I had a big travel hassle this morning, and it had nothing to do with the Thanksgiving holiday crush.  I had to go to LA for a meeting of the California Firearms Strategy Group.  My ride was leaving LA Airport for the meeting at 9:30 a.m.

Usually, I take a 2 hour bus ride from Santa Rosa to Oakland or San Francisco Airports to catch a flight.  It's not so bad going down, but coming home is a bother because the bus doesn't run frequently, and if you miss it, you have to wait a good while for the next bus, then travel two hours to get home.  So, I decided to be smart and take Horizon Airlines (part of Alaska Airlines) from Santa Rosa to LA and back.

That turned out to be a disaster.  When I got to the airport, boarding pass in hand, at 5:30 a.m. for my 6:00 a.m. flight, I discovered the flight -- for weather reasons -- had been cancelled.  Of course, the airline, which had my phone number, never called me (or several other passengers at the airport) to let me know of the cancellation.   No email either.  And there were no other connections through Oakland or San Francisco that would have gotten me to LA in time for my appointment.

I ran out to get my husband who had dropped me off at the airport and saw our car being driven away.  I yelled at Jim but he didn't hear me.  I came back into the airport and asked for a taxi which Horizon ordered.  I then learned I would have to pay for the taxi myself -- an additional 35 dollars.  Fortunately, Jim was willing to come back for me.

I then asked for my ticket refund and was told I had a nonrefundable ticket.  I was incredulous that an airline wouldn't refund a ticket -- even a nonrefundable ticket -- if THEY cancel the flight.  I was told I could use the ticket to go on other Alaska Airlines flights, for example, I could make a trip to Alaska.  I stared at the ticket agent incredulously.  Who, after Sarah Palin and Ted Stevens, would ever want to go to Alaska?

I threatened to write a letter to the local paper, to send out an email to all my Santa Rosa contacts, to blog, for God's sake, about the despicable behavior of Alaska Airlines.  At that point, the agent gave me a phone number for Customer Relations in Seattle.

I called the phone number and got a recording informing me that my nonrefundable ticket could be used on a different flight for up to a year, BUT there was a $75 charge for transferring to a different flight.  I was enraged but held on long enough to finally get a real person to hear my complaint.  

Jillian from Customer Relations was pleasant.  I asked her why no one had called me.  She told me the flight was cancelled at ten p.m. in the evening and people don't like to be called that late.  I was dumbfounded.  Wouldn't someone having to get up at 5 a.m. for a flight want to know at any hour that the flight had been cancelled?

Next, Jillian informed me that the airport agent was incorrect -- I could get a refund in the event a flight was cancelled for weather reasons.  She promised to call the airport and let them know they were giving out incorrect information.  Let's wait and see if I get my refund.

What is the moral of the story?  Domestic airlines will screw you any way they can.  If you scream loud enough -- even threaten to blog -- you might possibly get your problem resolved.

Should I also conclude it's time to give up on travel?  I just can't do that.  I LOVE to travel.  My solution, temporarily, will be to fly foreign airlines as much as possible.  I'm sure they have their problems, but they can't be anywhere as bad as U.S. domestic airlines.

Happy holiday travell!!!

When I was growing up in Manhattan, I thought New York City was the only place in the world to live. These days, I wonder what virtues I saw in the place.  Especially, I wonder how New Yorkers manage to afford to live there.

If Washington, with all its free cultural activities and excellent mass transit, is a city to be enjoyed by everyone, New York is a city to be enjoyed by the rich. People living on average incomes in NYC have to endure the grubby Subway, incessant street noise, and crowds pressing from every direction.

I must admit I had one delightful free experience when I relaxed in renovated Bryant Park, behind the NY Public Library on 42nd Street. When I was young, Bryant Park was full of derelicts and criminals. Today, it is full of tourists and New Yorkers on lunch breaks or resting from shopping excursions. People in Bryant Park are actually "invited" by signage to sit on chairs on the grass or stretch out on the lawn for a nap. The central lawn is bordered by trees, plants, spring flowers and a marble fountain; beyond the park's borders are slick, glass highrises. I recommend Bryant Park for a restful break, picnic, or lunch in its lovely cafe. It's a place where you can almost tune out the roar of traffic.

Where Not to Stay

I confess that I am accustomed to staying at friends' homes when I travel. When, however, I was unable to stay with New York friends, I looked for an inexpensive hotel room through Hotels.com. (I couldn't bear the idea of spending several hundred dollars on a room for one night.) Don't ever book online in Manhattan. The place I found for $125 per night looked good on the Web -- 71st Street and West End Avenue, moderately high rankings from former clients. I booked without reading the small print about shared bathrooms.

The reality was depressing. The rundown studios catered to students and backpackers. We were given a room on the fourth floor but the elevator was broken. Pleading a sore leg, I insisted on a first floor room; conveniently, the bathroom was directly across the hall. The room was tiny and the radiator wasn't working. When the pleasant Albanian handyman came to fix the radiator, he mistakenly pulled off the blinds and it was a production to get them back up. When the room finally got warm enough, we had to sleep on a mattress of stone. My husband was an incredible good sport and he agreed to leave very early the next morning.

Coincidentally, the Travel Section in the Sunday New York Times on May 4, 2008, ran a piece entitled "A Room with a View (Maybe) in Gotham."  The article named 7 no-frill, low cost hotels in NYC -- the Lucerne, Econo Lodge Times Square, Pod Hotel, Mansfield Hotel, Inn on 23rd Street, Cosmopolitan Hotel and Bryant Park Hotel (right across from my newly discovered park). I tried to check the prices of the latter on the Web but the web site was not working -- not a good sign. While I am not recommending any of these places because I don't know them or their rates, I suspect they are better than a "bargain" hotel on Hotels.com.

When a Library is a Museum

I was fortunate to be given a free tour of the Morgan Library by a friend who works there -- otherwise, I would have had to pay $12 to get in, a high price for a relatively small place. Small, but definitely worth it. The Library at 37th and Madison once housed the private collection assembled by financier J. Pierpont Morgan in the 19th century. In 1924, Morgan's son transformed the private library into a public institution. In recent years, the space was expanded by architect Renzo Piano who integrated the Morgan's three historical buildings with three new glass pavilions. These provide exhibit space and make the library into a museum.

I saw two shows at the Morgan. First, an exhibit of a medieval treatise on the "noble" hunt drawn from the "disbound" pages of a gorgeous illuminated manuscript. The curator provided a marvelous explanation of the hunt and its many social conventions. In contrast, the Morgan was also showing the drawings of twentieth century artist Philip Guston whose work varied from abstract to figurative and who characterized himself as "inspired by anxiety." When you add to the exhibit space two grand baroque rooms in one of the historical buildings that belonged to J. Pierpont and contain some of his treasures, the Morgan has an embarrassment of riches in a compact space.

To be honest, I have to say New York is still worth visiting for a day or two -- if you can afford it. To me, that means finding a decent hotel room for under $150.

I would only consider again living in New York if I won the lottery -- the super lottery. And since I'm too cheap, or wise, to play the lottery, I have to concede that, for me, it's "New York, no more."

Sorry, friends. I'm still learning how to operate this blog. A few days ago, I mistakenly sent only half this message. Here's the rest.

DC Cultural Highs

Now for the good East Coast news.  Washington has the most amazing mix of people -- Caucasian and Afro-American lifelong residents, newer residents from Asian, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, and tourists from everywhere in the US and abroad.  People watching is a full-time job.

Add to this extraordinary cultural offerings.  Usually, I hit the Smithsonian museums (free and fabulous) but this time I paid $20 to see the Newseum, DC's newest museum that is dedicated to the world of journalism.  The New York Times gave the museum a mediocre review but that had to do mainly with its architecture which is quite boxy.

The Newseum's contents more than make up for its architecture.  I started out at the 4D theater which brings screened images so close to your face that you cringe in your moving seat. Even more, I thoroughly enjoyed the museum's many exhibits because the emphasis on twentieth century news brought back history I have lived.

The exhibit of Pulitzer prize winning photos was breathtaking and upsetting.  I hadn't expected to be moved by the 9/11 exhibit because we've been exposed to that event over and over, but surprisingly the exhibit brought tears to my eyes.  As did the commemoration of journalists who died in action.  My only complaint about Newseum beside the price was that it was hard to find the stairwells in order to move from floor to floor.  Otherwise, there is much to see and INTERACT with at the Newseum, another educational opportunity to add to so many others in DC.

Eating

Washington boasts every nationality of cuisine and every level of service from extremely elegant and expensive to street corner convenient.  One unusual eatery is a bistro named Busboys and Poets on 14th just above U Street, NW.  The bistro is large and flanked on one side by a bookstore and on the other by a theater.  The political ethos of the restaurant is progressive to radical  -- it's a place where you can find left-wing reading material, performancesand people.  Most unusual is that the bistro's clientele is mixed -- by race, age, nationality and professional background.

Busboys and Poets was created by Andy Shallal, an Iraq-born activist involved with many issues but most especially Middle East peace.  He has close ties with both the Jewish and Arab communities.  Shallal also knows how to design a neighborhood restaurant that people can afford.  Entrees range from $10 - $20 and wine is served in a glass goblet large
enough to keep you sipping through an entire meal.  Best of all, the food is creative and varied.  Riding success, Shallal has created a second Busboys and Poets in Virginia.  My only complaint was -- again -- noise -- too many people in too large a space.

Transportation and Art

On my second day in Washington, I discovered a new way to get around town -- the Circulator Bus. The new, bright red bus travels to places that were previously difficult to reach by bus such as Georgetown and Union Station.  It costs only $1 compared to $1.35 for regular bus fare and accepts transfers. Thought up by a young advisor to Mayor Fenty, the Circular belongs in every American city.  I took the Circulator to Georgetown on a day when the neighborhood's boutique shops were putting on a sidewalk sale.  I found extremely expensive surplus stock on tables lining Wisconsin Avenue.  How could I resist $5 silk ties?

My last cultural stop was a visit to the National Museum for Women in the Arts where I was exposed to two fierce and exciting women artists. While I had seen Loise Nevelson's work before, I had never understood her technique. The woman collected wood scraps and other materials from garbage dumps and transformed them into stunning Cubist scultpures. She was a total original.

I also encountered Paula Rego, a Portuguese painter who workedmost of her life in London and is well-known in Europe but has never before had a museum show in the U.S.  Her painting can be surreal or figurative.  Its subjects are often conventional figures transformed into haunting monsters. Whether she is depicting Jane Eyre, Disney's Fantasia or Peter Pan, Rego's women are embattled and dangerous.  She gave me a whole new way to look at women.

My cultural highs came to an end when I headed off to a meeting of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. 

I'll share some stories from that experience the next time I blog.

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