In Nashville for @NCTEARorg, Arrived 5 Hours Late (Airplanes), Was Dropped Off at Wrong Hotel and Spent $20 on Lunch. But I Made It!

I owe my NWP sister, Susan, a huge hug. Why? Well, when I landed in Chicago, I had 30 minutes to connect to another flight, so quickly ran through a Starbucks to get chips, a sandwich and some water. The bill came to $17.50. Um. Okay. I had a gift card from Susan for my birthday. Here she was to save the day.

But then the flight was delayed. Then canceled. Then rescheduled, then delayed. I arrived much later than I anticipated an missed the first night of NCTEAR festivities, including Bettina Love.

Lucky for me, my bag arrived. Phew. That's a plus.

It used to be fun to travel, but holy messy now-a-days. It's never as planned.

On a plus note, I absolutely love the super diversity of American airports. Every one of the hubs is a display of absolute humanity. It is beautiful to see and I'm in awe of the richness of our society. Airports have it all (including many in masks to protect themselves from the virus). That was a bit nerving.

Then, the taxi was $30. I should have Uber'd but thought I'd give taxis a break. I figured it would be comparable Nope.

And this taxi dropped me off at the address I gave him, which turned out to be the wrong hotel and I was on the other side of town. Good thing I wanted to walk. And I did. It was cold, it was dark, but it was a new city (well, an ol' city, but a different part of it - the Vanderbilt part).

This morning, I'm heading to the conference for a day of reunions, idea sharing, presentation, and goofiness (having Kevin Leander to blame for that...more to come).

Packing the extra books was a great idea, too. I nailed 2 of them between NYC to Chicago to Nashville. Another kicker is we made it to Laguardia in 52 minutes from Stratford. Huh? The traffic leaving NYC was a stand-still. Go figure.

I'm off to do this conference thing. Happy Saturday.