Diane Love and I resumed our travels this month, and almost immediately and belatedly I discovered that I had broken four of our rules for traveling.
RULE 1: NEVER TAKE THE LAST FLIGHT OF THE DAY
I booked us on one of the last flights of the day from Phoenix to Fort Lauderdale. The rule is never take the last flight because weather or mechanical problems may delay or cancel your trip and you will miss connections or a good night's sleep.
We made an exception because the late afternoon US Airways flight, a rare non-stop on this route, would keep us off a 6 a.m. flight connecting through bad weather in the Midwest. What we did not know was that this flight rarely departs or arrives as scheduled because it comes to Phoenix from Mexico and is intensely inspected by federal agents. US Airways has not bothered to adjust the published schedule and we only learned this when I noticed the pilots were sitting at the gate with the passengers waiting to board. The pilots boarded just on time, but the passengers did not.
As we finally settled in on board, the pilot announced a further delay because the top cross member of the frame that would secure the cockpit door was hanging by a couple screws and therefore not securing anything. First a mechanic came, then left for his tools. Then he left for a screw. Then he left for more screws. Finally we departed.
The highlight of the flight was the cabin crew, more jovial and respectful than usual. The low point was the bottom seat cushion, which had collapsed in some former life. The whole row seemed to be recovered from a desert aircraft graveyard and was partially held together by tape. The "New American Airlines" cocktail napkin on the badly scarred arm rest promised: "Adding one new plane a week." Clearly this was not one of the new planes.
RULE 2: STICK WITH A RENTAL CAR COMPANY YOU TRUST
For Fort Lauderdale, I had booked an E-Class Mercedes for the too good to believe price of about $250 for five days from Sixt. This broke my policy of using the company that has given the least grief over the years, Hertz. On arrival after midnight we found the Sixt agents working in the dark, using flashlights due to a power failure. They invoked the "or equivalent" provision of the rental contract and gave us a Cadillac ATS, which according to Edmunds.com is smaller than an E-Class Mercedes (shorter, narrower, lower, lighter) and costs a third less than the $50,000+ Mercedes. When we added Diane as additional driver, Sixt added 20 percent to the bill. Because there were no lights at Sixt, we were unable to inspect the car until daylight at the hotel, when we found a scratch on the right rear quarter panel. I phoned Sixt to record this old damage, but now Sixt is trying to bill me for repairs.
RULE 3: NEVER BOOK A HOTEL BASED ONLY ON ITS WEBSITE
Fort Lauderdale's Pelican Grand Beach Resort has a beautiful Web site that when we booked did not reveal that there is heavy demolition and construction during renovation. Good hotels generally reveal any construction in advance and give travelers the opportunity to book elsewhere or receive a greatly reduced rate understanding that their experience may be diminished because of it.
The first consequence of the renovation is that the hotel's sign is obscured, particularly at night, as you can see (or cannot see) here. We arrived after 1 a.m. after driving around the neighborhood for some time trying to find the hotel.
After getting to sleep about 2 a.m., we faced the second consequence about 7 a.m. when we were awakened by the dramatic sound of concrete being broken a few floors over our head. You can see scaffolding posed above at the roof, where a penthouse is being added.
The third consequence is this welcome to the Pelican Grand Beach Resort provided at its main entrance: a porta potty for construction workers:
We moved to another hotel and were not charged for the truncated night at the Pelican.
RULE 4: NEVER BOOK A "GUARANTEE" CABIN FOR A CRUISE
Five years ago we learned to never book a so-called "guarantee" cabin on a cruise ship to get a bargain price. This is because the guarantee is that the cruise line will assign you whatever cabin they like, regardless of whether you would consider it better than or equal to the minimum category you book. In that earlier episode, Cunard assigned us a cabin on the Queen Mary 2 facing the elevator lobby and stairs. This resulted in noise 24 hours a day for a week from the comings and going of all the other passengers on our deck even with a towel stuffed under the door.
We managed to apply this rule until this month, when I foolishly booked a guarantee cabin again-- on the Queen Mary 2. We just received our cabin assignment and yet again we face eight days and nights with a towel stuffed under the door from Southampton to Brooklyn.
RULE 1: NEVER TAKE THE LAST FLIGHT OF THE DAY
I booked us on one of the last flights of the day from Phoenix to Fort Lauderdale. The rule is never take the last flight because weather or mechanical problems may delay or cancel your trip and you will miss connections or a good night's sleep.
We made an exception because the late afternoon US Airways flight, a rare non-stop on this route, would keep us off a 6 a.m. flight connecting through bad weather in the Midwest. What we did not know was that this flight rarely departs or arrives as scheduled because it comes to Phoenix from Mexico and is intensely inspected by federal agents. US Airways has not bothered to adjust the published schedule and we only learned this when I noticed the pilots were sitting at the gate with the passengers waiting to board. The pilots boarded just on time, but the passengers did not.
As we finally settled in on board, the pilot announced a further delay because the top cross member of the frame that would secure the cockpit door was hanging by a couple screws and therefore not securing anything. First a mechanic came, then left for his tools. Then he left for a screw. Then he left for more screws. Finally we departed.
The highlight of the flight was the cabin crew, more jovial and respectful than usual. The low point was the bottom seat cushion, which had collapsed in some former life. The whole row seemed to be recovered from a desert aircraft graveyard and was partially held together by tape. The "New American Airlines" cocktail napkin on the badly scarred arm rest promised: "Adding one new plane a week." Clearly this was not one of the new planes.
For Fort Lauderdale, I had booked an E-Class Mercedes for the too good to believe price of about $250 for five days from Sixt. This broke my policy of using the company that has given the least grief over the years, Hertz. On arrival after midnight we found the Sixt agents working in the dark, using flashlights due to a power failure. They invoked the "or equivalent" provision of the rental contract and gave us a Cadillac ATS, which according to Edmunds.com is smaller than an E-Class Mercedes (shorter, narrower, lower, lighter) and costs a third less than the $50,000+ Mercedes. When we added Diane as additional driver, Sixt added 20 percent to the bill. Because there were no lights at Sixt, we were unable to inspect the car until daylight at the hotel, when we found a scratch on the right rear quarter panel. I phoned Sixt to record this old damage, but now Sixt is trying to bill me for repairs.
RULE 3: NEVER BOOK A HOTEL BASED ONLY ON ITS WEBSITE
Fort Lauderdale's Pelican Grand Beach Resort has a beautiful Web site that when we booked did not reveal that there is heavy demolition and construction during renovation. Good hotels generally reveal any construction in advance and give travelers the opportunity to book elsewhere or receive a greatly reduced rate understanding that their experience may be diminished because of it.
After getting to sleep about 2 a.m., we faced the second consequence about 7 a.m. when we were awakened by the dramatic sound of concrete being broken a few floors over our head. You can see scaffolding posed above at the roof, where a penthouse is being added.
The third consequence is this welcome to the Pelican Grand Beach Resort provided at its main entrance: a porta potty for construction workers:
We moved to another hotel and were not charged for the truncated night at the Pelican.
RULE 4: NEVER BOOK A "GUARANTEE" CABIN FOR A CRUISE
Five years ago we learned to never book a so-called "guarantee" cabin on a cruise ship to get a bargain price. This is because the guarantee is that the cruise line will assign you whatever cabin they like, regardless of whether you would consider it better than or equal to the minimum category you book. In that earlier episode, Cunard assigned us a cabin on the Queen Mary 2 facing the elevator lobby and stairs. This resulted in noise 24 hours a day for a week from the comings and going of all the other passengers on our deck even with a towel stuffed under the door.
We managed to apply this rule until this month, when I foolishly booked a guarantee cabin again-- on the Queen Mary 2. We just received our cabin assignment and yet again we face eight days and nights with a towel stuffed under the door from Southampton to Brooklyn.
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