...and then the locusts came.

On a recent trip to Atlantic City for a professional conference, I had about the worst luck one could experience...and I don't mean at the poker tables.

Day 1: I arrived in Philadelphia airport and proceeded to wait for my shuttle to Atlantic City...I waited, and waited....and waited. 1.5 hours in the hot sun. It finally arrived and once I boarded the shuttle, I was brought to my hotel - the Trump Plaza. Sounds impressive, eh? Well, all I can say is that The Donald let me down. They were overbooked. What?? I had a reservation! But, alas, they were overbooked and I would need to stay at the Trump Taj Mahal. I hate taking cabs...they are just uncomfortable to me. But, I took a cab over to the Taj (thats what they call it) and proceeded to check in. By the way...I'm pretty much exhausted by now...its about 8 pm after a long day of travel. So, I attempted to go to my room - would you believe I got lost?! Who knew there were 2 fourteenth floors...14A and 14B. After about 15 minutes of searching, I found the elevator to 14B...and up I went to my suite. I did get a pretty incredible room, despite nasty old carpeting...14 ft ceilings, a jacuzzi tub, an excellent view of the ocean, spotlights over the bed, and an all marble bathroom...with a bidet no less. If you're wondering, no I didn't try it out. Now you would think my day should have ended here. But, no...I needed dinner. So I ventured out (b/c there didn't seem to be room service, even though I knew I must have been wrong about that.) I happened upon some colleagues ambling through the casino who told me about some great restaurants just down the boardwalk. Wanting to fit in, I followed them...on a 25 minute hike "down the boardwalk"...funny enough, right in front of the hotel I should have been staying at. My walking companions then took their leave, and I was left by myself...on the boardwalk...looking quite out of place....in the dark. I quickly turned around to head back to the Taj...without having eaten. I didn't want it to just get later...darker...and scarier for my walk home. I finally returned to the Taj, and went in search of a restaurant. Most were reservation only...and many were already closed. But I found one...where I got a margarita pizza and a diet coke...at 10 pm..and made a tearful call to my husband. They brought the red pepper flakes to the table with my pizza...without me even asking! The peppers brough to the table was the highlight of my day.


Day 2: They told me I could come back to the Trump Plaza and have a room as early as 7 am on this day...I should have known this wasn't true, but I was hopeful. Since I had to set up my conference poster at the crack of dawn, I took a taxi over to the Plaza at 6:45 am...did I mention that I hate taxis! Some random woman asked to share a cab with me...she sounded Polish....I didn't quite know what to say, so I allowed her to ride along to the Plaza. The hotel was covering the cab, so I figured, what the heck. Now an uncomfortable cab ride was made that much worse by the addition of this rather pushy stranger. After they basically laughed at me at the Plaza - of course they can't give me a room at that hour - I waited 15 minutes to check my bags with the bellman. Can you believe that a couple ladies ahead of me pushed their way into the luggage storage room so that one of them could change their pants!! Even the bellman tried to stop them..."there are cameras in here, Miss." It didn't seem to phase her...and I just waited. I made it over to the convention center, mounted my poster, and proceeded to attend conference sessions. One of my Michigan colleagues noted a typo on my poster...and if you know me at all, you know that this is enough to drive me crazy! I procured some white-out and fixed that problem straight away! After the day was finished, a colleague and I walked the 15 minutes back to the Plaza...surely my room would be ready now (5:00 pm)...and I can freshen up before I meet the rest of the Michigan folks for dinner. No such luck...my room won't be ready until 7:30 pm. So, in my same conference duds...and my rather painful shoes...my colleague and I decided to take the Jitney back to the conference center. The Jitney is a shuttle service that circles around to all the major casinos. Seems easy enough - we hop on the Jitney bus rounding route 4 and will be deposited in front of the convention center. My companion did just that...except, he hadn't checked to make sure it was the route 4 shuttle. After about 5 minutes into our ride...I wanted to verify that he did indeed make sure we were on the correct route...he did not confirm...and after conferring with the other passengers, were were in fact on the Jitney route 1...going in the opposite direction of the convention center. They all had a good laugh...and I had to laugh along at this point. We decide to just stay on it and it should go back to where it picked us up...right? Nope! Once we got to the marina...about 25 minutes from our hotel...the driver informed us that he was now off duty and we had to de-board the bus. You gotta be kidding me!! We made a few calls...and waited for the next Jitney. Luckily, a city bus parked nearby started up and the driver said he could get us close to the convention center. So that's what we did. We got there in time to meet up with everyone before we walked to dinner...we missed the conference reception, but this couldn't be helped. So we walked to dinner...at the Tropicana...another 25 minutes away. Did I mention that my feet were hurtin'...pain doesn't even begin to describe it! Dinner was awesome - a yummy Cuban restaurant and an awesome Malbec made me forget my troubles. Yes...we walked back to the Trump Plaza by way of the famous boardwalk (oh my poor feet!)...and most of our party took their leave for the evening. I along with my Jitney companion and his boss decided we needed a bit more libation...so we headed to the Beach Bar. I enjoyed red wine from a plastic cup, an excellent, albeit quite overweight, cover band, and interesting conversation. Oh...I did finally get my room at the Trump Plaza...it smelled a little funny and didn't have an ironing board...but other than that, the accommodations were fine...and it had a breathtaking view of the beach...and the Beach Bar! Luckily the band quit playing shortly after midnight so I could get some sleep.

Day 3: I'm happy to report that my luck on this day didn't even compare to the 2 previous days. I walked to the convention center and actually enjoyed the walk...aside from my aching feet. There was music playing, and it was humid and hot...it really reminded me of New Orleans! My bill got screwed up at lunch and I was late for the breakout session that I really wanted to go to. My feet hurt so bad that I had to ditch the heels and wear my Birkenstocks all day - very professional, eh? My key card wouldn't work...so I needed to head back to the oh so cordial front desk staff. I met up with my Jitney companion for dinner - we had a lovely seafood dinner and dropped the entire per diem on one meal. It was worth it. We wandered the casino for awhile and had some great, easy-going conversation.

Day 4: Going home day! Yay!...yeah right. You know it wouldn't be that easy. My panel session at the conference this day went extremely well, despite there being an embarrassing 10 audience members - sucks being scheduled the last session of the last day of a conference! I scurried to change my clothes for travel - my fancy, professional duds were a bit uncomfortable...and those dreaded heels! After a quick change...I began my wait for the airport shuttle. Of course, it was late....of course! Once I arrived at the airport, I joined a very long line of disgruntled, yet hopeful, passengers at the Northwest ticket counter...so many flights were delayed or canceled that everybody was re-booking. Apparently there were some weather issues and a few pilots decided not to fly due to some labor negotiations - maybe you heard? At this moment, my flight was on time...but...my flight was eventually delayed, too. When we finally boarded, I was worried about making my connection, but was overall quite optimistic. 4 hours later and still waiting on the tarmac...with no AC, no lights, and only 1/2 cup of water...I lost my optimism and went right to despair. The plane took off after midnight...and arrived in Detroit at about 2 am. I had a rather chatty flight companion and much to my surprise, I actually engaged in his mindless conversation. I guess I was just excited to finally be going home. You won't be surprised that I missed my connection in Detroit...or that there were no hotels, no other connections, no rental cars. (The Northwest re-booking agent smirked - "Oh, those were all gone hours ago.) So, no way out...I spent night in the Detroit airport. A rather high ranking person at my work was stranded with me - he made it a bit more fun. We joked about our situation, and discussed our kids, our hobbies, our aspirations...and he shared with me his excitement about a new relationship he has recently started. It was cool to be stuck with him...this was a good opportunity to get to know him. Our surroundings were a bit surreal...people were strewn about, sleeping all over the terminal, cuddled up in small Northwest blankets with small Northwest pillows. There was no way I could sleep...not in an airport. So, my companion and I blew our Northwest meal vouchers at the Starbucks and chatted the rest of the night into the morning, until 10:30 AM when our flight to Lansing took off. I finally got home in early afternoon...to a very excited family...and I was simply relieved that the trip was finally over.


Alas, my trip to Atlantic City was anything but magical...and I don't think I'll be heading back anytime soon. I'm glad I didn't even try to gamble...I'm sure I would have lost it all!