At least once a year, I make an epic work-travel screw-up. This time around, it was a thing of beauty because I arrived in the wrong Michigan City ahead of the 22nd annual Boyne Thunder Poker Run this weekend.
Let me explain. I wanted to fly to Traverse City. But I landed in Grand Rapids—and it had nothing to do with diverting for a mechanical issue, weather or anything else beyond my control.
Somehow during a one-way flight-booking flurry a few weeks ago, I selected the wrong arrival city.
My first clue upon arrival was the airport terminal, of course. It looked so much bigger and nicer than it had when I traveled a year ago to Traverse City.
Except I wasn’t in Traverse City. I was in Grand Rapids.
After a brief but powerful moment of self-loathing, I sighed, laughed it off and headed to the rental car counter.
There are worse things, I told myself. You’ll get there. It’s fine. You’re human. Cut yourself a break. Breathe.
The lady at the rental counter smiled and agreed.
Turns out I only thought I was talking to myself.
My Zen moment lasted a few minutes into the drive until I remembered I was flying out of Traverse City on Friday. (Yes, I checked, wise-asses.) Now I had the legitimate logistical problem of needing to return a rental car to Grand Rapids and catch a flight from Traverse City to Manchester, N.H., on the same morning.
For the record, Grand Rapids and Traverse City are about an hour-and-a-half apart. Something had to give. That much was clear.
So I called Enterprise—hands-free of course—to see about dropping off my rental car in Traverse City. No problem, they told me, it would just add $700 to my $500 bill. That seemed a tad steep given the amount of money I spend with the company every year. So I politely declined, hung up and spent the next 20 minutes launching F-bombs at Enterprise and, OK, myself.
Once I got those out of my system, I called American Airlines. Within minutes, I had a new flight out of Grand Rapids to Manchester at no charge. I even got upgraded on the Chicago leg to my final destination, where I am headed tomorrow to cover this Saturday’s HK Motorsports Land and Lake Poker Run on Lake Winnipesaukee.
Now I’m getting ready for tonight’s Boyne Thunder Welcome Party. Tomorrow, I’ll depart at 5 a.m. for Grand Rapids. Assuming my flights stay on schedule—and just thinking about it surely jinxes me—I’ll arrive at the Lake Winnipesaukee affair in time for cocktail hour.
And I’ll arrive with a story to tell.