Dispatches from the Road

I am writing this post from the business center of a 2-star hotel in Salt Lake City Utah.  Why?  Because, thanks to the airline industry, I am once again stranded in a city that is neither the location of my arrival nor my departure. 

Seriously, my trip has been a journey that even Job would have considered cumbersome.

I attempted to leave D.C. two Fridays ago on a West-bound flight only to have it delayed several hours due to weather.  Given the small number of flights headed to my final destination, I opted to fly halfway to Minneapolis that night rather than wait three days for an available seat.  This meant an overnight stay in Minneapolis.

I awoke, after three hours of sleep, and boarded a flight to my boss’ home district before the crack of dawn on my birthday.  Did I mention that I had no shampoo, hairspray, gel, mousse, root volumizer, face wash, toner or acne treatment because the draconian overlords at TSA limit my liquids to one tiny Ziploc baggie?  It’s amazing how dependent a person can become on beauty products.

Fortunately, God decided to take pity on me and with only a curling iron and a travel size bottle of hairspray, I managed to create the best hair day that I have had in at least three years.  It was exactly what I wanted/needed for my birthday.  Thanks, God.

After my less than auspicious start, I spent a week traveling almost 800 miles to seven different cities and towns.  This travel was all done by car.  It has been some time since I’ve ridden in a car that wasn’t a taxicab, so I was horrified to discover that I now get car sick like some pansy city-girl.  Luckily, this went away by day two.

In addition to the mileage that I logged this week, some of you technophiles will be surprised to know that there are many areas of this country that do not have cell service.  On day three, I discovered what happens to a Hill staffer when her Blackberry morphs from vital communication link into a worthless hunk of plastic with pretty lights.  Crackberry detox is ugly, avoid it if at all possible.

My trip ended, I boarded a flight to head back to D.C. only to have that flight delayed until tomorrow due to a mechanical error.  I’m beginning to feel a little like Anna Kendrick’s character in Up in the Air only with better clothes.

The good news for you is that since I have had more free tiime than I know what to do with between the plane rides and my forced hotel time, I have read every fashion magazine available and have compiled a long list of fresh post ideas.  I suppose this is the bright side of my travelling debacle. 

Well, I’m off to retrieve dinner from a vending machine.  Ah, the joys of the road.

xoxo

Belle