Hold onto the gold banister.
The top is a bit off-balance. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Showing posts with label Airport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Airport. Show all posts
November 7, 2022
April 21, 2022
Comfy In The Airport
Take your shoes off.
Put your feet up.
Wrap your legs around some luggage.
Recline and put your head back into the pillow.
Put in your ear buds and listen to some music.
Have something to drink.
Take a few extra seats.
Relax and enjoy.
Flying the friendly skies. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
December 22, 2021
Dog Riding On Luggage
This little service dog was hilarious.
He stood, the whole time, on this lady's carry-on luggage as she rolled through the airport.
Dog was happy with its tongue out and ears perched up as he was riding along to his/her flight.
I wonder if people could stand on their luggage too and get through the airport quicker that way! ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
December 1, 2021
Sleeping or Dead?
May 14, 2021
Broken Uber and Stupid Airport
Because we needed an Uber early, we used the app to reserve one in advance.
I get an email that Uber charged us and the app says the driver is on the way.
However, it doesn't identify any driver or car.
It turns out that Uber never reserved any driver and no one was coming to get us and we had a flight to catch.
So much for reservations that go unreserved!
So we cancel the darn Uber and instead try to get a Lyft, but after many minutes trying in vain to locate a driver, we gave up on this as well,
Thank goodness, I could still call a regular cab!
The taxi company says he'll be there in 10-20 minutes.
Over 35 minutes later and 3 phones calls and he still hasn't arrived and it's getting late for the flight.
Finally, finally, he shows up and says they called up and he came from bed to pick us up.
Wow, that's pretty amazing--I was impressed and grateful.
He get us to the airport and we run in and through security.
We head to gate 30 for our flight and the picture shows you what we came up against.
Gate 29 and gate 31 in the corner of the airport, but no freakin gate 30 anywhere in sight!
After a swing around the other corners, we finally found it.
Why gate 30 isn't after 29 and before 31, I will never understand!
Moreover, why Uber takes reservations in advance for a car, but doesn't actually arrange a driver is also a complete mystery and a very broken business model. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Dannielle Blumenthal)
February 19, 2020
Creative Clock With Cars
Instead of just giving you the time (here it is 20:52 or 8:52 pm), the numbers are made up of 3-7 little cars.
When a number changes, cars either drive on or off to form the new ones.
(The "whole" clock is greater than the sum of its cars, which are the "parts".)
And then some of the drivers actually get out of the car to schmooze or maybe clean their car.
Very creative and it makes you think.
That's a good thing. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
March 21, 2019
Cool Clock in Amsterdam
December 31, 2014
A One Taxi Town Of HELL!
We had an early flight--before dawn--and when we woke up, I called the town’s single cab company to confirm our early morning pickup (of which the reservation had been made the prior day by the front desk manager at the hotel).
When we awoke the morning of the travel, I called the cab company to confirm they were on their way.
A man picks up the cab company’s phone and says curtly:
- "I am the dispatcher and also your driver this morning."
- "I have another person to drop off near your location and will be 15 minutes late."
Upon which he just hangs up, and we readjust our schedule slightly.
Then I receive a text message 20 minutes early that says the cab is downstairs.
We rush downstairs, but there is no cab.
15 minutes later he arrives.
He says in a commanding voice:
- "Don’t you put the luggage in trunk, it can damage my computer [we don’t know what computer he was talking about]."
- "Shortest person sit behind me!"
We look at each other at how strange this cabbie is behaving, but again it’s the only “game in town.”
We get in the back seat, upon which he proceeds on the “dispatch computer” set up in the front seat to ignore us with mild apologetics and works to handle calls, texts, and other people arrangements, while we are waiting in the back [already late because of his prior excuse] to get to the airport.
After what seemed like forever, he turns to me and says, “How are you going to pay?”
I ask, “Can you take a credit card?”
He says, “Yes, but the card reader may have interference at the airport [from this tiny airport, really?], and the ride will be 50 bucks!”
Realizing he was playing some sort of game with us to rip us off, since this was a meter cab, I try to explain that it seemed he was overcharging us saying “Well, we took a cab with you company from the airport just the other day and only paid around $40 and that was in a snowfall [today were clear skies and roads], so I’ll pay you the same $40.”
He turns angrily to me this time, and says threateningly, “You‘re trying to lowball me! How about I just drive you around in circles and charge you by the meter even more?”
At this point, we could tell this guy was seriously off his rocker, and I try to deescalate this and ask, “Why are you giving us such a hard time with all of this?”
He seemed to calm down for a second as he was ostensibly trying to figure this out, and said okay, “We’ll do the meter [and you’ll pay]!”
Now we were running late to the airport, this driver had our luggage hostage in the trunk, and he has threatened us to take us for an unwanted tour of the city instead of to the airport and overcharge us or potentially even make us miss our flight altogether.
I looked at my wife and daughter and they were clearly understanding the danger we were in of losing the flight, luggage, and so on; but as we discussed later, they were afraid of even worse physical danger from this person.
He starts the car and with the dispatch computer screen still open [he angrily slammed open and closed the laptop multiple times], he drives on the highway while simultaneously, still working on dual duty as dispatch…we were terrified.
About halfway to the airport, he turns to me again, and says “Okay, I’ll turn the meter off [before] 40 bucks and you pay me 40!”
Afterward, my wife told me she thought he was going to pull over before 40 bucks and just drop us off somewhere in the middle of the highway.
I ask, continuing to try and calm this guy, “I don’t understand how can the meter be going higher than when we made the same trip in reverse in a storm just the prior week?”
Note, there wasn’t [barely] another car on the road and unlike in big cities, there was no signage with the driver’s picture, name, identification, etc.
He says, again in a threatening manner, “Oh I can also take the back roads to get you there cheaper, but you wouldn’t want me to do that, would you?”
Then he pauses, thinks again, and repeats, “Just pay me $40 cash {and he reaches to turn off the meter).
Soon after, we reach the airport terminal, and the taxi driver jumps out, dumps our [hostage] luggage on the side and holds out his hand.
I gladly give him the $40 and thank G-d that we are at the airport and safe.
This was really an eye-opening lesson about what can happen when you are in the car with someone and they are in total control over whether you get where your supposed to go, make it in time, get your things, and get out safely.
In these small towns, it is no help that the cab company is a monopoly and probably the dispatcher/driver is probably also a part owner and maybe even has friends at the local airport, hotel, police, and the courts, etc.
I don’t think for a second that we were his first victims, and hope that people reading this will help make this his last!
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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