You better read the fine print-a cautionary tale

I had to travel to Los Angeles for work this week, and my experience with the airlines leaves a lot to be desired.

I had booked a flight with airline  " A"  thirteen days out for a cool $500.  I was to fly out late Tuesday night arrive in La at 10pm.  I was then supposed to return to Chicago on the red-eye and arrive home Friday morning at 5am.  It was perfect. I could maximize my time at home and get everything I needed done.

Then parenting got in the way, and it became impossible for me to leave Tuesday night.  The best I could do was an early flight Wednesday morning.  I was able to push my first meeting back, to account for my later arrival. 

I called airline "A", and to change my flight to the next morning was going to be another $500 so I bought a one-way from airline "B "for $360. 

Fast forward to Thursday morning.  I was staying at a friend's condo for the night and they had told me to leave the keys in the unit and lock the door behind me when I left.  And I did, I'm good at following directions.  I then had the bright idea to call airline "A" to confirm my flight that night only  to discover that since I missed the first leg of the flight, they canceled my reservation, and to reinstate it would cost an additional $700.  I was told that it was airline policy and this was stated in all that fine print you click on when you" agree to the terms".  And this part is beautiful-since i didn't tell them I was going to miss the flight, the outbound portion of my ticket had no value.

There were no other seats under a grand available that night so I had to resign myself to an early morning flight with a $50 change fee and a much longer connecting flight through Dallas, Texas Now I had to arrange for my girls to go home with friends after school since my plane didn't get in until after 3pm.  But the worst part was that, since I had locked the keys in the condo, I didn't have anywhere to stay but a hotel near the airport--another $100 bucks..

So next time want to fly cross country-read the fine print or it may end up costing you double what you expected plus all the aggravation of an extra night away from home.

End of Summer Blues

This time of year always brings about conflicting emotions for me, and full of regrets. On the one hand, I feel we did not make the most of summer break. We took only 5 days in Wisconsin with the kids. Why didn't we travel cross country in a RV and visit the Grand Canyon? or see some mountains in Colorado? We should have gone to the beach, zoo, more water parks, the library. Like when I was a kid. It seemed as if we never had the time.

But in many ways it's not our fault. Back when I was little, my mom didn't work. She had all the summer long to hang with us. Now, summer vacation poses a real conundrum for working moms. It is no longer carefree days of catching lighting bugs, but a frantic 'what am I going to do with the kids while I try to get some work done'. So it's summer camp that rules our summer. The kids are scheduled and there isn't much time for relaxing. And in between camps-there are none that seem to last all summer-we have the make those embarrassing business calls while our kids are bickering in the background or a little one is telling you she has to go potty.


On the other hand, I always looked forward to school starting in the fall when I was little, and in many respects, I look forward to my kids going back. I'm looking forward to the early bedtimes, and hours to work uninterrupted. But most importantly I'm looking forward to watching my girls learn. Especially Annie, who is 6. Every new bit of knowledge is a wonder for her. My big girl Amy, just became a teenager and thinks she already knows everything, but she is old enough to have real and interesting conversations about what she's learned in school.

So there you have it. We spend all spring looking forward to summer break and all of August looking forward to September... and somewhere around Halloween, we won't be able to wait for winter break.