Driving my cah around the Yahd - My Boston Trip Day #1

So, my trip got off to a stressful start as I arrived at LAX at 9:30 for a 10:35 flight to Boston last night. I took a flight on United and as I got to ther terminal I saw that the line was snaking around the terminal. I had some baggage to check in, so I had to get in line. Grrr...The line was BARELY moving...

Upon further inspection, I saw that the ticket counter consisted of all self-service kiosks with a few attendants helping people to check in. What was slowing things down was that nobody in line was being notified when the self-service kiosks were open. Grrr...

So as I inched closer to the front of the line, I noticed a sign..."Baggage check-in closes 45 minute prior to flight." I looked at the time...9:40 PM. And I was nowhere near the front of the line. YIKES!

Just as I realized my potential luggage troubles, I could see another woman screaming in the phone about a situation with her ticket. In between the damns and profanities spewing from her mouth, I could make out that she was talking about a flight to Boston. Oooh...this wasn't good. At this point, two other people in front of me expressed their concern about getting on the flight to Boston and jumped the line. They started to talk to a representative. While eavesdropping, I heard about the potential of their luggage not making it to Boston.

I think jumped the line and joined up with them explaining that I was on the same flight. The attendant then asked me to check in and grabbed my luggage. I signed a slip of paper acknowledging that my luggage was checked in late...it was already 10:05 PM by this point! I ran to the security check-in went through security and joined the back of the line of people getting on my flight.

I got on my flight and took my seat...a better one that I had originally booked thanks to a friend who works for the airline. Nibbled one some snacks and quenched my thirst...got a little distracted by Chris Evans' shirtlessness on the flight movie ("Fantastic Four") then nodded off with a little anxiety about my luggage...

Woke just as we were descending. Raised the window shield to see that it was quite gray in Boston. And it was raining...ahh...how I had forgotten about the gray, rainy autumns...

Touched down and tried my best to get out of my groggy state. Headed down to the baggage claim area and waited anxiously to see if my luggage had made it...no, that wasn't it...nope, that's not mine either...bag after bag, suitcase after suitcase, none of them were mine...until...what? that can't be? It is! My luggage made it! YAY!

Snatched it up...and in doing so, got a little second wind of energy to hop on the shuttle and head to the car rental place. I picked up my car with very little trouble and got directions to my hotel.

I promptly took the wrong tunnel and had to backtrack...ahh...so it began...my adventure of driving in Boston. Another thing I had forgotten...Driving is a pain in the ASS in Boston. For those of you not familiar with driving around Beantown and especially Cambridge...many of the streets don't have signs and the streets often change names. Also, there are MANY one-way streets meaning that if you screw up, you can't necessarily go back the way you came...This happened many times today...MANY times...

It happened when I went to the Cambridgeside Galleria to pick up my tux for the wedding...it happened when I tried to find my hotel...it happened when my sister and I went to Harvard Square to meet up with my friend Adam for lunch...it happened when I went to meet up with Sam, Alan, and Alexis at Kendall Square. I swear, it felt like I was in a bad episode of the Amazing Race. I was half-expecting to see Phil Khoegan on a mat telling me that "I'm the last to arrive." Oh, and the rain didn't help either...

Neverthless, it's good to be back in Boston and Cambridge. It's amazing how very little has changed. The Au Bon Pain is still at the Square...so is the Pizzeria Uno.

I'm just so damn tired right now...I dunno if it's the jet lag or work lately...but I conked out for quite a while this afternoon...was in the middle of doing some work on a job-related project from my hotel room (god bless wireless!) and I just started dozing off. I lied down on my bed and before I knew it, I was in the middle of a four-hour nap. Grrr...