I can't remember if I passed the word on, but I am in Dayton, Ohio this week until Friday, on business matters. I left Syracuse yesterday, and was supposed to touch down in the Jewel of Ohio (I just made that up) at around 4 pm local time. Yeah, that didn't happen.
I am traveling with three other guys, all government employees, and our noon flight out of Syracuse was delayed something like an hour, meaning we missed our connection in Chicago. Our connection was at 2:05 Chicago time. The next flight to Dayton they could book us on? 7 pm. That meant we had a nice 5-hour wait in Chicago O'Hare. Some of you may know, I have some, shall we say, not inconsiderable travel experience, and, experience tells me that O'Hare is just an awful airport to get stuck in. There are really just a bunch of shitty restaurants, not very interest to stroll around. The one thing it has going for it is that it is big, which means lots of people, who can be muses for people watching (female watching? There was this really cute Asian girl sitting by our gate for the longest time I was tempted to start a charm offensive, but with my boss sitting with me, decided against it).
It was a pretty boring affair. I was the baby-face amongst our group of four, and the other guys were pretty content to just sit around, striking up the occasional conversation. I rued not bringing a deck of cards (four guys, game of pitch anyone?). Of course, our long-layover overlapped with dinner, so we had to settle for airport food. We decided to go to Chili's (yes, we really know how to live). Where our waitress had zero personality, and almost balked at our request for four separate checks (I could see the thought flash behind her eyes to deny us). Surprisingly,it wasn't THAT expensive, considering it was in an airport, and it was the best we could hope for. As the witching hour drew near, our plane was delayed a little bit more, as the crew had to go grab some McDonald's. We eventually made it to Dayton after 10 pm local time. The four of us piled into our tiny rental car, a 20 minute drive through hopping Dayton the only thing between us and our hotels (I stayed and a different place from the other guys, because it has a free breakfast). I wanted to put up a post last night, but, upon walking into my hotel room just before 11 o'clock, after having gotten up at 5:30 that morning and spending all day on the road, I decided just to collapse into my king-size bed.
The initial situation looks bleak. I don't have my own rental car, and the hotel is located basically on a long strip of other hotels. The word I get from other guys isn't promising: "Its basically like Rome, NY, just a bit bigger". Yikes. In Syracuse, we bumped into some other guys from work who were also going to Dayton, but for different reasons. My boss, John, asked them when they were leaving Dayton "Wednesday, just staying for two nights" came the answer. When John told them we were staying until Friday, all they could say was "Sorry". So, yeah, not really a ringing endorsement. But, here at FC we try to make the best of any situation. Hell, I have been enduring Whitesboro for 22 years, and haven't shot up a post office or anything yet. So, I will likely be occupied with work most of the time, but come back to find out what I discover in Dayton.
I am traveling with three other guys, all government employees, and our noon flight out of Syracuse was delayed something like an hour, meaning we missed our connection in Chicago. Our connection was at 2:05 Chicago time. The next flight to Dayton they could book us on? 7 pm. That meant we had a nice 5-hour wait in Chicago O'Hare. Some of you may know, I have some, shall we say, not inconsiderable travel experience, and, experience tells me that O'Hare is just an awful airport to get stuck in. There are really just a bunch of shitty restaurants, not very interest to stroll around. The one thing it has going for it is that it is big, which means lots of people, who can be muses for people watching (female watching? There was this really cute Asian girl sitting by our gate for the longest time I was tempted to start a charm offensive, but with my boss sitting with me, decided against it).
It was a pretty boring affair. I was the baby-face amongst our group of four, and the other guys were pretty content to just sit around, striking up the occasional conversation. I rued not bringing a deck of cards (four guys, game of pitch anyone?). Of course, our long-layover overlapped with dinner, so we had to settle for airport food. We decided to go to Chili's (yes, we really know how to live). Where our waitress had zero personality, and almost balked at our request for four separate checks (I could see the thought flash behind her eyes to deny us). Surprisingly,it wasn't THAT expensive, considering it was in an airport, and it was the best we could hope for. As the witching hour drew near, our plane was delayed a little bit more, as the crew had to go grab some McDonald's. We eventually made it to Dayton after 10 pm local time. The four of us piled into our tiny rental car, a 20 minute drive through hopping Dayton the only thing between us and our hotels (I stayed and a different place from the other guys, because it has a free breakfast). I wanted to put up a post last night, but, upon walking into my hotel room just before 11 o'clock, after having gotten up at 5:30 that morning and spending all day on the road, I decided just to collapse into my king-size bed.
The initial situation looks bleak. I don't have my own rental car, and the hotel is located basically on a long strip of other hotels. The word I get from other guys isn't promising: "Its basically like Rome, NY, just a bit bigger". Yikes. In Syracuse, we bumped into some other guys from work who were also going to Dayton, but for different reasons. My boss, John, asked them when they were leaving Dayton "Wednesday, just staying for two nights" came the answer. When John told them we were staying until Friday, all they could say was "Sorry". So, yeah, not really a ringing endorsement. But, here at FC we try to make the best of any situation. Hell, I have been enduring Whitesboro for 22 years, and haven't shot up a post office or anything yet. So, I will likely be occupied with work most of the time, but come back to find out what I discover in Dayton.
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