And it really makes me wonder

Right now, I am supposed to be flying back from Arizona.

I was supposed to leave from the Phoenix airport at 2 p.m. today, after having driven up from Tucson, where I was for the past day and a half attending the final days of a meeting.

I was supposed to arrive in Tucson late Friday night, after landing in Phoenix at 9:30 p.m. and driving down. This was after I was supposed to leave Fort Lauderdale shortly after work on Friday. This did not happen, and instead I spent the weekend in Fort Lauderdale.

Why? you may ask. Well, the short answer is because I missed my flight out on Friday. The long answer...

I missed my flight because:

• When I arrived at the Fort Lauderdale airport at 4:45 p.m.--an hour before my flight, which should've been enough time--the parking garage was already full.
• Because the parking garage was full, I was directed to remote parking, which took about 15 minutes to get to (I pulled into the lot at 4:57).
• I found a spot in about 5 minutes, and proceeded to the shuttle bus stop to catch a ride back to the terminal (still had about 40-45 minutes before my departure);
• I then waited 30-35 minutes at the bus stop, awaiting a bus to pick me up. After 2 buses drove by completely packed and spaced 15 minutes apart, I started walking back along the shuttle route. I also called the airport operator and advised then to add more buses to their shuttle route.
• As I was walking back along the shuttle route, I caught a third bus that wasn't completely filled yet, but did fill up before I could get on--roughly 15 minutes from bus #2. About 5 minutes later a fourth bus, and I did manage to get on this one. This bus also managed to have enough room to pick up people at the stop where I had formerly been waiting.
• The bus ride to the terminal took roughly 10-15 minutes, which got me to my terminal 3 minutes after my flight departed. After a brief debate over whether to bother trying to get through security to get to the gate, I headed over to the ticket counter instead, where they informed me that yes my flight had left, and the next available flight to Phoenix was the next day, arriving there at 11 a.m.
• As this Saturday 11 a.m. arrival would put me in Tucson around 1 p.m., and I would be leaving Tucson again within 24-hours, I figured it was better I not go at all. This was confirmed by my contact with the group I was meeting, who said I should just stay here, rather than go through the craziness.
• So, I left the ticket counter, and returned, via the shuttle bus, to remote parking and claimed my car and left the airport. The bus wasn't even a 1/4-full on the return, and it picked up no one out in remote parking....

And the best part: I got charged for parking. It also made my decision to drive myself, rather than try to coordinate a cab pick-up seem like the completely wrong thing to do. It also makes me wonder if the county/city is trying to supplement the local cab industry, or if they just aren't doing a good job of managing transportation options to the airport....


God damn my spinning head
Decisions that made my bed
Now I must lay in it
And deal with things I left unsaid