Return from the Far East*

The weekend was spent in rural Pennsylvania, celebrating the wedding of a dear old friend from college.  Sunday was to be brunch + visit Kentuck Knob + drive to airport + go home.  

 

We left the hotel late, got hung up waiting for the slowest sandwich we could find, dealt with snippy staff at Kentuck Knob, took the tour, and finally hit the road.  

 

At this point we were at least 30 minutes behind schedule to get to the airport.  There was also the possibility that our schedule was wrong, because it didn’t allow for time to drive from Kentuck Knob back to the main highway.

 

So, here I am feeling a bit stressed from the snippy staff + time stressed because we’re running late for an airplane.  I’m driving, with my wife and son in the back seat of the rental car.  Wife asks if we should stop & get the directions out of the trunk, or if I remember the way back.

 

Hmm. 

 

Directions are a good idea, but we’re a bit short on time.  Stopping to rummage through the trunk could make us later.  Anyway, the directions weren’t very detailed, so they probably wouldn’t help much.

 

I could get the Tablet PC out of the trunk instead, and use Streets and Trips.  But that would take an extra 10 minutes to work out.

 

Better to just keep driving.

 

Half an hour later, we realize that the town we’re driving through doesn’t look familiar.  It takes 10 more minutes of driving just to figure out where the heck we are.  Then we plug it into Streets and Trips, and realize that we missed an important turn at the beginning of the journey.

 

Doh.

 

Feeling more time stress, we pick a new route, and try to get to PIT airport again.  Now we’re driving some country highway that drops down to 25mph every few miles.  This doesn’t look good.

 

Eventually we pass I-70.  Aha, this I recognize!  Ignoring Streets and Trips instructions, I hop on the interstate.  I don’t know why it kept me on back roads, but I wanted the comfort of a road that I could understand.

 

Finally we get to the airport.  We’re late, but you already knew that.

 

We jump out of the rental car & load all the luggage on our backs.  We do our best to jog through the airport to checkin.

 

Then I realize I left my wallet in the car.  My wife insists that we don’t have time, and that there’s nothing critical in it.  (She’s right).  So we press on, with the plan to call the rental agency to have them send it to us later.

 

The e-ticket kiosk doesn’t recognize us, so we have to get a human to check us in.  Then we get to carry all the luggage across to the bag security check.  There we drop it off & take off running for the human security check.  Finally we arrive at the gate, where they have just started boarding the plane.  Whew, we make it.

 

The flight is less fun than usual because we entered it after a long, stressful drive.  But we cope.

 

Arriving in Seattle, we go to the baggage claim.  Our luggage doesn’t show up.

 

Turns out we were too late getting to PIT, and our luggage is on the next flight.  We get to wait 2 hours in SEA for it to come.

 

Why didn’t we just miss the PIT flight ourselves, and save all that stress?

 

At least we got to see Port of Seattle fire & rescue folks come deal with a “bag in question”.  They wear retro looking silver fire pants, presumably because jet fuel fires are really hot.

 

There’s a lesson in all this.  It’s the same lesson as Sustainable Pace.  When stress increases, I start to make decisions poorly.  When the stress is time related, I try to take shortcuts, which then cost me even more time.

 

I think I need to focus on skills to manage stress, so I can make clear decisions even when time is short.  So, if I’m going to be late for a plane, just accept that fact and don’t worry about it.  

 

*Far East = Virginia & Pennsylvania