Dad and Daughter Do DC!

In my new role I have responsibility for recruiting Full-time MBA students to the Graziadio School.  As this is an area I have very little exposure to as a faculty member, I’ve decided to join our Recruiting Director on a trip to DC.

Of course, the side benefit is that my folks still live nearby.  So I brought my daughter along to spend a few days with my family while I work.

Quick update on the MISERY of flying in today’s world…

• While a R/T non-stop airfare from LA to DC is only about $250, to get a similar ticket with frequent flier miles was 60K miles!  So, I went with a 20K mile award ticket instead.  Of course, this ticket has us departing and arriving from different airports in both LA (depart from BUR, return to LAX) and DC (arrive at DCA, depart from IAD).  Plus, it had a 90-minute layover in DFW on the way.  Ugh.
• The day we departed, there were morning storms in DFW, which delayed the plane’s arrival at BUR, so we were delayed by 1-hr from departure.
• It was 104 degrees in BUR when we left…which is apparently too hot for a fully-loaded plane to have sufficient lift to clear the San Gabriel mountains.  So, they drained the fuel on our plane, and flew over the mountains to the Ontario airport to refuel.  The total flight time was 19-minutes from ground to ground. 
• We stayed on the plane for another 30-minutes in Ontario while they refueled.
• By the time we arrived at DFW, we were about 2-hours late, so many passengers missed connecting flights.  And, they had run out of food on board. So, I had to go out and grab some food at the airport and bring it back to me and Madi.  Of course, if both of us went to get food, we would have had to take our luggage and everything with us, even though we were getting right back on the plane.  So, I left Madi on board and ran to grab some food.  Sadly, I didn’t know this was the case when I got up to ask the attendant about food availability.  Thus, i was gone for about 35 minutes without Madison (or the flight attendants) knowing where I was.  There was general panic that a parent had left a child unattended on the plane.  Madison’s helpful response to the crew members questions about her parent’s status was…  “I’m not alone. I’m with my Daddy.  He got up to ask a question, and didn’t come back.” :-)

Flight Attendant:  “Are you alone?  Where is your daddy?”

Daughter: '”I don’t know!  He got up to ask a question and never came back!”

• When we finally arrived at DCA, it was 1am.  Due to the late arrival, I had reserved a rental car rather than having family come pick us up.  Of course, the rental car counter closed at 12:30, even though they knew we were on flight 318 that was delayed.  So, we spent an hour at the airport trying to figure out a way to get a rental car or public transit.
• We finally took a $112 cab ride from DCA to my parent’s house and arrived at 3:00AM. 

Ugh…what a trip. 

But, when we arrived, it was wonderful to see my folks and my niece waiting for us.  Tiny and Bopper went right to sleep and got plenty of beauty rest before church.