Adventure travel

A couple of travel-related points of interest from my trip to Arizona last week.

First—renting a car these days is quite the economic shocker. My Kia Soul (in the “economy” category) cost $266.93 for three days. Plus a “deposit” at pick-up of $466. (I just checked; it has, in fact, been refunded.)

But what was also a slice was sliding into a car that’s at least 20 years newer than the one I drive on the regular. I consider my trip a triumph in that I figured out how to use cruise control. And that on the one night I had to drive, I got the lights working, and they weren’t high-beams. (My car’s lights stay on whenever the engine’s running. It’s Swedish.)

But the other moments of excitement came at DFW Airport, when American Airlines changed the departure gate for my flight from C4 to A39, which is in a different county, without updating the boarding pass on my mobile phone. Thank God I checked the departure board, and then asked the ladies at Amex’s Centurion Lounge front desk to double check. One of them gave me instructions (take the Skylink) and made sure I got on the first elevator leaving the lounge.

Because the flight was already boarding.

Well, I had to haul ass, but I made it to the plane. Not the only one to have been flummoxed by the gate change-boarding pass issue.

It’s always a good end to a trip when you catch your flight home.