In deciding to make the trip to the D.C. area for son’s 40th birthday (yeah, I know), I was aware of certain limitations in traveling. I’ve already posted about the surprise in discovering we couldn’t fly direct at any sort of reasonable time. I also knew we would have to pretty continuously be in masks. (10 hours as it turned out)

Now, traffic to the airport was like it used to be and I’m not going to complain about that. After all, we have access to the American Express Lounge which is a pleasant place. Except I forgot to ask the direct question and it’s closed. It would have been nice if they had posted a sign before we walked all the way down, then back past our original point to get to our gate. Okay, we get on the flight. And now we learn there will be no complimentary beverages, but hey why not have paid extra for those particular seats anyway. Our layover in Charlotte allowed plenty of time for a leisurely lunch with a couple of adult beverages. Except, the terminal our connecting flight was in has no such service and since Hubby is hauling my carry-on (no wheels) and his backpack, I’m not going to ask him to haul us back the 7+ minute walk to the other terminal. Okay, on the plus-side, the weather is good and no flight delays to this point. More to follow as we arrive.

Okay, a delay, but not too bad. Now for more frustration. We are at a hotel I will not name, but let us say it’s a nice one. So, the granddaughter was “cheated” out of the complex pool this summer due to COVID. The idea was we picked one of the three hotels in the correct location that has an indoor pool. We’re bringing the kids out tomorrow after they get off work to spend Sat and Sun night and we fly Monday morning. We will take possession of granddaughter Sunday to allow kids to have a “date day” – that also happens to be son’s actual birthday. Good plan. When I went onto the hotel website to see the restaurant, bar, and pool, there was a notice about some services might not be available. I of course immediately thought of the pool and called about that. I was assured that yes, it was open. However, knowing that things can change, I explained to the kids we would check on the pool when we arrived.

What I didn’t think to ask about was the restaurant and bar. Indeed, neither are open and by the way, there’s no ice either. Ah, and no glassware; plastic only. Shall we say, I was not happy to discover all this. Okay, Plan B. Call the Kiddo. When you come tomorrow, bring cooler, ice, bourbon and perhaps scotch. And yes, the pool is available.