I made it to Anchorage, now what?

     When I landed in Anchorage, I had been instructed to see the gate agent who would direct me to my connecting flight to Dillingham. Guess what; when I got to the gate desk there was no one there. I looked around the other gates and they too were unmanned. So I did the next best thing, I went to the departure board to see where my next flight would depart from. As I scanned the postings, I could not find my next flight. This is also about the time Ralph woke up from his nap. I believe his words were “you’re screwed, it is 35 minutes toil your next flight departs, you don’t have a ticket and you have no clue where to go or what to do”. My response to Ralph I can’t post here, after all this is a PG blog.

     Having never been to the Anchorage airport, I truly had no idea where to go. I found a sign that said ticketing and off I go. I eventually found an airport worker who was very helpful informing me that 1) I needed to go to the Penair ticketing desk to get my ticket 2) I was not the only person who this had happened to, in fact it is a daily occurrence, and 3) if I intended to make my flight I needed to move my butt. As I dashed off in the direction of the Penair ticketing desk I heard my name over the public address system informing me that I was needed at the departure gate immediately if I intended to have a seat on this flight. I found the ticketing desk and informed the agent that I was the person being paged and I needed a ticket and directions to the gate. They handed me my ticket and pointed toeward the gate that, thankfully, was within sight.

     As I announced my presence to the gate agent, she explained the urgency of my page. The airport in Dillingham had been closed for 2 days due to severe icing and Penair had added two additional flights this evening in an effort to get everyone that had been delayed to Dillingham. Needless to say, I understood why seating was at a premium. I boarded the Saab turbo prop and folded myself into the seat and enjoyed a very uneventful flight to Dillingham.

     On my arrival at Dillingham, I had been flying and running through airports for about seventeen hours. Having finally arrived at my destination, I mistakenly presumed (I defer from using the word assume due to its hidden implication) my adventure was over. Boy was I wrong.

     Through email, I had been instructed by my contact in Dillingham to take a cab to the hospital and report to the emergency room for the key to my lodging and further instructions/directions. Being the professional that I am, on my entry to the terminal in Dillingham, I contacted the local cab company. As I was waiting on my cab (as instructed), I was chatting with a fellow passenger who was waiting on his ride. A couple of ladies walked past that obviously knew the person I was speaking with and even politely said hello to me. After the ladies got in their car and were pulling out of the parking lot, my new friend inquired where I was going. I informed him that I was going to the hospital. His next comment came a a great surprise to me. He said “you should have just ridden with Sue (not her real name) she works at the hospital”. In fact, Sue was my contact person at the hospital who had told me to take a cab. Now I was really confused. About this time my cab arrived and for a fiver it took me to the hospital.

     When I arrived at the ER, as previously instructed, I presented myself and received looks from the staff like I had a bugger on the end of my nose. They knew nothing about my arrival, had no keys, nor any instructions for me. As they attempted to help me with this confusing situation, the DON, who happened to be in-house, graciously asked me if I had eaten. When I replied no, but if I could get some milk, I would make a protein shake and go to bed. Needless to say by this time I was beyond tired. My new “bestest” friend that had offered to feed me, looked high and low and was only able to find chocolate milk, which really sux when you want to make a vanilla protein shake.

     After several calls by the gracious staff, it was determined that the reason I had no keys was because someone had been sent to the airport to pick me up. Since the airport had been closed for two days and three flights coming in instead of one, and they had one person arriving on each flight, the plan had changed during the day. As I was traveling, there was no way they could have contacted me to let me know. My contact person did have a recent photo of me that was submitted in my credentialing packet, told me the next day “because you were so calm and not frazzled I didn’t recognize you”.

     After a brief time, I received my keys and was taken to my very nice apartment. It is a townhouse layout with two bedrooms and a bath upstairs and kitchen, living room, and dining room downstairs. I got in and carried my luggage upstairs, noticing that there was no linen on the bed or in the bathroom. I unpacked and went looking for sheets to put on the bed. You guessed it, there weren’t any, nor were there any towels. There is also a telephone upstairs and one down stairs, neither of which had a dial tone. I did find a blanket nicely folded on the sofa. I also found several rolls of paper towels in a kitchen cabinet.

     If there had been a hidden camera in the apartment, I probably would have won the $100,000.00 prize. I was so tired and exhausted, I took a shower and dried off with paper towels (I always carry a bar of Dial soap) after which, I laid the blanket on top of the bed and made myself the filling in the taco. I awoke the next morning at 3:30 am (which was 6:30 am according to my internal clock) refreshed and ready for new challenges.

     Now before you ask, the folks here did not have a vendetta against me. They actually are some of the nicest, down to earth folks I have met in my travels. I was the “victim” of an unusual set of circumstances. My contact person and everyone here have been so apologetic and actually look like little whipped puppies about my experience that I don’t even tease them about it. This facility has an enormous amount of personnel moving in and out on a daily basis and some things just happen. I am actually glad that it happened to me rather than someone who could not laugh about it.