Welcome gringo to the land of inconvenience and gouge
Ok, this part is fairly obvious, not that you're not aware of it, but America has become expensive and darn inconvienient, something I accept down here, but I expect more from the home planet. Most of you have become numbed by the ever increasing costs of some things and hassles at every twist and turn, but my nerve ending are still in full sensitivity bloom and every once in a while I got a real jolt.
In sales we use to do a Ben Franklin close where you have the customer makes up a list of the good things vs the bad things and when the good exceeds then he sells himself. I decided to put together a small list off the top of my head of good and bad, it follows:
The Bad:
Rain gauge failed right before hurricane rains, so none recorded
PC needed rebooting (thanks to neighbor for assistance)
Pilot light went out at casita (sorry neighbor)
Propane tank was leaking so was empty (sorry again, that cost me $30 in wasted propane)
Forgot my knife that is always in the car (bought new ones at Home Depot)
Couldn't find sourdough starter mix in TX
New TX flag $28? (see hack and gouge)
Airline reservations, no seat assignment to Denver (even though I requested months ago)
Car reservation hassle + $96 extra for 3 days insurance?
Bought new $200 leather jacket for Denver - it was 85 degrees?
Parking in Austin $69 for 3 days?
1.5 hours on phone with travel agency to assure seat on return flight
Forgot to give my sister the manual for the camera I gave her
Missed my second sister completely because of my "too tight" scheduling
Paid extra $25 to Frontier Airlines to assure a seat in the screaming baby section
Stopped dead in traffic for over 1 hour at 6am in Neuvo Laredo, MX
Large rock hit windshield at 80mph somewhere in MX ($60 to fix - hopefully)
The Good:
Got home in one piece, older and I hope wiser if that's possible?
I told my neighbor before I left the trip didn't feel right, there was something niggling in the back of my mind raising little red flags, but hey, what can you do but press on with the plan.
I headed out early the morning of the 10th and it began raining as I drove out the gate. Any more I don't really like driving in the dark, or even in the rain and really not in the dark, in the rain in MX, just too many things to go wrong. Eventually the sun came up and out as the miles rolled off. I was getting great gas mileage and gas down here is still only about $2.85 a gallon. There are 13 toll stations along the route so those expenses were expected and built into the plan.
At the border I stay in Laredo, after 11 hours of driving I need the rest. I used to stay at a Comfort Inn, but they jacked the price up to nearly $100 a day by the time you pay tax etc., so I found a Red Roof for $60 which was just fine, clean, quiet and safe, but no hair dryer (I was so disappointed).
I always carry a knife/box cutter under the back seat of the Jeep. I picked up all my new stuff from George and took it to the motel where I unbox it, cut the boxes down and pitch them - but this time I had no knife, I thought it might have been stolen at the car wash, but no, I took it out of the car and forgot? - so went over to Home Depot the next morning and bought a package of 3 new ones for only $10, not bad, but not planned.
Food wasn't too much more, of course gas was about $3.25 a gallon as expected.The following day I did some shopping and bought Christmas lights, yes, this being the last year in this house we're going big time. I also wanted a new TX flag, I finally found one for $28???? - I picked it up, started to walk away and instead turned and put it back - only to finally say "ok, you only live once" - and friends, you know why you only live once? - BECAUSE YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO LIVE TWICE, I'll be lucky to get out of this life break even. I had dinner with friends that evening and that was fun but a bit more than we pay down here for a big meal.
Then the real fun began as I prepared to fly from Austin to Denver, I made 3 near fatal mistakes. I parked at the Austin airport like I did last year, like I have for years, headed for Frontier airlines and handed over $20 for my suitcase, the same suitcase that has traveled over 100,000 miles and until recently went for "free"? - come on people, if you need to charge more for the ticket, do it, but don't nickel, dime and $20 me to death - and no, I DO NOT carry-on a bag, airplanes are specifically purpose designed, but apparently airline companies don't ever read the manuals. Planes all have cargo or "baggage" compartments where you put "baggage" - stick with me here - and they all have overhead compartments where you put kids, this isn't hard folks, jam the bags underneath and the kids overhead and all would be perfect, but no, they charge $20 which forces people to carry on bags big enough to live in and try to stuff them in the overheads forcing the kids down to our level?
Back to the agent, I was handed a seat assignment for 28F? - I told the agent I already had requested seat 10A going up and 10F coming back - he told me that actually I didn't have a seat assignment, I handed him a printout of my reservation and pointed to "10A" - he said "oh, that's the problem, we eliminated row 10 to make more room". I said it was darn sure on the website when I booked my flight - he was unmoved. And of course, you know exactly where 28F is, the last row, the corner seat directly in front of the lavatory so you sit bolt upright and listen to the toilets on the other side of the bulkhead flush all the way to Denver.
The reservation problem was actually the second problem, the first was my parking at the Austin airport, that surprise was percolating while I was in Denver, more later.
In Denver, I called what turned out to be a travel agency that night and spent and hour and a half and got nowhere. Somehow, and I'm still trying to unravel how, I ended up booking through a travel agency and not Frontier direct, once I figure that out a letter to the BBB of Nashville WILL be mailed. Eventually I gave up being on hold and I did get to Frontier direct and she said the isle seats are reserved for one of their frequent flier groups and not available to me. Which is another stupid thing, they board them first so when the rest of us low life's trundle onto the plane, the isle seats are already full and you have to climb over them - really a bad plan.
Frontier assured me I hadn't booked the flight with them, but I could fly "stretch" which put me in seat 2A going back - oh, that will be an extra $25, no apology offered, just a thumb in the eye thank you. I told the lady that when I got to the airport there had better be a "reserved" sign on seat 2A or she would read about a guy going "postal" at the Denver airport!
We need to jump back to my arrival at Denver, I walked all the way from the A concourse and still beat the bags (which I paid extra to ship as you'll remember) and still beat them by 10 minutes. The overhead monitors said carousel #2, we all waited like sheep until someone noticed they were actually on carousel #1. Next I headed to my rental car with Avis. My travel itinerary from the mystery travel agency said "walk to the car" which I thought was maybe a new thing, it was never like that before? - and of course, still isn't, you "walk to a bus" and ride half way to Denver before being ejected at the real Avis "walk to your car" office.
I was sitting (actually pouting) on the bus and the lady driver had just put my bag in the rack (no extra charge) and asked me if I was "preferred" meaning Avis Preferred, I thought a moment and said no, I'm not preferred, no one prefers me anymore, when I was younger, better looking and had more money I used to be preferred, but now I'm old, ugly and broke and no one cares. She said "that will do it" and headed for the front of the bus.
When I got to the Avis counter I asked if they had a CTS Cadillac, that was what I wanted, well, they didn't have one, she went back looking for one, took at least 10 minutes, came back and said no Caddy, but they had a neat Lincoln, I told her I already had one. So, she said what about an Infiniti? - I said, I don't even know what that is, she assured me it was nice, a premium car, I finally said ok, again she headed out back and eventually came back and said they'd bring it to the Red Carpet area out front. In the mean time another one of my near fatal mistakes reared its ugly head. I have MXN insurance here for the Jeep, when I come to the States, I pay $50 for 30 days of liability on the Jeep while NOB. When I rent with my American Express it covers everything but liability so I said I needed that coverage for the 3 days I'd have the car - $98 thank you? - man, talk about hack and gouge, I was already paying a premium price for the car and didn't get what I wanted anyway, and now this? (next year WILL be different).
I went out and waited, a guy pulled up in a something look-alike car and walked away, the plate didn't match, so I waited, pretty soon he came back, got in it and drove off, I waited, he drove up in something else and the plate matched, so I figured it must be "my" Infiniti.
He left it running so I tossed my bags in the back and settled in to see what buttons make things work, this thing was kind of neat, the control panel makes the space shuttle look tacky. I headed into town to the motel and noticed it was one of the new ones without a key, just a little fob with buttons on it, when it's inside the car, in your pocket etc, you start it by pushing a big button on the dash that says "START" - much like my '50 Chevy, it had a starter button, remember? - we've come full circle.
It had a TV screen on the dash with a backup camera and when you played the radio it put great big numbers on the screen, even old folks can read them. When I got to the motel I got ready to turn it off, but how, no key? Finally I realized that in smaller letters on the START button it also said "stop" - now, realizing that this wasn't likely the brake to stop the car, I reached with some trepidation to push it, all the time remembering that like most of us I had hit the starter when the car was running and the noise was ugly - this time the car just stopped - wow, what a concept.
So, I had a nice car to impress Mom, we went for a drive out to my Father's grave and put out flowers and toured the city a bit and enjoyed it, but as I said earlier, it's hard to see your Mother becoming a tiny old lady, still sharp in many ways, but her short term memory is pretty much gone and so we've had to move her into the "Reflections" section which is basically a lockup area for Alzheimers people even though she doesn't have it.
The following day we went for another drive and enjoyed beautiful weather, yes, 85 degrees and me with a gorgeous new leather jacket? Today the 26th it's already snowed 5" which was what I fully expected, but dodged that bullet.
Due to my stupid short scheduling, I saw one sister for all of 30 minutes, and swapped cameras with her, forgot to give her the manual, had to mail it out of MX and totally missed the other sister.
I was able to visit one uncle just recovering from heart surgery and friends were great as always and all too soon it was time to head back to Texas
Of course at Denver return I couldn't wait to hand over another $20 to store my bag in "baggage" before I was molested by the TSA in the cattle chutes. So, the good deal $157 ticket was now up to $222 and $25 of that wasn't in the plan. As it turned out about 30 seconds after I sat down the baby directly behind me kicked the seat and let out a wail that would curdle milk? - turned out I paid extra to sit in the screaming baby section in seat 2A, such a privilege. In retrospect, I should have asked how much for me to ride in the baggage compartment?
Back in Austin I got the biggie mistake, the real gouge. The new Austin airport was built in the late 90's, opened in 2000 and they charged $10 a day for parking in the garage. Immediately off site lots opened and charged $6 or $7 and shuttled you directly to the terminal, so Austin dropped to $7 a day. Last year I parked in an open lot for 4 days and it was $30, so I figured it would be a bit more in the garage, but for only 3 days, it would probably be $40. I rolled up to the booth and the lady said $69!!!!!!!!! WHAT? - my hearing must be going, $69 AMERICAN DOLLARS? (no pesos) yes, that was correct, actually $24 a day and I wasn't there 3 full days, boy was I glad.
Now, that's insane, the airport was built with bonds in the 90's, so it's a known cost, there is essentially NO maintenance, NO personnel except for the lady at the exit and yet they've gone from $7 a day to $24? - see hack & gouge BIGGIE TIME! - I told the lady to enjoy the $69, it's the last dime they'll ever see from me.
I got things in storage ready that afternoon and loaded and headed to San Antonio Monday to have lunch with a friend and a visit with another whom I met down here and now lives in San Antonio, then on down to Laredo to rest up for the trip home, more on the trip home into MX later.
I realize times have changed and I haven't, I know most of the problems, especially the $$$ ones were self inflicted, but America isn't the place I left only 4 years ago and more and more when people ask when I'm coming back I ask "why"?
In sales we use to do a Ben Franklin close where you have the customer makes up a list of the good things vs the bad things and when the good exceeds then he sells himself. I decided to put together a small list off the top of my head of good and bad, it follows:
The Bad:
Rain gauge failed right before hurricane rains, so none recorded
PC needed rebooting (thanks to neighbor for assistance)
Pilot light went out at casita (sorry neighbor)
Propane tank was leaking so was empty (sorry again, that cost me $30 in wasted propane)
Forgot my knife that is always in the car (bought new ones at Home Depot)
Couldn't find sourdough starter mix in TX
New TX flag $28? (see hack and gouge)
Airline reservations, no seat assignment to Denver (even though I requested months ago)
Car reservation hassle + $96 extra for 3 days insurance?
Bought new $200 leather jacket for Denver - it was 85 degrees?
Parking in Austin $69 for 3 days?
1.5 hours on phone with travel agency to assure seat on return flight
Forgot to give my sister the manual for the camera I gave her
Missed my second sister completely because of my "too tight" scheduling
Paid extra $25 to Frontier Airlines to assure a seat in the screaming baby section
Stopped dead in traffic for over 1 hour at 6am in Neuvo Laredo, MX
Large rock hit windshield at 80mph somewhere in MX ($60 to fix - hopefully)
The Good:
Got home in one piece, older and I hope wiser if that's possible?
I told my neighbor before I left the trip didn't feel right, there was something niggling in the back of my mind raising little red flags, but hey, what can you do but press on with the plan.
I headed out early the morning of the 10th and it began raining as I drove out the gate. Any more I don't really like driving in the dark, or even in the rain and really not in the dark, in the rain in MX, just too many things to go wrong. Eventually the sun came up and out as the miles rolled off. I was getting great gas mileage and gas down here is still only about $2.85 a gallon. There are 13 toll stations along the route so those expenses were expected and built into the plan.
At the border I stay in Laredo, after 11 hours of driving I need the rest. I used to stay at a Comfort Inn, but they jacked the price up to nearly $100 a day by the time you pay tax etc., so I found a Red Roof for $60 which was just fine, clean, quiet and safe, but no hair dryer (I was so disappointed).
I always carry a knife/box cutter under the back seat of the Jeep. I picked up all my new stuff from George and took it to the motel where I unbox it, cut the boxes down and pitch them - but this time I had no knife, I thought it might have been stolen at the car wash, but no, I took it out of the car and forgot? - so went over to Home Depot the next morning and bought a package of 3 new ones for only $10, not bad, but not planned.
Food wasn't too much more, of course gas was about $3.25 a gallon as expected.The following day I did some shopping and bought Christmas lights, yes, this being the last year in this house we're going big time. I also wanted a new TX flag, I finally found one for $28???? - I picked it up, started to walk away and instead turned and put it back - only to finally say "ok, you only live once" - and friends, you know why you only live once? - BECAUSE YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO LIVE TWICE, I'll be lucky to get out of this life break even. I had dinner with friends that evening and that was fun but a bit more than we pay down here for a big meal.
Then the real fun began as I prepared to fly from Austin to Denver, I made 3 near fatal mistakes. I parked at the Austin airport like I did last year, like I have for years, headed for Frontier airlines and handed over $20 for my suitcase, the same suitcase that has traveled over 100,000 miles and until recently went for "free"? - come on people, if you need to charge more for the ticket, do it, but don't nickel, dime and $20 me to death - and no, I DO NOT carry-on a bag, airplanes are specifically purpose designed, but apparently airline companies don't ever read the manuals. Planes all have cargo or "baggage" compartments where you put "baggage" - stick with me here - and they all have overhead compartments where you put kids, this isn't hard folks, jam the bags underneath and the kids overhead and all would be perfect, but no, they charge $20 which forces people to carry on bags big enough to live in and try to stuff them in the overheads forcing the kids down to our level?
Back to the agent, I was handed a seat assignment for 28F? - I told the agent I already had requested seat 10A going up and 10F coming back - he told me that actually I didn't have a seat assignment, I handed him a printout of my reservation and pointed to "10A" - he said "oh, that's the problem, we eliminated row 10 to make more room". I said it was darn sure on the website when I booked my flight - he was unmoved. And of course, you know exactly where 28F is, the last row, the corner seat directly in front of the lavatory so you sit bolt upright and listen to the toilets on the other side of the bulkhead flush all the way to Denver.
The reservation problem was actually the second problem, the first was my parking at the Austin airport, that surprise was percolating while I was in Denver, more later.
In Denver, I called what turned out to be a travel agency that night and spent and hour and a half and got nowhere. Somehow, and I'm still trying to unravel how, I ended up booking through a travel agency and not Frontier direct, once I figure that out a letter to the BBB of Nashville WILL be mailed. Eventually I gave up being on hold and I did get to Frontier direct and she said the isle seats are reserved for one of their frequent flier groups and not available to me. Which is another stupid thing, they board them first so when the rest of us low life's trundle onto the plane, the isle seats are already full and you have to climb over them - really a bad plan.
Frontier assured me I hadn't booked the flight with them, but I could fly "stretch" which put me in seat 2A going back - oh, that will be an extra $25, no apology offered, just a thumb in the eye thank you. I told the lady that when I got to the airport there had better be a "reserved" sign on seat 2A or she would read about a guy going "postal" at the Denver airport!
We need to jump back to my arrival at Denver, I walked all the way from the A concourse and still beat the bags (which I paid extra to ship as you'll remember) and still beat them by 10 minutes. The overhead monitors said carousel #2, we all waited like sheep until someone noticed they were actually on carousel #1. Next I headed to my rental car with Avis. My travel itinerary from the mystery travel agency said "walk to the car" which I thought was maybe a new thing, it was never like that before? - and of course, still isn't, you "walk to a bus" and ride half way to Denver before being ejected at the real Avis "walk to your car" office.
I was sitting (actually pouting) on the bus and the lady driver had just put my bag in the rack (no extra charge) and asked me if I was "preferred" meaning Avis Preferred, I thought a moment and said no, I'm not preferred, no one prefers me anymore, when I was younger, better looking and had more money I used to be preferred, but now I'm old, ugly and broke and no one cares. She said "that will do it" and headed for the front of the bus.
When I got to the Avis counter I asked if they had a CTS Cadillac, that was what I wanted, well, they didn't have one, she went back looking for one, took at least 10 minutes, came back and said no Caddy, but they had a neat Lincoln, I told her I already had one. So, she said what about an Infiniti? - I said, I don't even know what that is, she assured me it was nice, a premium car, I finally said ok, again she headed out back and eventually came back and said they'd bring it to the Red Carpet area out front. In the mean time another one of my near fatal mistakes reared its ugly head. I have MXN insurance here for the Jeep, when I come to the States, I pay $50 for 30 days of liability on the Jeep while NOB. When I rent with my American Express it covers everything but liability so I said I needed that coverage for the 3 days I'd have the car - $98 thank you? - man, talk about hack and gouge, I was already paying a premium price for the car and didn't get what I wanted anyway, and now this? (next year WILL be different).
I went out and waited, a guy pulled up in a something look-alike car and walked away, the plate didn't match, so I waited, pretty soon he came back, got in it and drove off, I waited, he drove up in something else and the plate matched, so I figured it must be "my" Infiniti.
He left it running so I tossed my bags in the back and settled in to see what buttons make things work, this thing was kind of neat, the control panel makes the space shuttle look tacky. I headed into town to the motel and noticed it was one of the new ones without a key, just a little fob with buttons on it, when it's inside the car, in your pocket etc, you start it by pushing a big button on the dash that says "START" - much like my '50 Chevy, it had a starter button, remember? - we've come full circle.
It had a TV screen on the dash with a backup camera and when you played the radio it put great big numbers on the screen, even old folks can read them. When I got to the motel I got ready to turn it off, but how, no key? Finally I realized that in smaller letters on the START button it also said "stop" - now, realizing that this wasn't likely the brake to stop the car, I reached with some trepidation to push it, all the time remembering that like most of us I had hit the starter when the car was running and the noise was ugly - this time the car just stopped - wow, what a concept.
So, I had a nice car to impress Mom, we went for a drive out to my Father's grave and put out flowers and toured the city a bit and enjoyed it, but as I said earlier, it's hard to see your Mother becoming a tiny old lady, still sharp in many ways, but her short term memory is pretty much gone and so we've had to move her into the "Reflections" section which is basically a lockup area for Alzheimers people even though she doesn't have it.
The following day we went for another drive and enjoyed beautiful weather, yes, 85 degrees and me with a gorgeous new leather jacket? Today the 26th it's already snowed 5" which was what I fully expected, but dodged that bullet.
Due to my stupid short scheduling, I saw one sister for all of 30 minutes, and swapped cameras with her, forgot to give her the manual, had to mail it out of MX and totally missed the other sister.
I was able to visit one uncle just recovering from heart surgery and friends were great as always and all too soon it was time to head back to Texas
Of course at Denver return I couldn't wait to hand over another $20 to store my bag in "baggage" before I was molested by the TSA in the cattle chutes. So, the good deal $157 ticket was now up to $222 and $25 of that wasn't in the plan. As it turned out about 30 seconds after I sat down the baby directly behind me kicked the seat and let out a wail that would curdle milk? - turned out I paid extra to sit in the screaming baby section in seat 2A, such a privilege. In retrospect, I should have asked how much for me to ride in the baggage compartment?
Back in Austin I got the biggie mistake, the real gouge. The new Austin airport was built in the late 90's, opened in 2000 and they charged $10 a day for parking in the garage. Immediately off site lots opened and charged $6 or $7 and shuttled you directly to the terminal, so Austin dropped to $7 a day. Last year I parked in an open lot for 4 days and it was $30, so I figured it would be a bit more in the garage, but for only 3 days, it would probably be $40. I rolled up to the booth and the lady said $69!!!!!!!!! WHAT? - my hearing must be going, $69 AMERICAN DOLLARS? (no pesos) yes, that was correct, actually $24 a day and I wasn't there 3 full days, boy was I glad.
Now, that's insane, the airport was built with bonds in the 90's, so it's a known cost, there is essentially NO maintenance, NO personnel except for the lady at the exit and yet they've gone from $7 a day to $24? - see hack & gouge BIGGIE TIME! - I told the lady to enjoy the $69, it's the last dime they'll ever see from me.
I got things in storage ready that afternoon and loaded and headed to San Antonio Monday to have lunch with a friend and a visit with another whom I met down here and now lives in San Antonio, then on down to Laredo to rest up for the trip home, more on the trip home into MX later.
I realize times have changed and I haven't, I know most of the problems, especially the $$$ ones were self inflicted, but America isn't the place I left only 4 years ago and more and more when people ask when I'm coming back I ask "why"?
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