Thursday, September 1, 2011

Four Points


Don't fly with me.  I'm the guy who has to pace and otherwise remain fully stressed until on the plane with bag tucked neatly under the seat in front of me. The behavior usually starts about 2 hours before the 2 hour drive to the airport. It resolves when we’re all aboard and our sundry carry-ons’ stowed.

Our flight the other day left out of Detroit at 9AM. Great fare. Problem is Detroit is a one and a half hour drive and could be considerably longer at that time of the morning. The options are: get up at 4:30 and try to leave by 5:30 for a smooth sail; get up at 5:30 and leave at 6:30 and hope you don't hit traffic; drive down the night before and stay at a airport hotel.

Travelling with our little guy we elected option 3, the airport hotel. So much for cheap tickets. Although the hotel wasn't terribly expensive it does add a few dollars per person to the cost of travel. The worst of it is the fact that you don't realize how little rest you may get the night before your trip.

We stayed at a Four Points.  Turns out the four points are four bullet points, reasons you should have stayed home and gotten up early:

     • noisy as hell AC unit that transmits directly through the mattress into your head;
     • uncomfortable little bed designed for two very, very small people;
     • broken toilet seat which offers amusement park type thrills without warning;
     • a shower tub which doubles as a foot bath because the shower drains slower than molasses in January. (And I know a bit about molasses in January living where I do.)

As it turned out we survived the night and made the flight on time.  We were even early enough get reassigned to 3 seats together—no small feat some days.  Next time, however, we’ll take the night flight.

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