On the phone this afternoon, my father reminded me that this almost two full week stretch of being home that I'm about to have is a rare case.  So for just shy of two weeks I will get to avoid all of the normal irritations I have with traveling.  I can wear big clunky heavy shoes, or open toed/faced high heels, or clothes that wrinkle easy, or big large belts.  I don't have to think about my wardrobe five days in advance or worry about where and how I'm going to be working out.  Instead, I can sleep in my own bed, commute to work in my own car, do laundry and other household chores during the week - I might even watch some tv that isn't on the Windows Media Center or the Tivo.  Maybe even get all caught up.

Anyway, as I was thinking about how nice it will be to be home for a while, I was also thinking about major travel annoyances, including a couple that happened to me this week.

#1 - Waking up early to workout in the hotel gym.  Ignoring the snooze and the chance to be lazy - you get up, get ready, and head down in the (normally exceptionally slow) elevator - only to find out that the gym is CLOSED. 

#2 - Said gym is CLOSED for your entire trip and learning when you check-out and complain that you could have used a gym a few blocks away for free.  Now, I'm not quite sure why when I complained about it the first time the person at the desk chose not to mention this - nor when I showed up in front of the gym, fully decked out in athletic wear, that no one at the front desk (who could easily see me) failed to accomodate.

#3 - Why, if most major cities would prefer their visitors to use some form of public transportation like a bus, subway, or cab, are the stops for those things so darned far away from BAGGAGE CLAIM?  At both LAX and San Jose, I had to lug a quite heavy bag a significant distance to get to a cab.  Now you may be asking why I had to carry such a big bag anyway since I'm such a big traveler.  Well, savvy traveler or not, the roll-aboard carry-ons don't work for a woman if she's traveling more than 2 nights and plans to exercise while being gone.  Especially in the winter.  Then, my other option is a very large rolling around black suitcase.  Or, the in between bag - a nice softsided bag that expands if you happen to do a little shopping, and could squeeze into the overhead space if necessary.

#4 - Speaking of carry-on luggage.  Why is it that flight attendants are allowed to carry three and four pieces of rather large luggage on the plane but those of us who are paying customers are expected to abide by the "one piece that fits in the overhead compartment or in the space underneath the seat in front of you & a small personal item".  Personal item being determined by whichever irritable security person or airline personnel at the door.

#5 - Why even bother having some sort of first class or fancy-schmancy preferred/elite line if it moves slower then the regular people line?

#6 - Why even bother to have check-in kiosks if you can't check your bag with them?   Same goes for why even bother to check-in at home if you still are going to have to stand in some form of line to check your bags.  Or, even moreso, why bother to have the check-in kiosks if they are NOT EVER WORKING.

#7 - I love that our trusty secruity force thinks it's their objective to either treat you as if you are five years old (even if it's the preferred/first class/I am special line and therefore do know to take your laptop out of your bag) or feel the need to touch everything you own in the process.  And, if this is some sort of government "policy" and "procedure" why is it different at every single airport?  At the end of the day, it really shouldn't matter if my coat and shoes go together in the same bin or not?

#8 - Just because I'm female and wearing jeans doesn't make me less important than the guy in the business suit.  The white guy in the business suit I should say.  Over the last eight years of traveling minimally of 100K miles a year, I have been ignored, abused, and frankly disrespected by flight attendants who assume that I must not be nearly as important as the person in the business suit.  Cracks me up.  It also cracks me up that other passengers make those assumptions. 

#9 - Why do hotels bother to tell you that you've been upgraded to a superior king room from the regular king room when it really means nothing?  I can't tell you how many times someone has told me that I've been "upgraded" and I see someone elses room who has not been "upgraded" and it's exactly the same.  Hello, that's called fraud.  Or, the flip side, is when you know what an upgraded room is (like at certain Westins if you're platinum you get free bottled water, a robe, and Molton Brown toiletries - which is nice) and they don't give it to you and act all pissy when you request those amenities.

#10 - The snotty service people.  My biggest pet peeve of all.  The W Hotels are the worst about this - and the W Times Square is the epitome of it all.  HELLO!!  You open the damned door for a living.  Drop the attitude.  Show some respect.  I find it interesting that in general, if you are at a really, really, really high class hotel, everyone is polite regardless of who you are.  And, the middle-tier hotels (the wanna be high class) are the snottiest.  I'd stay at the Four Points Ann Arbor over the W Times Square any day of the week.

Okay, ranted and rambled for a while.  I'm excited for the weekend as it's the first time in eight years that I've had MLK as a holiday.  Phil is coming into town tonight, my friend Wade and his new fiancee are coming to town this weekend, and then Jenn comes to visit on Wednesday.  Casa McCreary - no vacancy.