Friday. May 12th. 2006

Here's the running diary of our trip to Boston:

4:15: Mrs. G wakes up. Of course the alarm's gone off three times already.

4:30: I wake up. I'm not as tired as Mrs. G.

5:20: We head out the door.

5:50: Park in the Blue Lot at the Columbus Airport. The Red Lot was closed. That means I have to pay an extra dollar a day to be a whole 300 yards closer to the terminal. Make mental note: Parked directly under the sign that reads: 2D.

6:00: Check-in. All seems well.

6:05: Put clothes back on after passing through airport security. Reach Departure Gate.

6:15: Notice old man wearing the same sweater I planned to wear at my sister's graduation the next day.

6:17: Notice there can't be more than 15 people at the gate, and yet 3 of them are standing by the entrance to the jetway. There goes my chance to get on the plane and pick my seat first. Oh. Wait. It's assigned seating.

6:30: Board the plane, comfortably settling into a window seat.

6:45: As plane begins to taxi for takeoff, pilot slams on the brakes and proceeds to make a U-Turn on the runway. A U-Turn! In a 727! On the freaking runway! This is going to be a great flight.

6:47: First pre-8 a.m. thought: Can a plane hydro-plane?

6:55: Take was smooth. Proceed to put turn on my iPod. Of course I'm sitting directly over the engines and I can't hear a thing, even with the volume turned up, the sound pumping directly into my ears. And it's the iPod that's causing hearing loss?

8:20: Land in the armpit of America (read: New Jersey).

8:35: Buy a Cafe Mocha and a Hot Chocolate and a coffee cake for breakfast at a Starbucks wanna-be. Cost: $10.55. Airport food.

8:40: Arrive at our gate, notice the board reads: Houston, realize something maybe wrong.

8:42: Run back up the moving escalator and notice our flight is "On Time" but doesn't have a gate. That seems a little optimistic, a little arrogant. But apparently pilot's these days can manage to be "On Time" despite actually having a place they are to be at.

8:45: Continental agent tells us our flight is cancelled. Really. And I thought it was "On Time".

9:00: Another agent tells us the flight was cancelled the night before and we were rescheduled to fly out at 9 p.m.. Something that could've be brought to my attention YESTERDAY!

9:05: Change destination to Boston sted Manchester. Flight Attendant: "Hopefully, your bags will get on the same flight and be there when you get there."

9:10: Mrs. and me spat. I didn't quite catch the "Hopefully" part of the explanation.

9:20: Decide to head over to Hertz to change car rental location.

9:40: Hertz tells me they can't make the change and I have to call Hotwire.

9:43: Second spat. Confidence in Continental to "hopefully" get us our bags in waning fast.

10:15: Get through to Hotwire. Cancel car reservation. Am told I can't make a new one because they can't do one-way rentals. Apparently it's too expensive. Great.

10:35: Speak with several companies over the phone. Secure car rental with Thrifty for affordable price.

10:45: Put clothes back on after passing back through security. (It's important to note that even if we had not made the trek to Hertz outside the airport, we would've still had to travel to a different terminal and because Newark is so ghetto, you have to go through the security process again.)

10:55: Reach gate and begin to unwind a little. Still worried about baggage.

11:25: After boarding the plane, pilot tells us the flight will be delayed because of bad weather in Boston. New departure time: 12:24. Pilot: "It's pretty bad in Boston right now folks. And it's only supposed to get worse as the day goes on." Right. So let's wait to take-off. Makes perfect sense.

12:22: Leave Newark. I hate Newark.

1:00: Land in Boston.

1:20: Bags did not make it. And we had such a guarantee, too.

1:30 Bag Claim lady tells us the bags will be sent to Manchester at 9 p.m. Huh? But we're in Boston.

1:31: Am told there's nothing they can do, but they'll try to get them to Boston and deliver them to our hotel.

1:40: Get on Thrifty shuttle to go get our car.

2:05: Get rental car. Dodge Stratus. Original cost in Manchester: $50. New cost: $175 (after est. gas and insurance).

2:07: Make first "I drive a Dodge Stratus!" quote. (It's only funny if you check out the link)

2:09: Second "I drive a Dodge Stratus" quote.

2:15: Reach Sumner tunnel. Cost: $3. Distance in Sumner tunnel: 3/4 mi.

3:15: Continental baggage claim tells us they'll get us our bags by the end of the night. In the meantime, they gives $100 per person to cover lack of clothing for evening plans. (read: Red Sox game at Fenway).

5:00: Finish shopping trip. Clothes: $140. Tolietries: $50.

5:12: Pass by the town of Arlmont, MA. Try saying that with a Boston accent.

5:15: "I drive a Dodge Stratus!"

5:23: Park at Alewife station. Notice, again, I am under a sign that says: 2D.

5:30: Get on the Red Line and head to Fenway.

6:30: Mrs. G walks into Fenway for the first time. She has a moment. I have a moment.

6:40: Seats are 5 rows from the field.

7:20: Red Sox down 2-0.

7:40: Red Sox down 4-0.

8:15: Rain begins. Light at first but progressively getting heavier.

8:42: Double-fisted man occupies vacant seats one row to the right.

8:45: Rain is much heavier. Double fisted man takes off his shirt.

8:55: Man returns triple-fisted.

8:57: Random woman decides to join him.

8:59: Woman takes off her shirt.

9:01: 10 Security men come over and escort them away, but not before triple fisted man downs beer and a half and then proceeds to puke all over the man sitting directly in front of him.

9:10: Red Sox down 6-0.

9:11: Decide to leave after the bottom of the sixth after Papi and Manny are up. It's really raining now.

9:12: Mrs. : "We can go back to the hotel and take a warm shower and then take our wet clothes to the laundry room. Do they have a laundry room at the hotel?"

9:13: Mrs. : "Only...we don't have any dry clothes to wear to the laundry room."

9:19: 2-1 Count on Ortiz and the umps call the game. A 2-1 count! What the $%#$%#^$!!!!!

9:29: Back on the train. Very wet, but thoroughly happy with our experience. It was Fenway.

10:01: "I drive a Dodge Stratus!"

10:24: Walk-in hotel room. Find out our bags have arrived!

12:01: After a warm shower, a thorough review and laugh at our day and an Orange Fanta and PB cups, fall asleep.

The thing of it is: (Total Cost + Total Time and Stress) < (Jen and me at Fenway + Seeing my sister graduate from college)