Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Time Zone Hopping

What a week.  Sorry I have been gone so long but traveling wears me down.  We left for Ohio last Tuesday.  The day started at 4:30am and we arrived in Pittsburgh at 4:30pm three hours ahead of Arizona's time zone.  That would make it 1:30pm AZ time.  We met up with my sister and her children, checked in the hotel, went out to eat at Bob Evans (I had never been there) then dropped my nephew off with a student at the dorm who hosted him for 3 days.  The next day consisted of a campus tour, sitting in on classes, eating at the cafeteria and a leisurely walk down memory lane for me.  My nephew had a great time.  He met fellow anime and video game aficionados with whom he could converse until all hours of the night or morning.  Hopefully, this experience will motivate him to bring up his grades so that he can go to college right after high school.


I was reminded how much I dislike travel.  I will not fly American Airlines again if I can help it.  I could not believe that I had to pay for a premium seat for two of the flights because I did not know that I had to choose my seats before all the free seats were gone.  There was nothing "premium" about the seats either.  I did not get to sit next to my nephew on any of the flights.  Snacks were for purchase only.  No free peanuts or pretzels.  Boarding took forever as the gate agents read off the list of preferential groups, gold members, elite status, credit card rewards members, there must have been around 10 different groups that boarded first and then the remaining folks were lumped together.  The only reason I picked American was because the flight arrived close to my sister's flight.  She took Delta and got free cookies but they damaged her bag so I can't say that was better.  I will go back to flying with Southwest whenever possible.

I am glad that I went and have the memories but I am happy to be home.  My mother did a wonderful job of looking after my dogs.  They were all happy to see me and I could tell that they were more relaxed because they were familiar with the person caring for them instead of a stranger.  It is going to take a month to get back on track with the bills.  I travel so rarely and when I do I tend to spend money more freely than normal.  I paid for dinner for the group and handed out gift cards to my nieces and nephew and the kind students who showed my nephew around.  I am glad that I am careful with spending other times so that I can spend money on things that are important to me, like this trip.

I am back at work this week and my nephew still has another week of spring break.  Next week we will start the last quarter of his junior year.  Only 9 weeks until school is out!  Yes, I am counting the days.  If all goes according to plan, my nephew will be able to drive to school next year and we will live in the house in town.  The mobile home will be sealed up against the pack rats and that project will be put on hold for a year or so depending on how my life goes.  Then, once my nephew goes to college or whatever he chooses to do, I'll continue with my plan to move out to my property full time.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

its nice you could meet up with your sister, too. Did you nephew like the college?

i have somewhat thought of moving to Pittsburgh, as it is supposed to be cheap for retirement, lots of doctors, etc.

george said...

I agree. traveling that way is loathsome and tiresome. No free peanuts anymore? Well, that does it. Glad you're back.

Lizzie@her MFW Homeworld said...

Sounds pretty stressful. I like travel but no one says a good word about american airlines. Mind you they dont say anything nice about Easyjet either and i love them so who knows!

Michael Gillies said...

Fantastic blog you have here. You’ll discover me looking at your stuff often. Saved!

Daizy said...

He liked the college a lot but mainly for the freedom he would have while living there. I have never heard of Pittsburgh being a good place for retirement but I guess that depends on where you are moving from. Every place has some perks.

Daizy said...

I keep trying to figure out how I will travel after I retire. I'm leaning towards camper van but driving comes with its own problems.

Daizy said...

Getting there is the price we pay, literally. Since there is nothing faster than flying, I'll have to put up with the unpleasantness.

Daizy said...

Thank you, Michael. I'm glad you enjoy my adventures.

Anonymous said...

Actually Pittsburgh is making a lot of list in best retirement cities.

I have also been watching a lot of camper van and rv videos on you tube for the past few months. I am not sure I could rough it quite that much.

Anonymous said...

maybe you are actually the one who steered me to camper van and rv you tube videos? I have been fascinated with them for the past few month, but cannot see myself roughing it that much. I need decent bathroom.