before I got there.
Albuquerque might have 1 or 2 100s in a summer or usually, not any at
all. I thought I had just left all of that record-setting in
Sacramento. Not!
She took my driver's license
and asked for my insurance card. I told her I don't have an insurance card
and my insurance information is in my car, of course. So she asked for my
policy number. This is not something that I keep in my memory bank and
therefor do not know it. So she asked what kind of a car it was insuring
and I told her. Then she wanted to know the color of the car.
What?!?! I told her without laughing, which was much to my credit.
I asked her if I could get a
AAA discount like Hertz was going to give me and she said yes and would give me
$20.00 off. Now we are down to $249.00 plus tax. Now the
tax is a big deal. I think that the tax in
Albuquerque is 4.5%, while tax on car rentals at the airport facility I know is
36%, presumably to pay for the nice new quarters that they have plus all of the
nice new shuttle busses and the old drivers.
The car was a pretty nice
Honda, but she said that they don't keep new cars- this one was just fine.
She said that a scratch on two when the car came back was no big deal, however
if my hand could fit into the dent, that would be a big deal. I told her
that I would keep that in mind. Well all of the paper work was done and
then she said 'You can drive a stick shift, can't you?'. Jeez, do you know
how long it has been since I have driven a stick shift? As it turns out,
it wasn't just a stick shift, but 5 on the floor. After
the car got warmed up, I wasn't laying so much rubber or jerking my neck
back and forth as much. The rental lady said that she had an
automatic coming in tomorrow and that she would bring it to me and would
exchange it, which I certainly agreed to.
While waiting for the car
rental gal to pick me up, I noticed that an outside pocket on my luggage had
been unzipped. It was the pocket where I put all of the flat stuff,
reunion information, maps, etc. They seem to have taken the file folder that the 'stuff' was in,
and left the folder contents. At least that was nice of them, but stealing
a file folder didn't make any sense to me. Later on, it did make sense to
me, they had stolen my handicapped placard, what for, I have no idea.
Anyway they must have needed the folder for their getaway.
I was driving to my
sister, Sally's and decided since it was only 3:30, that I could take the
direct route because it was too early for the base traffic to get
heavy. Accidentally looked at the car clock and saw that it was 4:30- my
watch was on California time of course. Close call- sneaked around it all
on the side streets. By the time I got to Sally's it was 5:00 and
Daddy had already gone to bed. Had to wait until the next morning to see
him. Sally asked why didn't I call and I said that everything was
progressing all of the time and it didn't dawn on me how late it was
getting.
Then Sally dropped the
bombshell on me 'I forgot to tell you that our air conditioning is out'.
This definitely added to my breathing difficulties.
When the car rental lady
called the next day, I told her that I had lost my placard and couldn't drive
anywhere, anyway, so I would just keep the car I had to use on Saturday morning
and return it Saturday afternoon. She told me to return it to the lot
where I had gotten it. She failed to tell me that they close at 2:00 on
Saturdays.
Before I left Sacramento, I
had planned to have lunch with my friend, Shirley on Thursday. I
introduced Shirley and Tom, her husband and they still like me over 40
years later. Proud of that.
I was having a hard time
drying my hair, the perspiration kept getting it wet all over again. Got
it as dry as I could, then started curling it with my electric styling
brush. The wet hair kept sizzling every time I touched it with the hot
brush. Finally gave up and declared it 'done' in hopes that it would dry
before we got to the restaurant, which it did in the car with help of the air
conditioning. Turns out that Shirley and I, each have a Toyota, although
hers is a little bit heavier and I remarked that her car rode better than mine
did. Then I said oh, never mind- better roads. We went to Paul's
Monterey Inn which is my favorite prime rib place, but after 6 years of
California, I was really hungry for Mexican food, so I had enchiladas. We
had a pleasant time catching up on things.
The next day, Friday, were
the first events of the reunion. I don't play golf, so I didn't sign up
for that, but did sign up for the all you can eat BBQ on the Sandia Indian
Reservation. By this time I had decided that I could only make the morning
events and not the evening because of the heat and the wet head problem.
So I skipped the BBQ. $50.00 down the drain.
Saturday morning was the
ladies brunch. This year it was up in the mountains and I did consider
skipping it because of the difficulty I was already having with the
altitude. Guessing, I would imagine that her house was at an altitude of
about 7000 ft. I went anyway because I did want to see at least some of my
old classmates. I had a terrible time making it up her driveway, taking a
few rest stops on the way up. Glad I went though. Was able to see
and talk with several of my friends and enjoyed it immensely.
Penny's home was just fabulous, complete with about a 12-foot waterfall on the
back patio. I want to arm-wrestle her for her kitchen and
views.
I told a classmate, Susan
that if she could make it to the brunch, I would see to it that she got back to
her sister's house in Corrales, where my brother lives. So we stopped by
Sally's first, and can't remember for the life of me why. We visited
for a while then I took her back to her sister's. We visited for a
while with her sisters- another one was also in- from Maryland, I
think.
I then took the rental back
only to discover that the lot was closed, so I took it over to their after-hours
drop off place, a motel. Left the key and took a cab back to
Sally's. Would you believe that the air conditioning in the cab wasn't
working? This is getting old. This is sounding like a conspiracy. Can't breathe. Sister's air conditioning out and she did not warn me. A/C out in car rental place. A/C out in cab. It cost me $30.00 for the ride which
was a surprise.
I skipped the main event on
Saturday night. Too bad, too because it was a Mexican buffet at the
Albuquerque Country Club, but I just couldn't make it. Already told the
ladies Saturday morning that I wouldn't be going. I tried to talk Susan
into using my reservation (she was in town unexpectedly), but she said that
she wasn't able to go. Another $50.00
shot.
Sunday morning I had planned
to attend the farewell breakfast (non-official reunion event) and church
afterward and then to have lunch with Marilyn and Rees who I would meet at
church. I called Marilyn Saturday night and begged off. Knew I
couldn't make it.
Sunday morning I was in much
worse shape so I asked my brother-in-law, Dave to take me to Urgent
Care. My oxygen saturation was 60%, which should be 100%. They kept
me on oxygen for a while, gave me 2 prescriptions and let me go. Monday
morning I was worse, so back to Urgent Care. I sat waiting to get into
triage for about an hour. My oxygen saturation was 60% again. The
nurse came in and said that I was turning blue and they put me on oxygen
again. When the doctor saw me, she said that if she had seen
me the day before, she would not have let me go. She had an EKG and
X-rays taken. Then called for an ambulance to take me to the hospital
where I spent 3 days tethered to the oxygen from the wall.
My roommate was from hell,
too. It seems that she thought it was her personal TV for her use
only. I cannot begin to tell you how many Jerry Springer shows and like
shows aired in my room. She found some channel that kept airing them back
to back to back, etc. She also found a channel that aired 'Raymond' back
to back to back. I finally got interested in one, and 10 minutes before
the end, she changed the channel. She was worse than a man on that remote
of hers.
When the doctor finished
reading all of the test results, he concluded that at least for now that I will
be on oxygen full time, including the flight home. I told the doctor that
with my chronic bronchitis, allergies, asthma and the fact that I smoke, that
when I hit the high altitude, it pushed me over the edge of the
cliff. He responded with "You are exactly right". The
worst problem seemed to be my chronic bronchitis- that coupled with all of my
other problems was just too much. The hospital contacted Apria Healthcare
to get me set up on oxygen. Mimi was their representative and she worked
her fingers to the bone for me getting everything all set up. This was no
easy task. I did the airlines part of it. Mimi got an oxygen
concentrator plus extra travel tanks sent to Sally's house. The
concentrator extracts pure oxygen from the air and sends it down the
tubing
You know, people think I am crazy when I talk about how great I think Albuquerque is. I have lived almost all over this country and visited a few countries that I would not like to return to. Albuquerque is the only city that chose not to screw me.
I have been in towns that seem and act friendly, like the one that I work in, now, Stockton, CA. It is nice that strangers speak to you on the street, but beyond the nice "Hi" on the street, that is it. Especially when you want on the freeway. They are like the drivers in Denver and block your entrance. Sixty miles north in Sacramento, they make room for your entrance. 'Splain that.
I had to deal with 3 cities with the same oxygen company. Houston and Sacramento had to meet me at the gate. Albuquerque had to set up everything (basically did all of the work) and pick up the tanks that I left at the airport. Houston and Sacramento felt it was necessary to get the dog when it is down. Other than the normal charges for their equipment, there were no extra charges for their services by the Albuquerque office.
I was flying AmericaWest, but
they don't have oxygen and Mimi found out that apparently the only one that did
was Continental. The AmericaWest was a non-refundable ticket, so that just
becomes a used piece of paper to me. Can't use it for another flight
because they don't have oxygen and tickets are non-transferable, so it just
becomes trash. $122.50 out the window.
I called Continental and told
the gal that I needed a reservation to Sacramento and she said let me stop you
right there, I can't sell you a ticket to Sacramento. But this is an
emergency, I explained. Doesn't matter, she said, can't sell you a
ticket. So I hung up. Thought about it for a few seconds and called
them right back. That just can't be right. It is the only choice I
have. The next gal obviously was better trained or informed.
I bought a one-way ticket to
Houston and a one-way ticket from Houston to Sacramento, like I knew I would
have to. This little special routing cost me $745.00 for the tickets plus
$150.00 for the oxygen for both flights. Apria had to meet my flight in
Houston for which they charged me $100.00, so I could get from one gate to
another and they had to meet my flight in Sacramento for which they charged me
$150.00 so I could get my luggage and get home where a concentrator was already
in place. That is a total of $1,145.00 to get home plus $122.50 out the
window. Pretty valuable, aren't I?
I was originally supposed to
fly out on Tuesday, but Continental needed a 2-day notice to make the
arrangements for the oxygen, so Saturday was the earliest that I could go.
Reservations were for 4:30, getting into Sacramento at
10:22pm.
This gave me time to call
Marilyn and tell her about my hospital trip. She said that she had a whole
room full of people (I am sure that she meant our Sunday School Class) praying
for my quitting smoking but she wasn't expecting such dramatic results
and I reminded her that God does answer prayer.
Also by this time, I realized
that I had put the handicapped placard in another pocket in the duffel bag so it
was not stolen.
Because I had to wait to get out of
town, I was able to see my brother, Jay. Jay, Chris, his wife and Derek,
my favorite nephew had dinner at Paul's and this time I ordered the prime
rib. I couldn't eat all of it- besides we usually order a large cut to be
able to take leftovers home for Daddy. When I got settled in the back
seat of the car to go back to Sally's, Derek handed me my leftover meat.
He tipped the box a little and then I had au jus all down the front of me. Just
an added tidbit to my otherwise wonderful
vacation.
Mimi also got me set up with
the Houston office and the Sacramento office. And made arrangements to
pick up leftovers at Sally's and that which I left at the Albuquerque
airport.
There were so many things
that had to work perfectly for me to get home that it really had me
nervous. My brother, Jay drove me to 
the airport and got the skycap with a wheelchair to haul me and my two
tanks around. She was a nice lady and allowed me to go shopping. I
needed to buy something for Jill and Shirley who cared for my dogs while I was
gone, and for a much longer period of time than originally
scheduled.
I selected a cute bejeweled
gecko for each of them which is pictured. At least I thought they were
cute and I hope they do, too.
The Continental ground crews
and fight crews for both legs of the flights were just super to me and really
fussed over me. Apria met my flight in Houston with a fresh tank of O2-
getting really tired of typing 'oxygen'. Continental got me to my gate for
the next leg of the flight. They decided to put me in first class, I guess
so they could keep an eye on me. I didn't argue with them. Also,
this way, I got food and at this point was getting pretty hungry. We
waited about 45 minutes for a connecting flight to arrive from Orlando with 38
Sacramento-bound passengers aboard. Then another 10 minutes for their
luggage. Somehow, the pilot managed to make up most of the waiting time up
in flight and we landed in Sacramento about 10:30pm.
I waited for everyone to
disembark because I needed a wheelchair. And I couldn't give up my O2
until I was sure that Apria was out there with a spare tank. Sent someone
down to the gate and no one was there. Great. Made it perfectly
until now. I talked the crew into letting me off the plane and took the O2
with me so some of them could go home or to the hotel. Well I was off, but
no one was leaving. The skycap was there with a wheelchair, but after
waiting for a while and no one was moving, he left. I am sure at that time
of night there were probably not many skycaps working and there were other
passengers. The captain was looking up the Apria telephone number in the
telephone book and he called it and no one answered. They bill themselves
as a 24-7 service outfit, but it sure wasn't looking like
it.
Somehow, a call was made to
security which calls the deputy sheriff. The call was misinterpreted as a
lady in respiratory distress and the EMTs showed up. I assured them that I
had O2 and was breathing fine and managed at least to send
them home. The deputy then went searching the airport for
the Apria guy. Found him resting comfortably in his truck.
Jeez! Supposed to meet me at the gate. Of course by now we have lost
the skycap and even paging him, it is going to take a while for him to
return. So guess who starts pushing my wheelchair- the captain of the B737
that we flew in on. This, in the airlines world, is like asking Queen
Elizabeth to push the chair.
The skycap caught up with us
and took over chair duty and the Continental crew finally left. I am
feeling very guilty over this, but in reality, it was one Apria guy's
fault.
OK, here goes the rest of the
evening. The Apria guy didn't even have the tank ready, and I am now
sitting there without O2. I finally told the idiot to turn the engine off
in his truck as I was getting asphyxiated and sitting there without O2.
Well he finally got the tank ready and it didn't work. If it were my job,
I would have had it put together and tested before I even left for the
airport. I am amazed at my restraint at not kicking him where the gene
pool would not be compromised by his offspring. He then
starting opening many, many boxes in his truck. He finally found a
pulsating regulator to put on the tank so at least I would have O2. Then
kept searching and searching for the original regulator or whatever it was that
he felt he needed. Said that he didn't have it but the office was just a
short distance from the airport and he would be right back. Well I found
out later that it was a big lie, since I was there yesterday. It is many
miles away.
I had the deputy call for the
skycap, because at this point I really, really had to go visit the ladies
room. This is the second time this day that a man has taken me to the
ladies room. No choice.
When back, the deputy said at
least he would try to find my luggage. Came back and said that there were
several passengers looking through a locked glass door saying there is my
luggage, etc. All luggage is now locked up and no one with a key in
sight. The deputy went back and evidently someone unlocked the door
and he was able to get my bag.
The deputy had been hanging
around me for my protection for quite some time, but had to take off. I am
at this point the last passenger in the airport, and for all intents and
purposes the airport was closed. He had the security cameras directed upon
me, told the baggage gal that I was out there all alone. I did have one
scary moment earlier when 3 suspicious-looking people passed a little too
close by me where my camera, duffel-bag and purse were, but it was just a false
alarm.
The Apria guy had been gone
at least half an hour and I have about had it, so I called a cab company and he
asked if there were any cabs left in the cab stand because it would take about
20 minutes for him to get a cab from downtown. Saw the skycap and
yelled the question to him and he said that there was one left, so I
let the guy on the phone go and by the time the skycap could do anything, that
cab was gone, too. By the way this was supposed to be a $17.00
SuperShuttle ride. The skycap came back and volunteered to drive me home,
which wasn't too much out of his way but not the quickest route of course.
I accepted. The Apria guy got back just as we were about to leave. I
told him that I was planning on leaving and didn't care. He sure didn't
care about me, why should I care about him. Let him twist in the
wind. Remember that Apria is charging me $150.00 for all of these
privileges.
Howard drove me home and then
finished setting up the Apria compressor, which wasn't completed by whom?
Apria, of course. I tipped Howard $30.00 more. I sure hope that was
in line, but I suspect that there are no guidelines beyond the normal curb
service. I should have been home by 11:00, but it was a little after
1:00am before I got home. Almost went smoothly. It only takes one
jackass to screw up the works.
Yesterday, I had to drive to
Apria to meet with a Respiratory Therapist. I found Maria, my rep and told
her all about my experience. Guess what, they refunded the $150.00 to
me.
RECAP
| Action |
Who Normally Does It |
Who Did It |
| Pushes Wheelchairs |
Skycap |
Continental Captain |
| Retrieves Luggage |
Skycap |
Deputy Sheriff |
| Gives Ride Home |
SuperShuttle |
Skycap |
| Item |
Orig. Cost |
Used |
Add'l. Cost |
Wasted |
Ref./Not Paid |
| Airline Tkts
| 245.00
| 122.50
| 745.00
| 122.50
| .00 |
| Travel Oxygen
| .00 |
.00 |
400.00
| .00 |
150.00
|
| Car Rental
| 104.00
| .00 |
249.00
| .00 |
104.00
|
| Ground Trans.
| 17.50
| .00 |
30.00
| .00 |
17.50
|
| Reunion Events
| 100.00
| .00 |
.00 |
100.00
| .00 |
The reunion committee refunded my $100.00, Thanks, Jackie.
