Traveling to AAMSC19

Hello, friends!

With the all the advances in modern technology, cross-country travel has become a breeze. Sure, the security lines can take a bit but all said and done, it's quite convenient. You go to the airport. You get on a plane. You do the crossword in the in-flight magazine. You take a nap. You wake up and you're there. Of course, things are different when you have kids (especially that nap part) but still, flying from Omaha to California should be a relatively painless experience. Since I was traveling solo without any kids, this should have been a breeze.

Emphasis on the word "should."

The plan was simple: I'd get up around 4:30 to get ready to go. I'd call a Lyft to pick me up around 5, get to the airport somewhere between 5:30-6, and have plenty of time to board at 6:30 for my 7am flight. However, I forgot to take 2 things into account:

1) Saturday night into Sunday morning, we got about 8 inches of snow on the ground. We also had temperatures down in the teens with the windchill making it feel like 0 or a few degrees below 0.

2) Lyft (and Uber) are ride share apps that require drivers being on the road to give rides.

I ordered my Lyft around 5:00 on Monday morning and waited for a driver to answer the call...

And I waited...

And waited...

And eventually tried calling a cab but they weren't picking up the phone

And waited some more...

Finally, it got to 6am and I knew that if I didn't hustle, I could miss my flight. Meg was still sleeping and the kids were too so getting them up to shuffle into the car was not an option (it would also be a really cruel thing to do to Meg). I called two of my co-workers but neither picked up (since it was 6 in the morning). Thankfully, my third co-worker answered the call but her car is terrible in the snow. Even though the roads had been plowed on Sunday after the snow, I was going to have to drive to her to pick her up and have her take my car after dropping me off at the airport.

Thankfully, there was no line at security and I made my flight without a problem. I touched down in Vegas for my hour layover.

Rather, I touched down in Vegas for my TWO hour layover because my flight was delayed.

Normally, an added hour to my layover is no big deal. But in Vegas, things are a little bit different. Why? Because there are slot machines everywhere.

You know how sharks need to always be moving because if they stop moving, they die? Well, at McCarron Airport, I need to keep moving because if I stop moving, I play the slots. I guess that's one of the joys of having an addictive personality.

So, I walked...

And walked...

And I got a smoothie because I was hungry...

And I walked some more...

Eventually, I got on my flight, made it to Orange County, and there were no problems. Also, this wasn't a particularly traumatic travel experience. I made all my flights, no one threw up on me, and the flights themselves were relatively smooth.

It's just a matter of what SHOULD have been...

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

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