The Travel Curse - Her name is Fay

The Travel Curse – Her Name is Fay

I amazingly had an uneventful trip to Philly last week – so smooth it was actually proclaimed by co-workers in my office that perhaps I had kicked the Travel Curse. Of course, I knew that it only meant the calm before the ‘storm’ and a smooth trip only means the curse accidentally fell asleep and once the travel gods are woken up, beware!

The case in point, please note my e-mail string to my client in Florida below:

07/24/2008 12:53 PM
Subject: Boca meeting

Su;
Can you give me some specific dates w/o 8/11, 8/18 or 8/25 that work for you.
Bill

Here’s my response to Bill:

07/24/2008 02:06 PM
Subject Re: Boca meeting

Bill,

Alright, here's my availability:
8/12 p.m. - 8/14 a.m.8/19 p.m. - 8/21 a.m.
I am not available the following week.

As hurricane season is upon us, I highly suggest making sure you have appropriate flood and "act of God" insurance on hand, as it's highly likely any travel by me during this period will make the travel gods restless.

Su


And so with the above e-mail, we scheduled that ever important planning meeting for August 20th and 21st and by so doing, tempted the travel gods to whip up a storm, after all, I ‘kicked’ the travel curse according to my boss! Read today’s e-mail:

08/18/2008 11:50 AM
Subject Re: Boca meeting

Bill,

As predicted on my e-mail dated 7/24, making plans during Hurricane season to come visit the fine folks at your company has made the travel gods restless, and in turn, they have churned up a nice little storm named Fay. Terri reminded me this morning, as other people in the office that knew I was traveling, that Fay only exists due to my impending travel to Boca. In addition, United is now on my case with notes of "Reschedule without Penalty", "Waivers available", "Avoid Florida at all costs between 8/18 - 8/21". In order to save the citizens of Florida, and more specifically my friends at your company, I believe it's in my best interest to reschedule our meetings for Thursday. As luck would have it, I could probably get there and then be stranded, or end up in the black hole of the travel curse never to be seen again. By rescheduling our meeting, I believe I am giving you the best opportunity to have Fay die at sea before it hits land, in which case, you can personally thank me in September.

Thanks,Su

P.S. If there was a Travel Curse Olympics, I would definitely medal, if not win gold.

So there you have, proof to some that even the thought of flying sends the travel gods in a tizzy. I highly suspect that by simply averting the potential curse and canceling my trip, the travel gods will have a ‘special’ trip planned for me next time.

On a side note – Dave and I were discussing the merits of Michael Phelps, the Olympics, and who is truly the greatest athlete ever. While arguably Michael Phelps can not only swim, he can also breathe like a bull frog, eat like a champion chicken wing eater and likely run laps around me while I sit on the couch training for my 2-person Luge Olympic moment. I believe the best way to determine who the best athlete is to create the “Olympic Shuffle”. While you are entitled to enter the Olympics in your chosen field, you are also subject to compete in unrelated events to find out who is truly the best athlete by luck of the draw. Just think, the Equestrian rider jumping hurdles on land instead of on a horse. The swimmer trying their hand at Table Tennis. The volleyball player holding a sword fencing instead of a volleyball spiking. Let’s get one of those Jamaican sprinters to use their speed and run towards a gymnastics vaulting event. How about the “barely 14” gymnasts trying their hand at the high flying stakes of basketball. More like Bitty Basketball. The list goes on and on. I truly believe that if each athlete performed in a series of events they never trained for, it might actually be an interesting Olympiad. Either that, or let’s include animals in the Olympics. For example, how about giving the Pigeon a medal for surviving a round of Pigeon Shooting. I suppose there is good reason I publish cookbooks and not the Olympics.