</htm

Ocean Sail Issue 21 - Wednesday, May 31, 2000

Location: Flight AA 2 Los Angles to New York enroute to Barcelona.

There are some things that are better left untried and after a week in Santa Barbara we were about to discover this on our own. Santa Barbara is the town that Christianstead would like to grow up to be. It’s artsy, cute and dressed in period buildings. In the three weeks that we were in St. Croix, I had been busy on the Internet shopping for electronics for the boat: Single Side Band Radio, VHF Radio, Stereo system, etc. All these items needed transportation to the factory in France and we wanted to see the progress on the boat as well. So the grand travel plan was to visit Santa Barbara and pick up the electronics and fly to Barcelona where we would rent a car and drive to Perpignan. We would stay for week and visit the local sites. Everything was going according to plan, the electronics had arrived and we had a place to stay when we returned to Santa Barbara.

On the day before the flight we went out and bought one of those large gear duffle bags to contain most of the boxes. By reducing our clothes to one bag, after all it was only a week, we got down to an excess baggage free load of three bags and one box. We are each allowed two bags, by international agreement. American Airline flight “2”, a 9am departure originates in LAX and we were in Santa Barbara, ninety miles to the north. I set my watch alarms for 5 am and 5:10 am; it has 2 alarms you see. We woke with a start at 5:30 am. This was bad sign, a late start with 90 miles to drive and the last 20 through Los Angeles. The Hummer was headed down Route 101 at 6am with the sun just starting to edge over the mountains. Traffic was light through Ventura, Oxnard, and Thousand Oaks. The Hummer will never break any land speed records, but it can do a reasonable 82 mph when asked, and cruise at 70 mph all day.

As we entered the outer suburbs of LA, the traffic started to build and 5 miles before 405 is stopped. 20 miles and two hours till flight time and we are stopped in traffic. It creeps along, sometimes hitting bursts of 10 mph. 30 minutes later we exit onto 405 and as we look up the ramp a 5 lane wall of cars, buses and trucks blocks the approach up the hill. More creeping, shuffling and lane changes later and another 30 minutes slip by. Finally the crest of the hill brings relief and a 10-mile sprint to the airport. Turning off Century Blvd take us to last leg of the road trip and we pull into an Ampco long-term parking lot, $9.50 a day with a free shuttle. Ktoo flags down a departing shuttle and urgently explains that we are really late and need to get to the airport fast. The short Hispanic man hurries over and helps us load our nearly excess baggage, 2 normal size bags, 1 XXL bag and one box into the van. I park the Hummer and the van follows me to the parking space.

On the way the driver, Jose asks us our departing airline, then he calls the dispatch center and to find out which terminal Iberia Airlines is located. They tell him number 3, the international terminal. After dropping off the only other passenger in the van at Korean Air, we scan the array of airlines posted over the walkway. It’s like reading a list of international destinations, but after reaching the end there is no Iberia to be found. Jose pulls over and walks back to talk with the curbside baggage porters. The clock is still ticking.

Jose comes back and says its been moved to the American Airlines International in terminal 4. He drives to the next building and we are unloading. I slip Jose $5 for his efforts. Finally we are lined up on the curb waiting for porter to come and check in our bags. When he finishes with the couple in front of us he asks for our tickets, identification and our destination. We hand up our passports and tell him New York continuing on to Barcelona. He hands back our passports and tell us we have to check in at the counter, about 200 feet down the building. There is no way we can carry all this stuff, so I go over to the cart dispenser, only $2; cash or credit cards accepted. While fumbling with my money a breeze blows in and a dollar flutters from my hand and over the rail. It lands on a wooden partition five feet below the rail. I shrug and pull out my Discover card and slide it into the machine. Back at the baggage Ktoo and I load the cart up and head out. We make a false turn into the First Class international check in and have to back out to the sidewalk. Finally we are last in line at the international economy class line at 8:20 am – 40 minutes before flight time. The line is long and slow. At 8:50 we are still 5 people away from being served, and the departure status board is showing that American Airline Flight “2” with nonstop service to New York is boarding. At 9am we are 1 person away and the status board shows the flight is closed and boarding is over. At 9:10 we are finally in front of the counter.

As we approach the counter, we tell Dedra, the agent behind the counter that we have just missed our flight. She immediately starts to find alternate flights. There is a 10 am flight to New York, but we would miss the connection to Barcelona and it is the only flight of the day. After some thought, we decide to fly to New York and stay the night. The next day we could catch the Iberia flight to Barcelona. She then asks for our tickets. We tell her that they were E-Tickets. Dedra checks the terminal again, and asks again. The light goes on – and I remember that they were paper tickets because Iberia does not have electronic tickets.  When I bought the tickets from Expedea I had them sent to my brothers house in Santa Barbara, where they still were. Dedra suggests that if someone could take the tickets down to the American Airline counter in Santa Barbara Airport, they could be packaged express to LAX. From my cell phone I call my brother and then his house, but the call would not go through. I got a message telling me of “Error G-43.” I later learned from ATT customer service that they were having problems in the LAX airport with long distance service. Dedra offers to call for us. After digging out her own long-distance calling card she dials my brothers cell phone number – and he answers. He doesn’t know if the tickets are there, they have been away on a long Memorial Day weekend.

Some things that are better left untried, so rather then ask my brother to drive home from work and then to the Santa Barbara Airport to make the 10am flight from SB to LAX. We give up, reload our baggage on a cart, call the parking lot shuttle service, and wind our way back to Santa Barbara to try again tomorrow. Stress weary and sleep deprived the drive back to SB seems to take forever, but just around noon, 6 hours after we left, we roll under the State Street exit.