So many people think business travel is a blast…sight seeing, partying, etc. It’s not…It’s a pain in the ass…Traveling…Fun, Fun, Fun! Our recent trip was insane…We were off to Virginia Beach from Oregon to do some filming. And, it was one goofy moment after another. It started with Dan picking me up late and us rushing to the airport…..from there it went all down hill. 1st shuttle from parking to airport took forever to arrive and right before we pulled out Dan realized his iPhone was still in the car (usually attached directly to his ear) – this was something Dan must have….So “Asthma Dan” had to hustle and get the phone & made it back to the bus out of breath ~ luckily he had his inhaler (this comes into play later in the story).
We got on the 1st flight and almost made it to Atlanta without incident. As we approached landing, flight attendant asked for a doctor. Apparently a 1st class passenger decided to have a heart-attack mid-flight. They worked on the passenger for awhile & we landed. We had to all wait for the paramedics to resolve situation. I think the guy was o.k. Next flight, plane delayed & we got into Norfolk, VA after 3am. Hertz barely stayed open for us. Their voice mail said they were closed so we cancelled hotel & then realized it was our only option so we rebooked it.
When we arrived at our hotel we encountered “Norman Bates.” A very odd guy checking us in. He did not want to shut up & it was a very painful 20 minute check-in. He said he almost cancelled our reservation because the card was wrong. They were sold out, so we would have been SOL….Tough morning. Dan was out of inhaler! So, he was constantly looking for place to get one. We filmed the project and it went real well…We flew to Augusta, got in late, had a hard time finding hotel with all the new construction, our GPS was a bit messed up. We stopped at a PF Changs for dinner & they just closed, but did open the doors & fed us at the bar.
We shipped the EXPENSIVE equipment to Augusta, Georgia for early morning delivery ~ suppose to arrive by 8am. IT NEVER showed! Tracking showed it in Pennsylvania. Augusta filming went well despite the lack of equipment. We had no lights so we had to film in the front windows & it was like filming under a magnifying glass. We were so sweaty & hot. Worked with UPS all day to try and get the equipment sent to Florida. They could not find the equipment. Dan worked all day trying to get an inhaler & finally got one! Yippee!
At the airport, Dan realizes he left the new inhaler in the rental car. Security at this airport closed up so we could not leave gate to go get inhaler. So we flew to Fort Myers, Florida. Our plane was delayed and we had a VERY tight connection. Luckily we were up front of plane, but Dan had gate checked a bag. So, I ran like hell & got to gate just as they were closing doors…Got the gals to let me on & asked them to wait a minute for Dan. It was more than a minute…And Asthma Dan ran through the airport and just made it. ATLANTA is HUGE airport. Meanwhile, people had already shifted seats & were not real happy when I told them they were in our seats…
We arrived in Florida late & guess what, because our connection was so tight our luggage did not make it! Our GPS was in the checked luggage which made the day’s travel even tougher ~ we got lost a couple times. So we were so hot, so sweaty, so stinky & we had to film the next whole day in the same dirty, sweaty clothes without our good equipment. Filming in Florida went o.k. even though again it was 100 degrees….So we spent 2 full days running around in humid, 100 degree weather in the same clothes. Dan finally got another inhaler in Florida.
We got home late last night…..after 7 hours in flight and two days in the same clothes! Did I mention this last day was Dan’s birthday.
