Read 'Til You Drop

After I took the bar exam, I traveled internationally for seven weeks with my college roommate. For a couple of weeks before we left on the trip, my mother called me on what-I-remember-as a daily basis (it was probably once or twice), with Helpful Hints to assist us in our travel. Once my roommate and I reached Europe, we returned the favor, sending home one postcard for every day that we traveled, recording our day's journeys and summarizing with a helpful hint for the day.

I think that I'll have ample opportunity to apply those hints in the days/weeks/months to come.  Yesterday's Travel Tip:

Make sure your cell phone is charged before you travel. And if your cell phone is the same as another device you carry (Blackberry, Treo, etc), consider whether you'll have enough juice with your phone to handle long emergency waits with travel agents, etc., if your device is being used for other purposes.

Yesterday afternoon, at 5:05, I was supposed to fly out to Chicago, to report at the office for my first day of work, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, at 9:00 a.m. Alas, I got to the airport, only to find that the travel agent had scheduled me to arrive tomorrow evening, at 7:30 p.m. Um, I don't think that would make a great impression on my new boss.

After a call to the travel agent (and a 20-minute wait with atrocious hold music), I was rescheduled on a flight for a 7:55 p.m. flight last night. I could have gotten on yesterday's 5:05, but that would have cost an additional $500 (for a ticket that was only $240 originally.)

I used the extra airport time as constructively as I could - once I could check my suitcase (yes, I needed to check luggage because I'll be gone till Thursday, dressed in grown-up clothes the entire time), I spent half an hour walking the terminal, getting some exercise and smiling nicely at the TSA personnel who must have thought it strange that I was repeating my path, end-to-airport-end, twice. Then, I went to Legal Seafoods and ate a lovely salmon fillet, remembering to substitute a green salad for the coleslaw (I've never been a fan of coleslaw...)

I'm staying at the incredible Peninsula Hotel, basking in the luxury.  This morning, my room service breakfast arrived, and the waiter asked my permission before doing anything.  "May I come into the room?"  "May I set up the table here?"  "May I shift the coffee table?"  "May I place your teabag in your hot water?"  It almost made me giggle - all I could think of was the 1980's Antioch Sex Code, where the university told students that they needed to ask each other for permission before moving on to each new phase of sexual exploration...

OK - off to the first day at the new job!

Mindy, sated with berries and tea :-)