Why Sometimes I Don't Like To Travel: The Philadelphia Case

My Philadelphia trip reminded me of why I sometimes don't like to travel.  I do like to be in new places, it's just that I dread the trip, for many reasons.  By some ironic twist of fate, most of these fears of mine happened in this particular one.

One of the things I dread is a canceled flight.  It screws so many things up, especially if you have connecting flights.  And I never know what to do and how to react.  Well, this one happened on my way to Philadelphia.  It was a nice and clear day in Boston that Sunday, but apparently not so in Philly, at least not between 5 and 6PM  There were two Philly-bound flights that got canceled that afternoon, and one happened to be mine! Lucky for me, Philly was my final destination.  But then I was supposed to meet a friend at the airport at 6PM.  Obviously we didn't get to meet.  The good thing was I was able to call her before she left her place.  The bad thing was she already scheduled her airport service to pick her up two hours before she normally leaves, just so we could meet.  My flight cancellation ruined her schedule as well.

Another thing I dread is driving in places I've never been before. I knew beforehand that I'd be doing this because the training center I'd be going to was in the middle of nowhere with no public transportation nearby.  So I prepared a few days before the trip by printing out detailed maps of every street I'd be driving on.  However, I didn't realize that maps are good only if one can read them and if there are street signs to follow.  Since my flight got delayed, I got to National Car Rental past 8:30PM.  It was dark, cold, and raining heavily.  I even picked the wrong size car, but that's another story.  With one eye on the street and the other eye reading my maps, I tried to navigate but I kept missing my exits because I couldn't see the signs early enough, and I even got myself lost in a scary run-down portion of Philadelphia.  After about an hour of driving, I finally got myself back on a major highway and miraculously reached my hotel.  I checked in at around 9:30PM and when I read my maps again, I saw that the hotel was only 4 miles away from the airport!!!

Speaking of hotels, I used to like hotels in the past, but after having seen so many bad ones in my travels, I dread them now.  The beds are almost always misshapen and impossible to sleep on.  The heating is never right.  The shower sprays water out in strong, sharp streams that it almost hurt.  The smell of the room is always a mystery.  My hotel was no different.  The first room I got had a particularly bad smell that I had to complain and ask for a different room.  They complied, after I told them I'm a member of their frequent guest club.

I forced myself to sleep that first night because I knew I needed to get up early to give myself enough time to find the SAP Training Center where I was scheduled to attend a week-long Workflow class.  I got up at 6:30 AM the next day but the weather (and my foul disposition) didn't change at all.  My stomach was grumbling but I ignored it.  I took a quick, hot (and painful) shower, got dressed, and drove off.  It was still raining hard but at least there was some sort of daylight so I could see the signs a little better.

I was telling myself that day couldn't possibly be any worse than the previous one, and a few seconds later I heard a loud thud that sounded like I ran over something.  I was on a busy Interstate highway that time.  I checked my mirrors and I didn't see anything behind me.  I did notice that the wheel was a little less controllable, but I figured it's normal for that car so I just continued driving.  As I drove on, the wheel became more shaky and less controllable, and then came a point where the whole car shook violently as it moved.  "OOOOOOoOoOoOoOh MmmmyYyYyYyYyY GggggoOoOoOodDdDdDdD!!!" my voice was shaking in sync with the car.  It was apparent that one of my worst fears would soon be realized: a car breakdown in the middle of nowhere!  But I drove on, determined to get to my destination.  Traffic was building up behind me, and I felt bad that my troubles were causing other people's troubles.  However the other drivers seemed to know my predicament.  Nobody honked, and where they could pass me, they quietly did.  After a couple of missed exits (my car problem didn't make me immune to getting lost) I finally stopped somewhere to check my situation and my maps.  Good news was I was a mile away from SAP.  Bad news was my front right tire, what was left of it anyway, was smoking, the hubcap gone, and the metal center charred.  There was no point in stopping a mile away from my destination, so I beat the car to submission and forced it to take me to SAP.  I made it to the training center after a few minutes, but along the way I made a wrong turn and had to break a number of traffic rules to correct it.

I had other problems with this trip.  Most notable was with the crooks managing National Car Rental who refused to reimburse me for my expense in getting their car fixed.  My flight back to Boston was delayed an hour.  I ate something bad at the Philly airport.  I got stuck in traffic in Boston.  And so on and so forth.  I am just glad that I'm back home now.

Looking back, there were a number of good things that happened to me in that trip.  The food at the training center was fantastic.  The area reminded me so much of my old high school and college campus grounds -- it felt so good to be there.  I was able to explore the city of Philadelphia, which was a very nice city as long as it's before 7 PM.  I also explored Manayuk, a former mining town that got converted into a "gimik" place, with nice bars, restaurants, and owner-run stores that didn't close at 7 PM.  I found free parking(!!!) both in downtown Philadelphia and in Manayuk.  I got more comfortable driving in unchartered areas, and got to as far north as King of Prussia, and as far east as New Jersey (this one was an accident though).  Et cetera.

Ten years from now, I wonder which events I'll remember.  The free parking, or my ride of terror?  The friendly staff at SAP, or the rude ones at National Car Rental?  The excellent vegetarian dumpling in Chinatown, or the stomach-turning California roll at the Philly airport?  The cute little town of Manayuk, or the archetype of urban blight that is western Philadelphia?

Who needs rhetorical questions?