Update on the Work Trip

Today is the last day of my work trip to Salt Lake City so I thought I would mention how it’s been going here. The reason for this trip was I had to fill in at the last minute for a sick co-worker so all my travel plans and reservations were made last minute. I flew in on Monday, which was supposed to be Martin Luther King day and a holiday for me...but oh well. At least my flight wasn't early in the morning. My wonderful in laws dropped me off at the airport around 10:30am. I went to the Delta counter to check in and the lady at the counter informed me I was not ticketed. Jigga wha?? She said she’s found my reservation but no ticket. Oh ok, that makes sense....not! (At this point I'm getting out my cell phone to call for a ride to go back home.) The lady at the Delta counter was very nice and offered to call the travel agency for me. Which would be great except its the federal agency and they would be closed on this national holiday, right? (So I continued to dial Steve's parent’s number to come get me.) But she miraculously was able to get a hold of someone at the travel agency on their emergency line and after a few minutes I had a ticket. A miracle! (Except that I'd rather go home, but oh well :)

So the first disaster was averted and I was on my way to the gate. When I got there, I realized I don't have a seat for the flight. No problem, right? Just go up to the counter and ask for one...well there was no one at the counter. I was pretty hungry at this point so I started walking around the terminal to find some food. Nada. There was a newsstand with not much food but I bought some trail mix there. There was also a Starbucks and I sank to a new low when I purchased a banana for $1.20. But I was so hungry!! So I found a seat at the gate and waited for someone to come to the counter so I could beg for a seat. After a half hour or so, someone did come to the counter but only to announce that the flight was delayed! Ugh. So I didn’t even get a chance to see if I had a seat. A couple more announcements and the flight ended up being delayed almost 2 hours! But good news was I did get a seat on the plane! Yay!

So we boarded the plane and I had a seat next to a girl who looked about my age, maybe a little older. I thought about asking her for the aisle seat since I knew I would probably have to pee at least 2 times on this 3 hour flight but I didn’t ask her. I figured, she will see that I’m pregnant and be nice to me…nope! She fell asleep right away with her elbow well into my seat (and my side). Ugh so uncomfortable! Then when I had to wake her up so I can pee, she grumbled at me! What a jerk! I didn’t get better at all during the rest of the flight with her elbow taking up part of my seat the entire time.

But I made it to Salt Lake City safely! Whew. Usually when you are traveling for these conferences, there is a shuttle that takes you to your hotel. Well apparently not for this hotel. When I called them they said they don’t have a shuttle and you’ll have to hire an express taxi at the airport. Awesome. After walking around for a while, I finally found the counter for the express taxi and got one ordered. When it came a few minutes later I was so glad.

So I got to the hotel and got checked in. By this time I was starving. And when you are pregnant it really feels like you are going to die when you are hungry. So as soon as I checked in I asked for a map to local restaurants. They showed me that there was a Subway about 3 blocks away. I thought that was so great so I walked to Subway. It really wasn’t that cold out and wasn’t too far away so I thought my night had to be better than my day had been so far. Well as I’m eating my sandwich, I notice its starting to drizzle. Then I remembered that it was drizzling a little bit in the taxi ride over here. So I thought I better high tail it back to the hotel before it pours! Well about half way back to the hotel, it started pouring…like cats and dogs pouring. Awesome. So I am totally soaked by the time I make it back to the hotel. I had planned to do some setting up of the conference room that night after dinner but at this point I just felt like I needed to call it a day!

Luckily the hotel room was really nice. The bathroom was big and very clean and they had a sleep number bed in the room! Also, I had an awesome view of downtown Salt Lake which is so beautiful.

So the next day was the first day of the conference and it was crazy! There was so much to do and organize. My co-worker had shipped about 8 boxes and 1 huge crate full of materials! She gave me about 2 pages of instructions too. It was very overwhelming. Even though I got to the conference room 2 hours early, I was still unpacking and setting up as people were arriving! But I got it all figured out and the conference started just fine. And except for the normal complaints and getting yelled at once, the conference has been going well!

It’s been kind of lonely being at a conference by yourself. The first night I walked to a nearby outdoor mall for something to do. It was only 3 or 4 blocks away and was really nice! I had a good time walking around and doing some window shopping at the stores in the mall. By the time I headed home though I was pooped! The next 2 nights I just stayed in and watched TV. Normally, if I was traveling with other people I would have gone out to dinner or maybe to see some sights around the city but by myself I just felt like relaxing.

So I’m planning to fly out today and should arrive in St. Louis late tonight. The only problem is that St. Louis got a ton of snow yesterday so flights have been iffy…Hopefully I will make it home tonight!