Travel Agent Stories

Thanks so much for the kind notes. 🙂 I really did miss my OD friends. I just get so caught up in daily struggle & rut that I forget to come here for your friendly support.

Had a wonderful day yesterday. We’ve have some of the most perfect weather since Thursday. Blue, blue skies, comfortable temps and no humidity. Got up early & spent the day with my old friend Hellen. We took the street car across the city & went to my old stomping grounds in the east end ‘Beaches’. Although they now call it "The Beach". (Huh!)
Walked for ages visiting all the unique little stores along Queen street. All along the length of both sides of the main street they have gorgeous planter boxes filled with overflowing plants and flowers. After walking for some time we stopped for a very yummy lunch on the patio of a Greek restaurant. Even tried a new drink with lemon/lime rum, cranberry juice, pineapple juice and a dash of Sprite. Light & refreshing but very tastey. After we walked down to the boadwalk on the beach and strolled to the end of it.
The area had changed so much especially since they tore down the old race track. They’ve put up tons of new housing, parks and stores. I was very pleasantly surprised with the changes. They even have a new movie theatre that had an open air patio with a live jazz trio.  We were supposed to go back to High Park in my end (west) of the city to see Shakespear in the park but after walking all day we decided to just go in to see a movie. We watched The Night Listener with Robin Williams. It was different. Not bad but not exactly what we expected.

It  was just so nice to spend time with Hellen. We’ve known each other since grade 3 or 4, grew up in the same neighbourhood and her parents are from the North of Ireland so we had a lot of things in common. It’s so easy talking with a friend like that. She gets things right away that you’d have to explain to people from other backgrounds. The only problem is that she lives in the city, Mississauga. Which means we don’t get to see each other every week.

Anyway, today I’m just resting up, recovering from all the walking. To be honest, I’m rather sore today. I’m not used to that much walking anymore. I’ve got to get myself in better physical shape. 

I thought I’d leave you with these funny stories that made me laugh.

+————- Bizarre Travel Agent Stories —————+  

From a former Washington, D.C. travel agent of over 30  
years  

* A New Hampshire Congresswoman called to ask for an aisle  
seat so that her hair wouldn’t get messed up by being near  
the window.  

* A Candidate’s Staffer called, wanting to go to Capetown. I  
started to explain the length of the flight and the passport  
information then she interrupted me with, "I’m not trying to  
make you look stupid, but Capetown is in Massachusetts."  
Without trying to make her look like the stupid one, I calm-  
ly explained, "Cape Cod is in Massachusetts. Capetown is in  
Africa." Her response? Click.  

* A Senior Vermont Congressman called, furious about a  
Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong with the  
vacation in Orlando. He said he was expecting an ocean view  
room. I tried to explain that is not possible, since Orlando  
is in the middle of the state. He replied, "Don’t lie to me.  
I looked on the map, and Florida is a very thin state!"  

* A Lawmaker’s wife asked, "Is it possible to see England  
from Canada?" I said, "No." She said, "But they look so  
close on the map."  

* A Bush cabinet member’s aide called and asked if they  
could rent a car in Dallas. When I pulled up the reservation,  
I noticed they had only a 1-hour layover in Dallas. When I  
asked him why he wanted to rent a car, he said, "I heard  
Dallas was a big airport, and we want the car so we can drive  
between gates to save time."  

* An Illinois Congresswoman wanted to know how it was  
possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:20am and got  
into Chicago at 8:33am. I tried to explain that Michigan was  
an hour ahead of Illinois, but she could not understand the  
concept of time zones. Finally, I told her the plane went  
very fast. She bought it!  

* A New York lawmaker asked, "Do airlines put your physical  
description on your bag so they know whose luggage belongs  
to whom?" I said, "No, why do you ask?" She replied, "Well,  
when I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my  
luggage that said "FAT." I’m overweight and I think that’s  
very rude!" After putting her on hold so I could "look into  
it" (I was actually laughing), I came back to her and  
explained the city code for Fresno, CA is "FAT," and that  
the label was only a destination tag.  

* A Senator’s aide inquired about a trip package to Hawaii.  
After going over all the cost info, she asked, "Would it be  
cheaper to fly to California and then take the train to  
Hawaii?"  

* A freshman Congressman called from the airport to ask,  
"How do I know which plane to get on?" I asked him what  
exactly did he mean. He replied, "You told me my flight  
number is 823, but none of these darn planes have numbers on  
them."  

* A lady Senator called and said, "I need to fly to Pepsi-  
Cola, FL. Do I have to get on one of those little computer  
planes?" I asked her if she meant "fly to Pensacola, FL on  
a commuter plane"? She said, "Yeah, whatever!"  

* A senior Senator had a question about the documents he  
needed in order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion  
about passports, I reminded him he needed a visa. "Oh, no I  
don’t. I’ve been to China many times and never had one." I  
double-checked and, sure enough, his stay required a visa.  
When I told him this he said, "Look, I’ve been to China four  
times. Every time they’ve accepted my American Express!"  

* A New Mexico Congresswoman called to make reservations. "I  
want to go from Chicago to Rhino, New York." The agent was  
at a loss for words. Finally, the agent: "Are you sure that’s  
the name of the town?" "Yes, what flights do you have?" she  
replied. After some searching, the agent came back with,  
"I’m sorry, ma’am. I’ve looked up every airport code in the  
country and can’t find a Rhino anywhere." The lady retorted,  
"Oh, don’t be silly! Everyone knows where it is. Check your  
map!" The agent pulled out a map of New York state and  
finally asked, "You don’t mean ‘Buffalo,’ do you?" "That’s  
it! I knew it was a big animal!"  

* I had someone who wanted to stay at the Bob Newhart Inn in  
Connecticut. When I explained that the inn was fictional,  
the customer became very irate and insisted, "I know it is  
real, I see people check in every week!"  

                             ***  

Hugs!