My Thoughts: when the mood strikes.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Sunday, April 19, 2009 - the airport fiasco

         My ex-husband, faithful companion and friend flew to Mexico to be with his parents for Easter.  He was due to arrive at Tampa International Airport last night at 10:15 p.m.  After spending several hours at the Mexico City Airport because of a two-hour delay on the first-leg of his return trip home, he found out all flights to Houston were cancelled due to bad weather.  He called me late afternoon to let me know what happened and that he expected to arrive in Tampa at 2:15 p.m. today.  This morning after an hour delay in Mexico City, he finally made it to Houston and had to hurry so as not to miss the second-leg from Houston to Tampa. 

         I decided to take in a Yoga class at noon before picking him up.  Then I stopped at a garden shop to pickup a stake for my orchid and drove straight from the garden shop to the airport. 

         Well, I don't know about you but my experiences with airports have taught me they are difficult to navigate.  I wanted to park in short-term parking; so I began following the signs, at the last minute the road forked and I was in the wrong lane; so I had to drive through the passenger loading zone.  I then went around again, this time surely not to miss my turn.  I ended up in the place where you drop off car rentals.  Since it seemed to be one way in with no way out, I asked a fellow directing traffic how to get out of there.  He told me to turn around and go back the way I came in.  I said, "Are you sure this isn't one way and I won't get hit?"  He told me I'd be fine to turn around.  So, I turned around.  When I tried to go back the way I came in, it was "one-way;" so I turned right and feasted my eyes on an exit sign.  This time I was determined to make it to short-term parking; but I missed the fork again and ended up in the passenger loading area.  I circled around again and finally made it into short-term parking. 

         I parked on level four, aisle one and took note of it.  Then I saw the red Yeager elevators and noticed from which direction I needed to turn when getting off the elevator on the way out.  Once at the elevator, I wondered --- up or down.  So, I hit both the up and down buttons and decided I could figure it out while I was waiting.  Once an elevator arrived I decided I wanted to go up.  I actually needed to go down.  So, I went up and then down to level three where the passengers arrive at the gates.  Once on level three, I needed to find out what airline was arriving from Houston so I could find the right gate.  Continental Airlines had a 2:05 p.m. flight arriving from Houston at Gate A.  I scanned the area to find out what direction the gates were in alphabetically so I could go to the right place.  As I finally arrived at Gate A, I called Jorge's cell and got voice mail.  So, I began looking for him to walk in.  He spied me looking around and caught up with me.  As we headed for the elevators, I told him I knew we were to take the red Yeager elevators.  They have four sets of elevators at Tampa International -- two red sets with different names and two blue sets with different names.  (The last time I was there, I knew my car was parked at the red elevators, knew the floor and aisle, but didn't realize there were two sets of red elevators with different names.)  This time I paid closer attention. 

         We arrived at the red Yeager elevators.  Again, I had the dilemma of wondering what floor we were currently on and whether or not we needed to go up or down.  I punched both buttons again.  Then we got on the elevator going down, figuring surely you had to go down to the parking garage.  Once inside, I realized we needed to go to level 4 and we were headed down.  So, we went down, picked up some people and pushed number 4.  Once we got off the elevator, I knew exactly where to find my car.  (The last time I was at Tampa International, I chose the wrong set of elevators and had to hunt for my car when I got off.)  Today, we made it off the elevator, to the car and out of the airport without a hitch.  We got in the correct lane of the highway heading toward St. Petersburg.  From there,  it's all history.

         I took Jorge directly from the airport to work, and picked him back up at 7:30 p.m.  (Trust me; you don't want to know about that trip.)

         Hope you had a peaceful and restful Sunday!  Get ready for the third week of April.