3:45PM I arrive in a city in Asia (hints: 2nd most populated country…large city) 45 minutes before landing time. Fine by me - thanks captain. 4:45PM After getting through immigration and heaving my bags onto one of those push-trolly things (which my sister seems to think are called bell hops - but I’m pretty sure that’s a person…not a cart), I find my way out to wait for my friend, who’s plane was also due to land at 4:30pm, but I found it was delayed. 5PM Creepily walk around the airport searching every face for the one face I’m looking for. I find out which carousel her luggage is going to be at and wait. Thing is, I can’t go directly to the carousel, because my luggage came to a different area and I had to leave my luggage area to get to her, but the ‘officials’ wouldn’t let me into her luggage area. So, here I am at this glass door staring intently at the people who are waiting at carousel 4, hoping that my friend will see me. 5:15PM This nice guy comes up and asks if I’m okay. Wait - you mean, it’s not normal to see someone pacing up and down one particular area of an airport looking lost? I turned him away, explaining that I was just waiting for a friend. 5:30PM Carousel 4 has no more travelers around it and my friend is not there. I figured I would take the guy’s offer for help and ask to use his hot spot so I could call my friend. Turns out she wasn’t able to get on her flight - for a ridiculous, silly reason that wasn’t her fault. 5:50PM I call my first Uber. For some reason or another Uber and I aren’t good friends. Uber seems to be that kind of friend who ducks out of life when things get rough. So, I have some trust issues with Uber - but for good reason. Case in point, what happens next. First the car is 10 minutes away, then 5, a normal progression, so we’re seemingly off to ta good start. Then it goes back to 10. Then 11. Insert that emoji with the gritted teeth showing. But, I honestly can’t get mad, because I’m so sleep deprived at this point I think I’m the equivalent of being on some kind of drug (I don’t know…I learned it in high school that if you go without sleeping then your body starts to do things that makes it think you’re on drugs. Then, in college I learned that if you don’t sleep you die. Literally. Google it.) 6:15PM Go to Uber desk at airport and the nice woman working helps me call another Uber. 6:20PM Decide to go somewhere closer to the airport for the night and cancel the second Uber. Call another Uber and proceed to wait. By this time, I’m thinking that I really should go to the bathroom because who knows what the traffic will be like and I’ll probably have to go to the bathroom soon. But, I decide to forgo the bathroom (a silly mistake), because I didn’t know where the closest one was and I didn’t want to miss my THIRD Uber that I had called. 6:30PM Get to the Uber. Praise the Lord. People probably had a good laugh whilst I maneuvered my 3 bags across the street and up the median. But nonetheless I was in a car heading to a hotel I found on Google. ETA: 7:15pm 6:40PM Drive by a Holiday Inn and I think to myself - this is my saving grace. Literally a shining halo came above the Holiday Inn and I saw Moses and Abraham descending from clouds pointing and saying: “Your heavenly Jerusalem awaits…” I hastily ask the driver: “There’s a Holiday Inn that we just passed (literally 30 seconds ago), can we turn around and you can take me there instead?” Driver: “M’am, I’m not understanding” Me: “The Holiday Inn, behind (me pointing), can you take me?” Driver: “Yes, when your holiday is done I will come get you” Me: “No, there is a hotel named Holiday Inn - back there. Can you take me?” Driver: “Ahh, okay. Let me find it” Ironically as we drove by that one strip of the Holiday Inn, the traffic was moving like a kid on a water slide at Kalahari (the worlds largest outdoor water park in The Dells, WI...some trivia for you). Then, after this convo ended we were in dead stop traffic. And that’s when I really noticed that I had to go. I mean, I really had to go. But, I thought, okay, if we can get turned around, this Holiday Inn won’t take too long to get to and then I can hurry up and go inside. 7:00PM Pull up to the Holiday Inn. Guy who’s working the security fence thing: “M’am do you have a room booked here?” Me: “No, but I’d like to book one” Security guy: “M’am, this hotel hasn’t opened yet.” (As in, it's not open for business yet) Me: “…..oh” 7:05PM We get back on the road to go to hotel number 1 and there’s more bumper to bumper traffic. The urgency to relieve myself only gets stronger by the second. In one of the 10 minute we-aren’t-moving stints that was the reality of the horrifying traffic, I legitimately thought about getting out of the car and going on the side of the road. An obvious faux pas anywhere, but specifically where I am, it would be the equivalent to seeing someone walking around naked in broad daylight in the States. So, I decide to just grin and bear it - although instead of a grin, my face looked more like sheer panic, so I’m pretty positive the Uber driver was scared of me. 7:30PM Driver misses the turn for the Hotel. I cry myself into an oblivion. Just kidding, that didn’t happen - but he did miss the turn. The hotel was on the left side of the road (keep in mind we drive on the left side of the road in the country I’m in), but instead of taking another turn left - to then go back around to the hotel, he kept driving for a while until he could take a right turn - where there was a break in the median. 7:40PM Driver turns around - more bumper to bumper traffic The hotel is now on the right side, but we can’t just aimlessly take turns wherever we want because there’s a median in the middle of the road with an equivalent of a fence in it. So, we pass the hotel A G A I N but this time it’s to our right and the driver goes - “Hotel?” Like he didn’t know that was the hotel. Yes, that hotel. (I've got to give this guy credit, he was so patient with me in trying to go to the Holiday Inn, but I was less than thrilled about the missed turn) 8:00PM We finally turn around again and I’m starting to see stars, I'm about to hurl (from delayed access to a bathroom or car sickness...?One doesn't really know), and I’m thinking about my chances of getting a UTI from this whole shindig. And you bet your bottom dollar that my eyes are glued to the window ready to spot that heavenly hotel sign. We’re getting really close and I say “That’s it! HOTEL!” Driver pulls in - the end is in sight. 8:25PM Get into the hotel and after getting the driver paid, I ask the owner if I can use a bathroom. He asks me if I want to get checked in first. Me: “…uhmmm…” Hotel guy: “Ah, okay. *Says something to one of his workers*” He shows me to my room and tells me I can use the bathroom. Cue Kanye’s song Selah, HALLELUJAH HE IS WONDERFUL. So, I didn’t wet my pants like a child in the back of an Uber. Just another example of how I know there is a God. I must have spotted a bathroom.
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hey.my moto is summarized best by these words:
“Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.” -Brene Brown thanks Brene. you're quite the gal. Past Musings
July 2020
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