Saturday, September 20, 2008

Oh the joys of travel season!

I made my way to the Phoenix consolidated rental car station this morning with plenty of time to spare. Dropped off the lovely Saturn Aura that had kept me in good company all week, and then I was dragging my things to the elevator to find the shuttle to my terminal. My luggage consists of my normal sized suitcase with like, clothes, shoes, bathroom stuff, etc. My small suitcase, which is carry on size and full of work stuff--publications that I sent out here and never used and so am dragging back--that little bitch is heavy. I also have my laptop in its bag, and my purse. Not extreme--just enough. I've done the double bag, laptop, purse gig before and it's never been a problem. I've got a little strap thing that hooks the two suitcases together, and so I only have to use one hand to carry them both--life is good.

So, when I get to the line for my shuttle, I can't figure out why the hell my bags seem so heavy and I am already sweating.

A nice man helped me with the bags the rest of the way--the threw them on the bus for me and I settled in for the 10 minute ride to the terminal. Get off the bus, rig the bags up, and drag them across the street--again, way too heavy to even make this work. So I unhook them, balance my laptop on one, purse on the other and I am off to find my ticket counter.

I look back to see where I am at one point and notice that my bag is leaving a weird like streak on the carpet near the counters. Wtf? Whatever, I don't have time to investigate, I just want to get my tickets and get these F*&^ing bags out of my possession for the next 8 hours.

I go to the lovely self check in that American Airlines offers, pay an extra 40 dollars to check these two bags, and then have to drag them once more to the security line to drop them off. After she tags the big bag, I get to looking at it. I then realize what the problem has been all morning.

It's one of those bags that has the wheels that do the 360 turn so you can pull it whatever direction you want. Well, apparently, when I hooked the little bag up to it and started pulling, the wheels didn't want to turn.

The.bitching.wheels.rubbed.themselves.flat, and then on top of it all, started.falling.apart. I touched one of them--so hot from all the effing friction they created that I nearly burned my fingers off. So, here I am with this bag that has wheels that aren't even round, and have chunks falling off of them. To make this even worse, this is the 3rd flight/trip I've ever taken with said bag--it's basically brand new.

Whatever.

TSA dude, please take this bag from me before I beat the shit out of it and cause a major scene. Thank you.

8 comments:

Dreams and Designs said...

LOl, too funny! Sorry to hear of your difficulties! That happened one time to me... except it involved my prosthetic hand dragging on the Giant Slide at the fair. Wore the thumb clear off... it was smoking and everything... talk about embarassing. Smelled like crap too.

E said...

Ooh sweetie there's one of those darling little life metaphors here just screaming to get out. I wonder what you have been dreaming lately. Please do not tell me you had one where the wheels came off your bus....or you couldn't start the car, or or or . you get the idea.

When it's me, I usually take especial note only when my our unconscious is screaming to bring something to my attention.
You might be on the cusp of a major shift cynical one...

Kyla Bea said...

Oh my gosh, that's just one of those things that has to add to the quality of your day, isn't it?

Hope the rest of Phoenix was much more enjoyable!

E said...

PS Did you like the book?

amanda said...

Jamie! Oh my gosh.
How awful! For a
second...as I'm reading...
I kept thinking-oh my gosh...
she sounds just LIKE ME!
Lugging all my bags to
New York City...having
random people help me
with it all because I'm
sweating and about to
pull a muscle from the
heaviness.

BUT...you POOR THING!
Your darn wheels were
broken. Mine however
were not. So you were
a lot more SCREWED
than I was...for sure.
PSH. Awful.

I say you return the
luggage and let them
know that it only last
you three darn trips.
It should be a lot more
durable.

Anonymous said...

That's funny sister. So did you go buy a new suitcase for when you are traveling again? You can't continue to travel with no wheels! Yikes!

Bayjb said...

That's pretty funny but it sucks. Stupid suitcases.

E said...

Lots...How about Letters of a Woman Homesteader? At first blush you might not think so, but this is the lovely story written in letters of a spunky determined pioneer woman and it helped chart a course for me. I think every young American woman should read it. It is a charming reminder about the power of choice. It is also a keen story.
Do you ever read novels or stories that have a nature centered theme? If so you might also like Letters from Yellowstone. This one is a historical novel about a young promising medical student and her quirky decision to join a botany expedition to Yellowstone with a relative of.... Darwin I think. It is also about the power of choice I guess, and the importance of beauty in a well lived life. (And the impressive strength of women....)
Did you read Pocketful of Names ? I think it was the best book of that year. It is a quiet character novel also partly about beauty and too the choices we make to live in community or more privately.
Be careful what you wish for. I love recommending books more than just about anything...