Busy weekend, part 1

[fbhjr]

Thursday after work we drove to the airport in Boston.


Our plane was waiting, but we were early, so we had dinner at the terminal as we often do in such cases.



Our destinations were about 3,200 miles away as we ate, and not getting closer.


Soon we were on the plane, it took off and most folks fell asleep. I’ve never been good at sleeping on planes.


We were at the back of the plane to get seats with only 2 per side, but at least I could see the front from there.


The windows on the 787’s seem to ice up a lot at 41,000 feet.



Planes seem incapable of landing in a straight line at Heathrow.



We made a very sharp turn and if it was a car I’d have said the back wheels slid, but on a plane that doesn’t make sense. Right?

I’m a Hertz Gold member and they were supposed to have a car ready for me when I landed. I went to the rental car place, and saw my name on the board saying my car was waiting in space 139.
I got in that car and went to leave, but the guy at the gate explained I was supposed to have a print out with my name on it in the car. I did not.
I went to the office, took and number and waited. After a while a man explained to me my car was in space 62. I pointed at the board and my name and asked him to read the number there.
"139," he said.
"So, why would I go to 62?"
He agreed I had a point, but made me take a monstrosity of a Mercedes SUV that my wife and I both hated, instead of the small Saab I thought I was getting.
But, at that point I was more than an hour behind schedule and decided to take it and go rather than argue.

So, off to the reenactor’s market we went.







We got there about half an hour after they opened and already the parking lot was full and we had to go to overflow and wait in line to get in.


But, we had a good time and were glad we went.


We got some good things. I got a nice dagger and a jacket, my wife some hats and shoes.
I managed to get some historically not too bad reading glasses.
And more of the cards I used to say goodbye to folks at the last job.

Returning the car they told me I had somehow chipped the glass and charged me a stupid amount. I’ve got to argue with insurance about that now.


But, we got the shuttle to the terminal and then walked to the hotel.
I was very tired at that point. We had no problem sleeping.

Comments

[taz_39]

Wow, that rental car company effed you guys over :(

I've had similar experiences in the past, mostly with the mileage charges which they used to put in fine print in the contract and then acted surprised when I'd start screaming over an unexpected $300 bill being handed to me at my destination. That, or sometimes I'd reserve a car and they wouldn't have one waiting for me (which, why make the reservation if it doesn't GUARANTEE a car?!)

Anyway, rest of your trip sounds lovely!

[fbhjr]

I’ve been hit with those mileage charges myself.
When we used to do the faire in Pensacola we’d often rent a van to bring all the stuff.
One year they tried to spring that on me, but I argued them out of it due to the 10 year history of renting from them and their bad website design. I had to go all the way to the district manager for it, but it took $450 off my bill so I did.
I was able to prove that the fine print with the fee was not actually reachable by the website they had on their contract so it did not apply to me.
They did change their website and I stopped renting from there…