CharlesMD

For some reason this summer has been such a travel disaster for me. First we went to the wrong airport coming back from London and now this.

Some friends from the UK were visiting WAS so we went on the town the day before I was supposed to go to a conference and give the keynote address. We went out and got back around 6 am, I did online check in for my 9:30 am flight and I thought I'd take a 1 hour nap. Well that nap turned into a slumber as I woke up at 3:30 pm thinking Holy Shiitake mushroom!

I called the PLT line and at first the agent was you missed your flight, too bad. Go to the airport and try standby. Well, these people were paying me $$ to go to the conference so standby wasn't really an option and the only other fare was like $900. Talk about an expensive nap!

I called the PLT again after thinking about my options, and spoke to Jeanne a really nice agent, who was like "You did online check-in right," "Well your original flight was cancelled so we can re-route you through BWI for no charge!" Thank you Jeanne! So I ended up getting to the conference OK.

After I gave my talk I was awoken at 3 am by a phone call from my frantic gf saying someone is trying to break into our house! Well my first thought was CALL THE POLICE! Well she did three times starting 20 min ago. Anyhow, it took the police 40 min to respond (In Georgetown-- thankfully the crook was stupid) and catch the would be burglar! We spent a very anxious 20 min on the phone with her in the closet with a big steak knife. I like how our government harasses people taking pictures of airline food, but can't get to the scene of an ongoing break-in in less than half an hour. Now I know why some people are such second ammendment enthusiasts! So I had to get back to DC as my gf was besides herself. I called the PLT line again and three hours later I was at the airport, and back in Washington just after lunch. For no extra charge!

Lessons learned:

• Always do on-line check in
• If you miss your flight for any reason, first ask what happened to your original flight-- you may be able to get rebooked for no charge, but only if you did on-line check in.
• Going out the night before an early morning flight is a bad idea
• And if you do go out, then don't take a nap-- it's better to stay up!

When things go bad, I am thankful for the PLT line and that AA always comes through for me!

P.S. OT: I saw Fahrenheit 911 after Wing's recommendation and had this weird dream where I was waiting to get on an AA flight to London and Wolfowitz was the gate agent and I just lost it screaming at him!

JonNYC

You forgot one--

• Never bring a steak knife to a gun fight

BTW, you really do have a very strange life.

Blumie

You can always count on the doctor for an interesting story.

CharlesMD

Fortunately, the guy was unarmed-- just a high homeless person looking for quick $$$. What was really scary was that he didn't have a shirt on the whole time. My gf declined to press charges provided the goon goes to rehab-- God bless her liberal heart!

Travel does make your life interesting!

Is anyone entering the Road Warrior contest? I was thinking of submitting my barfing up my bistro bag trip report, but for some reason I doubt that'd get chosen

chartreuse

I was going to enter, then I checked the rules & it said US residents only. Now I may do a lot of international flights but I also take a bunch of domestic AA flights & like to think I'd be able to come up with some good answers to the questions.

Is it really that hard to allow non-US entrants into a competition that is clearly about skill (ie writing good answers) not just chance?

Anyway, I'm glad things worked out for you and maybe you should enter anyway - you seem to have enough experiences to make your entry interesting reading...

xFlagger

Alan Funt should follow you around with a camera.... drove to the wrong London Airport?!! hoo,hoo,hoo... hee,hee,hee... oh, stop it, you're killing me! My sides hurt.

We have a winner folks!

JohnMD

Doctor's just know how to have fun...

brp

Yeah, a bunch of cutups.

Of course, it's the Ph.D. doctor types that really know how to have fun. Trust me .

Cheers.

dr. brp

CharlesMD

You know it! First and 4th year (after the match) are a party. Residency sucks. And once you make attending those conferences are pretty posh.

Dakota

They have students doing the keynotes at conferences these days? How times have changed...

JonNYC

I'm kinda picturing the "scientific types" that Homer hung around with when he had to go back to college...

brp

Naw, those would be the science and engineering types- the ones that get the PH.D.s The pre meds were the ones partying and taking the easy classes. The science and engineering types partied and took the harder classes...well, some did. Others were the type you are picturing .

Cheers.

Plato90s

Make friends with the man who's got the prescription pad...

CharlesMD

That's the misconception! But in reality, each med school class usually has:

40% premeds (JonNYCs science types)
5% Jocks (someone needs to go into orthopedics)
10% Drama/English majors/playwrites (future psychiatrists)
10% Foreigners (i.e. I'm going back to Bolivia to be a rich cardiologist)
10% People who decided to go into medicine after careers in i-banking, engineering, ski-bumming, Olympic swimming, professional sports
10% MD/PhDs: pre-med science types to the extreme
5% Beautiful people (plastic surgery, baby!)
5% Slackers (my daddy graduated from here and that's how I got in).
5% Military committments (i.e. ROTC)

Generally, about 75% are from affluent backgrounds. Throw in long intense hours, stress, and seeing your classmates half-naked (how do you think we practice clinical exams), and you have one big party after exams!

It always surprises me how many MDs are EXPs here! YMMV.

jwking

Makes me think of a Mercedes commercial I saw while in NYC a few months ago:

-Beautiful Mercedes Benz driving very fast.
-Couple inside vehicle contemplating whether they are going to make it to the husband's flight that leaves in 20 minutes.
-Car pulls up to the curb, couple looks relieved.
-Valet opens husband's door and says "Welcome to JFK, sir"
-Husband looks at wife with complete horor..."Wrong airport!!!"
-Door slams and car speeds away.

(I haven't gotten MDW and ORD mixed up, yet.)