Fitpacking: The week that was

Fitpacking has 2 concurrent Trips scheduled for Sat Feb 21-28.

• Trip 1: Cumberland Island, GA guided by Guide A & Guide B
• Trip 2: Big Bend, TX guided by Guide C & Guide D

Tuesday 2/17

Trip 1 has less than 4 participants, necessitating only 1 guide.  I hate to do it, but guide B isn’t needed and is freed up to do something else during the trip.  Trip 2 still has 4 participants and 2 guides.

Friday 2/20

At around 6:30AM I receive a message from a participant on Trip 2 whose brother died suddenly.  Participant withdraws from trip. 

Guide C is already on a flight to Midland, TX.  Guide D’s flight won’t leave for another 6 hours.

As there are only 3 participants, only 1 guide is needed.  I contact Guide D and we agree that Guide D will cancel their trip at the last minute.  Because the airline ticket is Southwest, it is changed to another trip they’re guiding later in the year.

Saturday 2/21

Just after midnight, Guide C gets violently ill.  Vomiting, diarrhea, fever and chills.  I don’t receive the message until around 6AM. 

I contact Guide C who confirms that guiding seems impossible given the way they feel.

I immediately contact Guide D to see if they can drop everything and guide the trip after all.  Guide D is now no longer available because care of dependents has been canceled.

I contact Guide B to see if they are available.  They have already scheduled their time and are unable to guide.

I contact Guide C who has attempted to leave the hotel twice but could not and returned to their room.

I have some Frequent Flyer miles and book myself on a flight to Midland for Sunday 2/22.

I also book a flight for Guide C back home for Sunday 2/22.  I will arrive a few hours before Guide C goes home.

Participants arrive and Guide C somehow finds the reserves to do all the Day 1 stuff with participants.

Sunday 2/22

At 4AM, I leave home for the airport.  My flight arrives at DFW in plenty of time to make my 11:30AM flight to Midland.

At around 11AM I board the plane. 

At around 11:30AM, we are told to de-plane as there is no captain.

At around Noon, a captain arrives and we re-board the plane.

At around 12:30, we are on the runway ready to take-off and the captain announces a mechanical issue.  We go back to the gate and de-plane again.

At around 1PM, my flight is cancelled.  We are all told to get in a line snaking down the hall containing easily 100 people.

While in line, I call the airline and am re-booked on a flight that leaves at 6:20PM, which is after Guide C is scheduled to depart Midland, so unfortunately I won’t see them.

The very patient participants have already been in Midland for over 24 hours and Big Bend is still a 4 hour drive away.

There is a flight that goes to Midland at around 4:30PM so I try to stand-by on it.  I do not get on it but they tell me that my bag might be waiting for me in Midland when I finally arrive.

Guide C calls and says their flight home has been canceled.  Guide C rebooks for 1PM the next day, Mon 2/23

At around 5PM, my flight is canceled.  I am told that because of ice storms in North Texas, the earliest they can book me is Wednesday, 2/25.  I am now unable to guide the trip.

DFW is cancelling all sorts of flights for the next few days but I’m told that I can get on the last trip back to Boston at 7:15PM, so I book that since the next available flight to Boston is on Wednesday.

Guide C is feeling somewhat better and has to be there another day anyway.  Guide C says they will guide the trip.  Over the phone we re-structure the trip to make the first day of hiking less strenuous as strength returns.

Guide C cancels their flight back home.

At around 6:30PM, Guide C gathers the group and starts the 4 hour drive to Big Bend. 

At 7:30PM I am on the runway ready to take off and they turn my plane around to get de-iced. Uh oh.

Fortunately, this seems to work and we take off.  I arrive in Boston an hour late.

My backpack does not arrive.  I stand in line to check on this and they tell me that my bag is in Midland, but they’ll send it back.

I have no idea why I’m being so anonymous about the guides’ names.

Be featured in Singular City Magazine, L.A.!

A reporter from a new Los Angeles Magazine called Singular City (http://www.singularcity.com/) is writing an article about traveling as a single parent and would like to get a few quotes about your Fitpacking experience.

If you are a single parent from LA (preferably) or from anywhere in California, please contact Rachel Sarah at rachel@singlemomseeking.com. Please use the word Fitpacking somewhere in the Subject line.

Questions will be along the lines of, “Where did you go? What was the highlight? What was challenging?” etc. If you are interested, please respond as soon as you can since the writer is on a deadline.

Thanks,

Steve

FWIW:

Singular Magazine is a bi-monthly consumer periodical for single men and women living in Los Angeles who are between the ages of 30 and 55 with a median income of $150,000. Its overall mission is to enhance the lives of single adults.

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