At the rate I'm going, I'm going to finish talking about this May trip by September, but who cares? Not I. (Part 1 here.)
I hit no snags getting to the airport, and had planned out carrying my bags downstairs over the previous couple of days, so I didn't have to kill myself that morning. Checked my bag (yeah, yeah, I know), flight wasn't delayed, and other than the irritation of being forced to gate-check my roller bag (I was one of the last three passengers before the groups that had already been told to check theirs, but we got to the plane door and were stopped), things went smoothly.
Up in the air!
There were two reasons that I was pissed about gate-checking the bag.
- First was that I didn't pack it intending to be checked, so I worried that things would be damaged, as well as the nightmare idea that it would be lost, with all my "I don't want to check this" items. (Happily, neither of these ended up happening.)
- The second was that it would go the baggage claim with all the checked bags, meaning I had to carry my "Why is this so heavy" personal item all the way. At least I was already going to be going there, but my shoulders were not a fan of this plan.
But after a considerable wait at baggage (seriously, I didn't rush there, and it was still half an hour before I had both bags), I finally had all my luggage and could go find the shuttle to the rental car center (at Logan, it isn't in the terminal, it's nearby). Where I then waited in line another half hour, because of course.
When it was my turn, the woman and I talked about the level of car I chose (compact SUV, Kia Soul or similar [I really was hoping for that, as it would be familiar]) and how they were more likely to give me something bigger, which I didn't want. She asked if I would rather have a sedan, I said yes, and she sent me off to the far-off spot that should have a Toyota Camry.
Which it did, but it also had two people getting into it, so after confirming that they also had been assigned the same car (sigh, that's some system they have), I got to haul all my stuff back to the counter and wait for her to finish with her current customer before getting back to me. This time the car was a VW Jetta, and it was waiting by the door, so I was able to give it a good once-over before getting in and figuring out all the controls (I've never driven a VW before).
Unfortunately, all these delays had added up to me leaving the airport in rush hour, which my 1:42 arrival time was supposed to avoid. I took a screenshot of the GPS while in stopped traffic:
Look at all that red. No good way to go. But all things come to an end! I got there at last, got settled, and had a good dinner at a favorite restaurant with the friend I was seeing the most.
Note: I had to come up with ways to refer to my friends without using their names. I can't use initials, as somehow there are four names that start with J and three that start with M.
So Friend 1 (F1) and I had dinner, it was good to start catching up, and then I kind of crashed out. As one will after a long busy day.
On Thursday, I had a bit of A Moment with the car while on my way to a grocery store. Reminder that my car is a 2019, so I know technology has leapt ahead since then. This one let me Bluetooth my phone in, which my own car does do, but it doesn't integrate as much as this one did. I could use the display screen for my map directions, and it showed Audible for me to keep listening to my audiobook, which was great. (I'm currently listening to a book that's 31 and a half hours, so it's slow going to get through, though excellent.)
Less great, however, is what it did to me as I was making a turn to go around the back streets to the store. I'm turning, the book is playing, and suddenly this Voice loudly says something like, "Hi, this is your gemini assistant to help you navigate!"
Understandably, I think, I half-yelled What the Fuck! Like, where did that come from, you know? And then the damned thing said that if I was frustrated, it could help me.
-_-
What.
I am not proud of my reaction in the moment (though, hey, I didn't actually drive off the road), but I can tell you that in that situation, either "Shut up!" or "Turn off!" or "Stop!" will turned the cursed thing off.
Ahem.
Annnnyway. I stopped in at the grocery store to pick up a few things (so I didn't have to pack them), and was perplexed to notice this. Liquid Death water? Seriously.
It wasn't the only time I could see F2, but F2D got an internship and was heading out that weekend, so it was my only chance to see her (she's in college, and such a great kid, I love her.) We had a nice time, the three of us, sitting around and petting the cat (this is balloon cat's house) and catching up.
After F2D left to go watch her brother in a play, F2 and I kept chatting until her husband got home. I adore her husband as well, and was delighted to go out to dinner with both of them. And amused that I had to drive, as their kids had both the family cars out. We had a good dinner, though the ... unusual musical act that started while we were there did drown out remaining conversation. But it turned out not to be the last time I saw them, so no regrets there.
On Friday, I left F1 hard at work and took myself out for coffee.
We had a really good afternoon! We met for lunch, had a good time shopping, and then got coffee and sat knitting and catching up for a while. It was so nice to see her.
Friday night was a quiet night in with Friend 1, eating leftovers, and getting ready to go away over Saturday night. More to come!
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