So since my last post, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and all of January have gone by.....wow! I knew it had been awhile, but not that long! So much has transpired since my last post!
Here's the December rundown:
Two weeks before Christmas, I took my very first business trip-3 states away. I was asked to go for 2-3 days, consented, then the bosses came back and said that actually, it would be 6 days! I was not happy, but had already committed based on the original duration stated to me. I went on my trip the following Monday. Did I mention they asked me on Thursday afternoon if I could go? Scrambled to get flight, hotel, and rental car figured out on short notice-got it all reserved and confirmed.
During the weekend, my little family and I went Christmas tree shopping. We found the most gorgeous Noble Fir that stood just shy of 10 feet tall, was tagged as a 7-8 ft. tree, so was $40 cheaper than it should've been SOLD!!!!! We brought our lovely tree home, hosed it off, shook out the loose needles, and blow dried it with our leaf blower. I was thrilled to decorate this tree that required use of our ladder to put the angel on top as well as string the lights. It is the biggest tree we have bought to date. I spent most of Sunday perfecting my tree, putting away the ornament boxes, etc. and packing. Our house smelled amazing!!! And then I had to leave the next day.....
Left Monday mid-morning from the airport & got to experience flying post 9/11 for the first time as I haven't flown since 1997! I switched planes in Phoenix, the gate I was to go to was not displayed correctly on the monitor, so I went to the gate which told me the next flight was to Mexico. (I was not going to Mexico!) I went to another monitor to check my gate, saw that it was the original gate displayed on my ticket, and by that time, I had to sprint thru the terminal to my actual gate to catch my connection flight. I boarded out of breath as my asthma had flared by that point, and I tried to breathe normally as best I could to avoid stares. It took me a good 20 minutes or so!
When I reached ginormous airport, I claimed my suitcase, then headed to the Avis desk to pick up my rental car. (Yes, I'm calling them out!) By this time it was 8:45pm, I was famished, and I had a long drive ahead of me to my final destination. I went to the desk, the guy is trying to get me to upgrade this & that and as a good active listener, I'm responding with the uh huhs as he's talking. Little did I know that with every uh huh I uttered, he's tacking on everything he mentioned inflating my charges to almost double what I expected. I never stated, "Yes, add that on or I want that". He slides my credit card and announces to all around me that my card was declined!!!!! I'm immediately embarassed, and confused at why on earth it would decline. I ask to verify the total, to which his answer was waaaay more than I expected so I ask him where that figure came from. Long story short, he turned me away telling me maybe another company could help me. I go to another rental desk, stand in line for almost 10 minutes only to discover all their cars are rented out. Livid, hungry, humiliated, and dying to get on the road, I go to another car rental desk and ask them if they have cars available. As I'm giving the guy my info, jerkface from Avis comes over to me offering to match the price at another company if I will allow him. I told him he better get me a damn good deal because I am royally pissed off and he better make it worth my while.
