life as a dog…

The second Tampa trip is out of the way.

These last two months have been packed with traveling.  As of right now, it looks like I’ll have some down time from travel.  That’s good and bad.  I like traveling, but it will give me a bit of a rest.

My next confirmed trip (at least at the moment) is New Albany, Ohio three weeks from now.  There were possibilities of New York, Boston, Atlanta and New Orleans, but I’m not how many of those will actually happen.  They are still in the “tentative” column.

Today was the day to return home.  Traffic was a little busier today on the way to the airport.  I can only assume it was because there was a little bit of rain on the way.  Apparently people in Tampa are as bad at driving in the rain as they are in Washington.  Just a little mist and everyone slams on their brakes.

I had to bring the two computers with me on this flight.  Up until now, they have been shipped via FedEx to the next location.  There is no “next location” this time.  If I had been flying any of the legacy carriers, I was looking at probably close to $500 just for those.  Extra bags AND overweight.  Thankfully, I was flying Southwest…by far the best airline when it comes to traveling with equipment.  According to their baggage fees, it would cost me a total of $75 in excess baggage fees.  But I was able to get it down a little bit more.  I asked for the media rate.  Granted, I wasn’t carrying cameras, but I was carrying equipment that was for a video purpose.  I managed to get the fee down to $60.  Not bad.

Getting through security was pretty easy.  It was slow, but there were not very many people there.  But again… people are stupid.  I don’t know how many times I’ve mentioned this, but come on… it’s been over 7 years since 9/11.  Shouldn’t people know the rules by now?  The guy in front of me, who looked like a business traveler (so he should know better) put his laptop in a bin with his shoes.  Then, when we were waiting on the other side for our bags, he was informed that he cannot bring liquids as big as he had.  His reponse?  “I was in a rush.”  Um…right.  Even if you were in the biggest rush possible, it doesn’t take but a few seconds to make sure you have your liquids in your checked baggage.  Idiots.

The flight was about 75% full, I think.  Even though I checked in online exactly 24 hours ahead of time, 13 people managed to get ahead of me.  I guess it’s the luck of the draw on the website.  We all probably hit it at the same time.  I wasn’t able to get a bulkhead seat this time, but the row I was in had two empty seats…so I was all alone in my row.

Once I got back to Dulles, I had to go pick up Harley.  Got that taken care of and made my way home.  Normally, I would have left the computers in the car for a little bit – I wouldn’t have brought them right up.  But I had other stuff I needed to do today that required the space in my truck.

I’m very glad to be home.

Just like last week, event day was Wednesday.

Call time for me was 1:00pm, but I wanted to arrive earlier – when the A/V crew was due.  That way, I could make sure I was set up next to them.  But I really couldn’t do that unless I wanted to arrive WAY early.  There was an event going on before mine.  I do not want to be setting up for a show when another show is going on.  I’d just be in the way.  So I ended up getting to the location at 12:30pm.

Everything went according to plan… the AV crew did have a power issues again, but that was quickly resolved.

Wouldn’t it figure…the weather in Tampa in the morning was nice.  Not a cloud in the sky.  But by the time I was at the location…more rain.

I am ready to go home.

Today was a nearly identical day to last Tuesday.  Drive out to Dulles and fly down to Tampa on Southwest.  Were there many difference?  Just a few…

I dropped Harley off at a friend’s instead of the kennel.

I was smart enough to check in online with Southwest almost exactly 24 hours until flight time.  Five people got in ahead of me.  I’m A-20 in the boarding list.

Dulles was a LOT less crowded this time around.  I don’t know how much of that has to do with the Memorial Day weekend.  Was last week more crowded because people were going places (on a VERY extended weekend, though…since it was Tuesday).  Or did most people do their traveling yesterday, on Memorial Day itself?

We did have an interesting flight.  We had two male flight attendants who kept hitting on the passenger sitting next to me.  It was pretty amusing.  And successful.  One of them got her phone number.

Because of the weather, we took a roundabout trip to Tampa.  Instead of a 2 hour flight, it ended up being about 2.5 hours.  We flew down the east coast of Florida and then circled around and approached Tampa from the south.

My car with Thrifty last time was a Dodge Caliber.  This time it was a… Dodge Caliber.  I’m not positive, but I think it’s actually the same car I had last time.

My equipment was stored at the Howard Johnson’s…exactly where I left it.  Unlike the car, I did not get the same room.  I was in 431 before, this time I’m in 528.

The job tomorrow is at Tampa General Hospital again.  But not in the same OR.

Yep…one week after being in Tampa, I’m headed to… Tampa!

The schedule is identical:

• Tuesday: Fly to Tampa.
• Wednesday: Event Day.
• Thursday: Fly back to DC.