I'm Still Here
Mar. 23rd, 2008 03:13 pmHi everyone. The last time I posted it was a voice post, and I haven't updated since. some of you may know parts of the story of my weekend, but for those who don't know, here's the interesting story.
I made it to Chicago about 5 minutes after my connecting bus was scheduled to leave, so I'd missed that transfer. The next bus wasn't scheduled to leave until 12:45 in the morning. If that wasn't bad enough, the driver I had told me that he couldn't find my suitcase. I asked him if he wanted my clain ticket and he said that it would help, but that he didn't have time to look for it because he had to leave. He left me in the room where all the customer service people hung out. They also refused to even attempt to help me locate my suitcase. I asked several times for assistance, and was basically told that they couldn't do anything to help me. I asked about a hotel and was told that there was one but that it was close to $199 a night so "I didn't want to go there". Don't tell me what I do and do not want, thank you very much. They did get me a meal voucher though so that I could get some food, and they assisted me in getting that food. I was just feeling really uncomfortable, worried, and completely exhausted, and wasn't sure what I was going to do. I finally decided that I couldn't stay there anymore and asked them to put me into a cab because I WAS going to that hotel that I supposedly didn't want to go to. They seemed more than willing to help me leave.
So, I got to my hotel and the people there were really super helpful. they got me to my room, and brought me tooth brush, tooth paste, and deoderant so that I could at least take a shower and start to feel at least somewhat human the next morning. The friend that I was coming to visit worked some kind of magic and placed some phone calls. To make a long story short, at a little bit before 1:00 in the morning, someone knocked on my door and delivered my suitcase to me. It had apparently been in Chicago all the time, but since the people there didn't want to help me with it, it went to wherever missing luggage goes. And, even when someone from the Milwaukee Greyhound station called Chicago with the claim ticket number, Chicago continued to deny that they had my suitcase. I don't understand it, but whatever. Bruce was getting ready to leave in the morning for a weekend trip of his own, but he stayed with mme on the phone until things had been delivered and until I was able to confirm that everything was intact. Having him with me really helped to make things easier.
I left Friday morning and ended up getting on a bus with a great driver. We got into my final stop about an hour late, but that was because of bad weather and nothing that could have been controled.
I leave tomorrow morning and I'm hoping that things go a lot better on the return trip. I've got an hour and a half between the two buses, so I'm hoping that will give me extra time in case the first bus is running late or whatever. If things go as planned, I'll be back in Milwaukee by 3:00 tomorrow afternoon.
The travel experience is definitely one that I don't want to repeat anytime soon. I love travel, but this was really truly one of the worst experiences I've ever had, and the Chicago Greyhound station will be getting a complaint from me for their lack of help, and their utter rudeness.
Anyway, that's my story about the weekend. I'll post more later when I have something more to write about. Later everyone.
I made it to Chicago about 5 minutes after my connecting bus was scheduled to leave, so I'd missed that transfer. The next bus wasn't scheduled to leave until 12:45 in the morning. If that wasn't bad enough, the driver I had told me that he couldn't find my suitcase. I asked him if he wanted my clain ticket and he said that it would help, but that he didn't have time to look for it because he had to leave. He left me in the room where all the customer service people hung out. They also refused to even attempt to help me locate my suitcase. I asked several times for assistance, and was basically told that they couldn't do anything to help me. I asked about a hotel and was told that there was one but that it was close to $199 a night so "I didn't want to go there". Don't tell me what I do and do not want, thank you very much. They did get me a meal voucher though so that I could get some food, and they assisted me in getting that food. I was just feeling really uncomfortable, worried, and completely exhausted, and wasn't sure what I was going to do. I finally decided that I couldn't stay there anymore and asked them to put me into a cab because I WAS going to that hotel that I supposedly didn't want to go to. They seemed more than willing to help me leave.
So, I got to my hotel and the people there were really super helpful. they got me to my room, and brought me tooth brush, tooth paste, and deoderant so that I could at least take a shower and start to feel at least somewhat human the next morning. The friend that I was coming to visit worked some kind of magic and placed some phone calls. To make a long story short, at a little bit before 1:00 in the morning, someone knocked on my door and delivered my suitcase to me. It had apparently been in Chicago all the time, but since the people there didn't want to help me with it, it went to wherever missing luggage goes. And, even when someone from the Milwaukee Greyhound station called Chicago with the claim ticket number, Chicago continued to deny that they had my suitcase. I don't understand it, but whatever. Bruce was getting ready to leave in the morning for a weekend trip of his own, but he stayed with mme on the phone until things had been delivered and until I was able to confirm that everything was intact. Having him with me really helped to make things easier.
I left Friday morning and ended up getting on a bus with a great driver. We got into my final stop about an hour late, but that was because of bad weather and nothing that could have been controled.
I leave tomorrow morning and I'm hoping that things go a lot better on the return trip. I've got an hour and a half between the two buses, so I'm hoping that will give me extra time in case the first bus is running late or whatever. If things go as planned, I'll be back in Milwaukee by 3:00 tomorrow afternoon.
The travel experience is definitely one that I don't want to repeat anytime soon. I love travel, but this was really truly one of the worst experiences I've ever had, and the Chicago Greyhound station will be getting a complaint from me for their lack of help, and their utter rudeness.
Anyway, that's my story about the weekend. I'll post more later when I have something more to write about. Later everyone.