Nov. 26th, 2006
Omaha
Somewhere in middle America
Get right to the heart of matters
Its the heart that matters more
I think you’d better turn your ticket in
And leave your money right at the door
Omaha Counting Crows
The trip started out on Sunday the 26th. Now you have to remember that this was the Sunday after Thanksgiving. So, since my flight was book really late I ended with a flight to Chicago where I had to sit for 4:30 hours! Then a flight to Omaha. The good thing about it was the only flight they could find from Philly to Chicago was a 1st class ticket. So, that made up for the long wait a little bit. They just kept bringing me drinks I didn’t even have to ask. I finally had to tell them to stop. 😉
One of the great things about traveling is the different kinds of people you meet in airports and on planes. It turns out the guy sitting next to me was also a consultant, but a management consultant. I think he helps executives manage their companies. He’s apparently written a few books too. I wanted to check out some of his books, but he didn’t have any cards with him and of course I forgot his last name. It’s really not good, how bad I am with names. I gave him my card, so hopefully he will email me.
While I was in the airport in Chicago. I wanted to get something to eat since I was going to be there so long, and wouldn’t get to Omaha until pretty late. The only restaurant that was really a sit down place was Chili’s, and of course there was a line. I ended up behind some guy that was also by himself, so we decided to sit together so we could get a table quicker. Turns out he was a was a dancer in a group from Israel that’s kind of like Stomp. Maybe you’ve heard of it. They were performing at some festival in Chicago. It was pretty interesting to talk to him about his impressions of the USA.
After dinner I walked around a bit and they started to mess around with my flight. First it was late then it changed gates, then terminals. Then it wasn’t on the board at all. So, I went to the info desk to find out what was up, they said it would be back on the board in a couple of minutes, but it was going to be late. Turns out the girl in front of me was from Omaha so she was asking about the flight too. We ended up hanging out in a bar while we waited for the flight. We met a girl from California that lives in NYC. She’s definitely taken NYC to heart. I pegged her as a New Yorker in the first five minutes of talking to her. Talk about attitude! Anyway, there were two guys in our little wayward travelers group too. One was a microbiologist that did some sort of testing with anti-bodies. (I think he may have sniffed a few to many chemicals.) and the other was a student who was on his way back to San Francisco from Toronto where he spent the holiday with his fiance. He was disappointed that he missed Thanksgiving since they obviously don’t celebrate our Thanksgiving in Canada. After about an hour and a couple of beers we all headed to our respective planes.
When I arrived in Omaha, I was supposed to meet up with the German guy that I was going to be traveling. My plane was really late so I didn’t know if he arrived on time or not. I also didn’t know if he had a car or if there was just the one that was in my name. Oh, before I left Omaha I tried calling him and of course he has a German number. The stupid thing is the phone I got from the company doesn’t allow me to make international calls. A bit silly think seeing as I work for a German company and need to call Germany pretty often. So, I had to use my personal phone to try and call him. All I got was voicemail.
So, now I’m in Omaha. I realized he never gave me his flight number and it was already past the time when he should of arrived. I went and got the car and figured since I couldn’t get a hold of him, I would go to the hotel and hopefully he would be there or call me when he arrived. I was almost to the hotel when he sent me an SMS. So, I had to go back and he was upset that he had to wait, but what can you do.
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