"Let's get this party on the road!"

Aaahhh.  That's me breathing a sigh of relief.  I just got home from my day-trip to San Diego for a client visit and I cannot begin to describe how happy I am that it's over.  

Preparing for this visit caused me a lot of stress - late nights at work, late nights working from home, working from home on the weekend, working from home on the holiday, etc.  It actually ended up going really well, but it wasn't all rainbows and ponies today.

-I got a call from Lindsay at 6:45 am telling me that her flight was canceled and she wasn't going to be able to come.  Oh boy.

-The plane we flew to San Diego on was small and Matthew was sitting next to a guy twice his size.  He became very familiar with the window.

-Our VP of Client Services flew in with us but wasn't feeling so hot.  On the bus ride to the rental car pick-up I honestly thought he was going to puke all over Matthew.

-Because the rental car was under Lindsay's name I had to go and switch it to my name.  The man at the counter couldn't seem to grasp that she wasn't coming.

Rental Car Man: "So, you don't have a reservation?"  (After I've already explained the situation.)
Me: "No, my co-worker has a reservation, but her flight was canceled and I need to switch it to my name."
(Two minutes later.)
RCM: "So....she's not here yet?"
Me: "She's. Not. Coming.  Her. Flight. Was. Canceled."

-While I was working things out with the rental car genius, the VP of Client Services informed the rest of the team that he's not going to be able to make it.  We've now gone from 5 to 3 and the two that are missing are key people.

-Since the rental car was in my name, I had to drive.  I was not excited.

-On the way back to the airport we had to top off the gas.  I went in to get my receipt and had the following conversation.

Gas Man:"What's the last name, ma'am?"

Me: "Howard."

GM: "Here you go."

Me: "Thanks!"

GM: (As I'm walking away.) "Any relation?"

Me: "Umm....to who?"

GM: "Bo Howard." (Said as if I should have known.)

Me: "Nope. I don't think so."

GM: "I bet you wish."

Me: "Sure...."

-Natalie the NeverLost (as Matthew named her) was on the fritz on the way back to the airport and directed me to turn left into the water.  I was so focused on not missing my turn that I didn't realize I was about to pull a Michael Scott.  Good thing Matthew and Liz were paying attention.

-After returning the rental car I realized at the last minute that I had left my cell phone in it.  That would have been two cell phone disasters in one week.

-I sat in the back of the plane on the way back and there was some sort of party going on.  Two flight attendants were laughing and chatting with three guys and one woman from various parts of the plane.  They were just standing in the aisle like it was no big deal.  I was trying to sleep so this made me want to hurt them all.

-The flight crew let two passengers pass out the snack.  They pushed the cart down the aisle and everything.  What the crap?

Among all the random mishaps there were some good things too.

-I really liked the rental car we got.  If I had to drive in San Diego at least it wasn't a mini-van.

-The visit went so much better than I expected it to- which is the most important thing.

-I didn't have to eat a sandwich with some sort of weird jam on it like I usually do.

-The San Diego airport has free internet access so I got to catch up on Perez and blogs while waiting for three hours for our flight.

-While waiting to board our returning flight Matthew said, "Let's get this party on the road!".  I kindly explained that it was either "Let's get this SHOW on the road." or "Let's get this party STARTED." but not both.  It gave us a good laugh.

-I got an entire row to myself on the flight back.

Needless to say, I'm happy to be home and so glad it's all over.