Not long ago in this post, I told a tale from back in 2013 when I was in Las Vegas with a lady I liked a lot. The other day, I told a friend the story of how that lady and I got to Vegas that weekend and the friend said, "Oh, you've got to tell that part on your blog!" So here is that part on my blog…
On Tuesday, May 28 of that year, I flew back to Indiana for meetings on The Garfield Show, which I was then working on. Muncie, Indiana is where Garfield's creator Jim Davis lives and works and during the thirty some-odd years I've been involved with The Cat, I've occasionally had to fly back there for planning meetings. The Garfield Show was produced and animated in France and some of the key people from there were also headed for this conference in Muncie — a much more difficult trip for them than it was for me.
So on 5/28, I flew Delta to Memphis, changed planes and continued on to Indianapolis. I rented a car there and drove to a Hyatt near the airport where I spent the night. The next morning, I took the rental car back to the airport and exchanged it for one that worked better, then drove to Muncie, Indiana, stopping en route at a great, not-there-anymore barbecue place for lunch. Later that day, I checked into a motel in Muncie and that evening, Jim, his wife Jill, some of the folks from France and I dined at a country club where Jim's a member. No, we did not have lasagna.
Thursday, May 30, I checked out of the motel, then spent all day at Jim's studio discussing vital Garfield matters. We all went to dinner at a local restaurant that evening where again, we did not have lasagna. I then drove back to Indianapolis and checked back into that Hyatt by the airport for the night.
The next day, I was not flying home. I was flying to Las Vegas to spend the weekend there with this friend of mine. She and her current beau might be happier if I didn't give her name here so we'll call her Kathy. We're still friends. We're just involved with other people now.
From here on, much of this story is me bragging about the rest of the travel arrangements I made. It will all sound trivial and No Big Deal to you but at the time, I was insufferably pleased with myself at what I'd been able to configure. Keep in mind that none of these flight numbers correspond to current flights and the date of this was Friday, May 31, 2013. Here was the dual itinerary for that day…
- 1:30 PM EDT: Mark arrives at Indianapolis International Airport. He turns in his rental car, checks his baggage and secures his boarding pass for Flight 619 on Frontier Airlines, scheduled to depart at 3:41 PM.
- 3:41 PM EDT: Mark's flight takes off from Indianapolis, heading for Denver International Airport.
- 3:00 PM PDT: Kathy arrives at San Francisco International Airport, checks her baggage, claims her boarding pass, (etc.) for Virgin Air Flight 910, scheduled to depart at 4:45 PM.
- 4:20 PM MDT: Mark's plane lands in Denver, Colorado and he changes to Frontier Airlines Flight 787 which departs at 5:00 PM.
- 5:00 PM MDT: Mark's flight takes off from Denver, heading for McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.
- 4:45 PM PDT: Kathy's flight takes off from San Francisco, heading for McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.
- 5:53 PM PDT: Mark's flight arrives at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas at gate D16.
- 5:55 PM PDT: Kathy's flight arrives at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas at gate D18 which is next to gate D16. They are just far enough apart so an airplane pulling into one will not prevent another plane from pulling into the other.
- Though they are flying in from different cities on different airlines, Kathy and Mark arrive at adjoining gates at almost the exact same time.
I don't know about you but I think that's kind of romantic. I imagined us running towards each other, her hair bouncing as she runs, and we embrace there in the airport. I knew it wouldn't actually work like that. For one thing, I'd be toting a heavy carry-on with my laptop in it. But doesn't it sound like one of those glorious reunion moments you see in movies? I decided it would be a personal triumph if I could pull it off; if we would achieve simultaneous arrival.
Before the day, I e-mailed Kathy a detailed plan along with her ticket info. I think she thought I was kind of looney but that was some (not all) of the basis for our whole relationship. At least, I hope not all. She was willing to go along with it and she followed her instructions to the letter. Virgin Air did nothing to foil my scheme. They took off on time. They landed a few minutes early. They did everything right, which is probably why there's no more Virgin Air.
On my end, it wasn't so simple.
I got to the airport in Indianapolis right on time, only to be informed that my flight had been rescheduled. Instead of leaving at 3:41, I was told it would be 6 PM and the fellow at the ticket counter suggested it might be even later. It was one of those cases where the plane on which I'd be flying was in another part of the country where there were delays due to weather. During the day, it went from one city to another and another and another before it got to Indianapolis and the problems were between the first two cities.
I asked the man, "Has Frontier considered investing in a second airplane?" He chuckled and said something like, "Oh, if only we could afford it."
Since I was now going to be getting to Denver at least two hours and forty minutes later than planned, what would happen to my connecting flight to Vegas? I asked him that and he said, "You'll miss it." I believe this man has since gone to work for hotels.com under the name Captain Obvious.
He informed me that since they weren't sure when I'd get to Denver, they couldn't (or wouldn't) reschedule the second leg of my journey. Once they knew, they would figure it out…and I should discuss this with the attendant at the gate when I arrived there.
"But I will get to Las Vegas tonight," I said in a voice desperately in need of reassurance. "We'll do our best, sir," he replied. It was that unlikely. I asked about other flights that might get me there that evening. There didn't seem to be any on Frontier and when I set up my laptop at a table in the airport food court and checked online, there didn't seem to be any on any other airline.
The food court was where I would wait and I had a lot of waiting to do…and rethinking. Like, the hotel room in Vegas was in my name. Could I arrange for Kathy to check into it without me and my credit card?
I sent Kathy a text message explaining that my genius plan (ha!) had run into a few problems but she should get on the plane and await further instructions. There would be some on her phone by the time she landed in Vegas, I told her. I really hoped there would be but at that moment, I had no idea what they would be, hopefully not "Find another guy to spend the weekend with."
I turned back to my laptop and buried myself in a script. Every so often, I'd glance over at the flight board that announced arrivals and departures. Flight 619 was now scheduled to leave at, fittingly, 6:19. A check of the Frontier schedule (available online) indicated that if it arrived in Denver on time, I might (note the ominous italics) catch a flight that would get me to Vegas just after Midnight. Maybe.
But then the 6:19 departure turned into 7:05. Then ten minutes later, it was 6:19 again. Then 7:22.
Around then, I was distracted by visitors. The producers from France — the one I'd met with in Muncie — spotted me there at my table in the food court. Their plane back to Paris was delayed, too. We sat and ate bad pizza and talked for around an hour and a half. Around 3:35, we said our goodbyes (again) and they headed for the international side of the terminal to wait there. Realizing it was about the time I expected to be aboard my flight to Denver, I turned to check on the latest departure time for Flight 619…
…and it wasn't there. Nowhere on the flight board was it listed. I hauled out my cell phone and used an app called Flight Board to see what it said…
It said Flight 619 to Denver was Now Boarding.
I replicated several "takes" from Tex Avery cartoons, leaped up, packed my laptop in about fifteen seconds and sprinted down a corridor to the departure gate. As I sprinted, I heard my name being paged and handily mispronounced, followed by "Last call for Flight 619 to Denver! The doors will be closing!"
"Not without me," I yelled to the amusement of those I was running past. I got in just as a flight attendant began the speech about how to inflate your life jacket. And just before they ordered us to turn off our cell phones, I sent Kathy an e-mail: "Back to original plan! Everything OK!"
When we landed in Denver, I checked Flight Board and it said that her flight out of S.F. would be taking off on time. My flight out of Denver took off on time. Halfway there, our pilot informed us we'd be arriving in Vegas eight minutes early. When we landed there, before we were allowed to deplane, I checked Flight Board again: Her flight was landing ten minutes early. I was on the right side of my plane to see a Virgin Air jet taxi into the gate next to us.
I'd done it! We were actually arriving simultaneously!
I could hear the love theme from the movie The Apartment swelling within my head as I got off at Gate D16 and began running towards Gate D18. Before I reached it, I spotted Kathy, stunning in a yellow dress. She was running (well, walking) towards me with a grin that was too wide to fit into the overhead compartment. I probably had the same look on my face.
As we came together, I threw my arms around her, whacking her in the back with my laptop. She didn't mind…much. And just at that most romantic of moments, she said the exact same three words to me that I said to her, again perfectly in sync. We both said, "Where's a restroom?"
This has been, I swear to you, a true story.