Adventures for #10115

As expected, cab rides for 100 miles are expensive. I left SFO on time and arrived in Philly only to discover that my Cinci leg had been canceled. Balls. So I find the US Airways customer service where I'm greeted by a long line of grumpy travelers. I comiserate with one manwgo was on his way home to Akron (that alone might make me grumpy), and eventually make it up to the counter.

I'm informed that the cancelation is due to "weather", but I look outside where it's sunny and clear, my iPhone claims the same for Ohio and I later discover that a plane flew to Cinci at 1pm, just 3 hours earlier. As the cause was weather, the airline was not going to compensate me at all. I was subsequently put on standby for a flight to Cinci that was already going to be late, arriving at 11pm, and was already "very overbooked".

Sooooo, am I going to make of to Cinci today?
Well, tomorrow there's a flight, but that is also over sold.

What about Dayton?
Canceled.
Indianapolis?
No more flights today?
Louisville?

Columbus?
I can put you on stand by for that too if you'd like.
Yes, please.
It's also over sold by the way.

I think this is how people come to a point where they want to kick puppies. The situation looks grim. I ask my phone how long the drive is from Philly to Cinci... 10 hours. It's four o'clock now, and my body is three hours behind, I could make that drive if I wanted. But I want to drive 10 hours as much as I want to wipe my ass with twelve grit sand paper.

I breifly entertain the idea of staying in the Philly area since Jersey Girl lives just two hours away. She called me back after a text and basically it was the worst possible weekend for her. It made me a little sad, but made my choice easy. So I went to Avis car rental who made my choice even easier: econo car, one way = $375 plus $200 damage deposit, which I didn't have.

Back to customer service. Yay. The Cinci flight is now delayed till midnight, but the Columbus flight is a lock if I want it. I take it. I assume that I can get a cheaper rental in Columbus to take me the two hours to Cinci where I have a hotel I've already paid for.

Hahaha! What a fool I am!

I land in Columbus at midnight. Here they're offering to rent me a car for $250 plus the damage deposit. Still out of range. "Are there any shuttles?" I ask. "You can take a taxi I think."

Thanks for your help, not!

So now I have my haggle pants on. It's 1am and I just want to go to bed. I'm losing $70 on my hotel room if I don't go there, and a hotel at the airport would be at least $100. Plus I'd still have to get to Cinci. The only phone number for someone in Cinci an ex girlfriend and I don't want to wake her up to drive 4 hours for my lost ass.

Taxi it is. So I ask the guy at the taxi line what a cab ride to Cinci would run me. He tells me, I choke a little bit. But we conspire together since it's the middle of the night and there's a whole line of cabs doing nothing but burning gas and waiting. The price was
High enough that I was able to _save_ a hundred bucks on the fare.

And ninty minutes later I was at my hotel. In Cincinnati. And I've sworn off travel until the next time.