July 24th, 2005

Travel

Phone Post: Stuck in Phoenix for the night. Yuck.

VoicePost
138K 0:35
“Hey, loyal readers, it's oddharmonic. Guess what? I got buttfucked by the airlines! We're stuck in Phoenix until seven tomorrow morning, at which point we'll get to Dallas, like, around eleven in the morning, when we were supposed to be getting there like what, ten, eleven hours earlier? So, ah-- if you see, like, a panicked post from me when we get home saying that, like, horrible things happened to the cat or the fish, now you know why. I planned for a week and did not plan to spend the night here and all their discounted [hotel] rates are booked. So, ah... yeah. Check the weather before you fly because we got stuck on the ground for TWO hours in Ontario. Talk to y'all later, bye.”

Transcribed by: oddharmonic
Travel

Phone Post: Morning has broken, still in Phoenix, hoping to get home today.

VoicePost
103K 0:27
“Hi, readers! This is oddharmonic again!

We spent the night in a hotel, at the lovely discounted rate of 60 bucks, to sleep in room that reaked of smoke and… crap from the guys next door who were up all night smoking and drinking and playing cards. But we took the 5 A.M. shuttle here; we've been here since about 5:30; I'm drink a large caramel macchiato; so, things are as good as they're going to get, and I will talk to you again when we get back to Dallas. Bye!”

Transcribed by: gamahucheur
Travel

Home again home again, clickety clack.

The subject line is what the reminder on Vogon's PDA said yesterday, but we were kept on the ground for almost two hours in Ontario due to a thunderstorm over Phoenix Sky Harbor and no guesses of when we'd be cleared to leave. Despite the reassurances that our connecting flight to Dallas would also be delayed due to the weather, we found out when we got to PHX that it had left on time.

( Collapse )

Lessons learned:
- Don't fly through Phoenix during monsoon season.
- The frequency of a hotel's shuttles may be a good indicator of its quality. (We saw the Crowne Plaza, Marriot, and Hilton shuttles go by every 10 minutes or less during the time we waited for the Clarion shuttle.)
- If you're don't expect to get at least 6 hours' sleep in a hotel when you're stranded, save your money and sleep in the airport. It'll probably smell better.