mickey mouse

so last tuesday susan headed out to orlando for the american geriatrics society (ags) conference. unfortunately, the trip went off to a bad start. somehow when her expedia trip package was booked, everything was in hue's name. this meant that the paper tickets, hotel reservation and ground transporation could only be use by him (and he wasn't so interested in a week long geri conference). we realize this at the airport. so we have to scramble and try to get the name switched to susan. we call expedia and they're able to change the hotel and refund the ground transporation but can't do anything with the air, which is up to the airlines. expedia also gave us a $100 coupon toward our next booking (which can only be used if a hotel/car is included. no flight onlys.) we then contact the airlines (yes that's more than one airline since outbound was on united and the return on airtran.) eventually we get to a kind united ticket agent whose name is ronald. he's able to change part of the ticket to susan, but can't do anything on the airtran side. he's so nice that hue's thinking that we might name our firstborne after him. she manages to get on the plane without further incident.

while in orlando, she only saw mickey one time. the lectures were held at the walt disney dolphin hotel. it was a great time for her to catch up with some colleagues from chicago and pittsburgh. one night she went to epcot and watched the fireworks from the edge of the lake. even though we go to disneyland right here in anaheim on occasion, there is still something magical about the place. of course free food and drink also helps.

getting back to la was a bit more problematic. airtran was not as accommodating as united. they would not change the name on the ticket. "we will lose money if we change the name" and then they expected her to purchase a ticket for $250. they gave us a credit from the original flight and charged us $50 to cancel it. that left us with $60 to only be used by hue. susan contemplated spending a few more months in orlando, but ended up purchasing a one-way ticket on united back. ual gets our business, bankrupt or not.

susan arrived back sunday afternoon and is happy to be home.