The Waiting Traveler...yep, I'm STILL here

Well, its official. I've been sucked into the vortex and I can't get out. What vortex am I talking about? I'm talking about the nightmare assignment of Online Reserve, and it IS like a vortex... once you get sucked in, there's no getting out. After 19 days last month, of sitting and waiting in a hotel room in Germany, waiting for scheduling to call me for a trip assignment, they sent me home for a whopping 48hrs, only to immediately place Online Reserve back on my schedule for this month. So here I sit....again....and wait....and wait...and wait.

Don't get me wrong...there ARE a few positive aspects to this whole situation (this is me desperately trying to find a 'silver lining'). I'm getting paid to just sit here. How many people can say they get paid to sleep, read a book and watch TV. Not many, that's for sure. And I do have a number of great friends who are here with me, doing the same thing...and after our 'on call hours' are finished every day, we ARE able to get out and enjoy a nice meal in a beautiful city. There's only one catch......you see, we have multiple hotels that our company utilizes in every city where we layover. And they're ranked, 1st choice, 2nd choice, etc etc. Apparently, when our Travel department went to assign all of our hotel rooms (there's about 20 of us), they went down the queue and assigned everyone to our 1st choice hotel. Its BY FAR the best hotel in the city...best location, best amenities, best BEDS (very very important). Well, they got to my name...the very LAST flight attendant on the list, and our 1st choice hotel informed them that they were all booked up. As a result, out of 20 crewmembers, I am officially the ONLY person at our 2nd choice (and definitely 2nd rate) hotel.

Normally, I'm never one to raise hell about anything having to do with our hotels. For the most part, they're all usually quite nice (many times 5 star), and I don't really care, because once I get to a city, I drop off my stuff and head out the door to explore. I don't really care about the hotels, because I usually just use them to sleep, and the rest of the time , I"m out on the town. But this is a VERY different circumstance. I'm here for 20 days....and I'm confined/quarantined/imprisoned in this room for a minimum of 12 hrs every day. I did EVERYTHING I possibly could to get myself moved to the other hotel. Short of threatening a One person strike, lol, I did everything I could think of, with absolutley no results. Overall, the hotel isn't bad. The location kind of sucks (its a bit of a walk to the city center), but there's one thing that's horrible and unacceptable....the BEDS. OMG. I'm actually (no joke) in physical pain down my legs and hips from the poor quality mattress. And when I got to the room, there were 2...count 'em...TWO pillows. That's it. What makes it worse is knowing that I should be at the 1st choice hotel, where the beds are hands-down, absolutely DIVINE. So, I broke down. And did something I'm embarassed to admit......I decided to act like a TOURIST. Yep, you read that right - imagine the hypocrisy - but there you go. I dropped the Traveler mentality and acted like a good ol' ugly American Tourist. I decided that SOMETHING had to be done about my bed, so I called downstairs to the reception desk, and proudly asked for SIX extra pillows and TWO extra down comforters. You should have heard the tone in the receptionist's voice - she was quite honestly appalled. I had to keep from laughing at myself out loud, as I knew my request was about as high-maintenanced as it comes. She asked me 3 times to repeat myself, and repeat to her how many items I was actually requesting. She was incredulous and when she realized I was being serious, she became quite annoyed and haughty. Yep, that's it - the perfect response to someone acting like a Tourist! But I didn't back down. I stood my ground, and about 30 mins later, 2 staffmembers arrived, weighted down by my requests. A very nice sized tip was granted, and I began my process of turning my sucky bed into as much of an oasis as possible. I used the 2 extra down comforters, plus one from my room, to create a down cushion of sorts on top of the mattress, on which to lay. Saving the last down comforter to curl up under when i go to sleep. Then, I took all 10 pillows (I found 2 extra in my room, so i had 4 to start with) and I created a "moat" of pillows surrounding me. Final result?? Not too shabby, if I do say so myself! Its not the 1st choice hotel, but it will do for now. But enough about my bed. I hope I haven't bored you to death! But hey, like I've said before, you work with what you've got, and since I can't leave this hotel room and have any adventures to write about, I've got to work with the material right in front of me.

On a more interesting note......I mentioned earlier that I have a number of friends who are staying at the other hotel, sitting Online Reserve along with me. There's one friend in particular who I'm planning on spending some quality time with over the weekend. I can't wait. Its been over a year since we've seen each other, and saying that alot has changed with her, is the understatement of the year. ( I do hope that when she reads this, she will know that I'm writing about her because she's just one of the most fabulous, loving, caring, thoughtful people I have ever been blessed to know). So the big change since I last saw her? The last time I saw her....SHE was a HE. In this past year, we were both out on extended leave....during that time, she was finally able to complete her years-long journey of becoming the woman she so very much desired to be. The process, from what I understand, takes years....years of psychological introspection, years of medical procedures, years of countless surgeries....but here she is....and she's finally done it!!! I couldn't be more happy for her, and I couldn't be more blessed to call someone like her, my friend. She absolutely amazes me....everything she has gone through to get to this point. The strength and the courage its taken.....I simply can't imagine it. The reason I wanted to write about her is this......I know many many people who have dreams and desires....people who talk about changing something they don't like for years, but never doing it. I, too, have been victim of this lackadaisical attitude at times in my life. But my friend (I'm refraining from using her name, for obvious reasons of privacy) went for it.....ALL OUT. Talk about taking some guts. Especially knowing that the after effects of this change would probably cause her a great deal of grief from unaccepting people and people who are too narrow-minded to see the wonderful person that she is, and always has been. So to her, I say 'BRAVO'!!! When I saw her on our plane the other day, I was absolutely blown away......she is outstandingly beautiful, carrying herself with a dignity and grace that is rarely seen. And on a lighter note, I have a new 'shopping buddy'!!! :) She's already asked me to go with her - to help be a kind of 'personal stylist', which is such a compliment!!! Like I said before, some of you might wonder why I chose to write about this friend of mine in my blog....but here's the crux of the situation..... living the life of a Traveler, is not just about seeing the world. Being a true Traveler, is about living a life of immersion, adventure and dedication in the place you find yourself to be in. It can be anything from seeing the Colloseum in Rome, to going to the grocery store in your hometown. It doesn't matter where you are...its about living the life you've been given to its fullest, and always, no matter what, being true to yourself. Its about going after your goals, desires and dreams. And that is why, I decided to write about this dear friend of mine. She is a true Traveler in every sense of the word, and I am blessed to call her my friend. We can all take a cue from her.....be courageous. be daring. go for what you want. and always, no matter what, be true to your inner self.
So get out there and enjoy your day, everyone!! get out there and be DARING!!!

I'm BA-A-A-A-A-C-K

Its official. Its known as "Online Reserve" and along with my company's scheduling department, its become the bane of my existence. From what I've been told (all hearsay, of course), we aren't supposed to be assigned 'online reserve' 2 months in a row. And yet, here I sit. And sit. And need I say? SIT. I'm not good at just 'sitting'. I'm a get out there and 'do it' kind of girl. So this whole being trapped in a hotel room for 12 hours a day, chained to the hotel room's telephone is not my kind of gig. Especially when my friends are all running around Italy and Vienna, Austria on this month's schedule of trips. That's where I want to be!!! The only silver lining is the fact that I'm currently fighting off a wicked sinus infection, and being stuck in this hotel room gives me all the opportunity to sleep, sleep and sleep some more, all the while getting paid to do it.

This leads me to the ever more important issue of.......the hotel bed. When it comes to hotel rooms, give me all, or none, of the fanciest, newest gadgets in the world in my hotel room and I dont care. Give me tacky retro chic decor, or simply elegant and understated decor...I dont care. Give me a plasma High Def TV or a 15" set from the 80's...don't care. For me, its ALL ABOUT THE BED. Our normal layover hotel in downtown Leipzig has simply the most fabulous beds you've ever slept in. Down everything, 500 thread count sheets, a mattress to die for... you quite simply, NEVER want to get out of bed! But (insert pity party here), I'm not at THAT hotel this time. It seems that when they went to assign hotel rooms to all of us sitting online reserve, that I was the very last person in the assignment queue. They went through the whole list, and everyone was placed at our 1st choice hotel (with THE BEDS). And when they got to me, and the hotel was completely booked (or rather, its not that the hotel is booked up, the hotel just doesnt want to give out any more rooms to my company at the discounted rate), they had to send me to our 2nd choice hotel, and whaaaaahhhhhhh (insert crying jag here) the beds absolutely suck. I'm sad. I tried everything in my power to get assigned to the other hotel.....i talked to my supervisor, the scheduling supervisor, the travel department supervisor, but NO luck. Don't they understand that its ALL about the BED??? Don't they get it??? Apparently not.... so, I did the unthinkable - I acted like a (gulp)...Tourist. At least I tried to act like a GRACIOUS Tourist, albeit a Tourist. I know, I know...the hypocrisy, right? But I did it anyway.....I proudly called down to the front desk of this 2nd rate hotel and requested 5.....count'em....FIVE extra pillows. And then I went one further, and requested 2 extra down comforters. The front desk clerk was, I can only gather from the tone in her voice, appalled. I expected this. But if they're going to give us sub-standard beds, then I needed to make some 'adjustments'....and fast. After they begrudgingly delivered my requested items, I proceeded to create a 'mini oasis' on my bed. I have 2 beds in my room, so I took one of the down comforters, added that to the 2 they brought me, and created a down "cushion" on which to lay. Then I took the last comforter and am using that to cover up with. I took the 5 extra pillows (along with the 4, already in the room) and created a "pillow moat", if you will, surrounding myself with a sea of pillows. Its not the same as the bed at our regular hotel, but it will work in a pinch.