Me after going through the security checkpoint

Labor Day weekend, Nadia and I headed to Atlanta, Ga., to catch the Pep Boys 500 NASCAR race. We flew out Saturday morning. It was my first time flying, and everything went pretty much how I expected it to.

Up to this trip, I’d never had a reason to be on a plane. My dad always insisted on driving to vacation destinations, and I never went overseas, so I had no reason to fly. We probably could have driven to Atlanta, but Nadia wanted to get me on a relatively short flight, being that it was my first time.

Things went smoothly; there weren’t very many travellers Saturday morning, so getting through security and on the plane didn’t take long at all. Nadia wanted Starbucks, so we stopped at the one near our terminal. The lady behind us had never been to a Starbucks. She thought we were going to steal her drink. (Sigh.)

I ordered a Vanilla Bean Frappuccino Blended Creme and Nadia ordered a Pumpkin Spice Latte. The woman behind us ordered a Caramel Frappuccino Blended Coffee. The coffee barista called the drinks out as she put them on the counter, as they all do. I got mine first, then Nadia got hers.

The woman behind us whispered to her friend that she didn’t want us to take her drink. I never heard her accuse Nadia of taking her drink, but she may have based on her friend’s response. Her friend told her that Nadia didn’t take her drink because Nadia’s came in a hot cup (white) not a clear one, which her Frappuccino would come in. Her friend also implied that it was silly to think someone would steal a drink since, as she put it, “people want what they ordered, they’re not concerned with your drink.”

The lady (who had never been) looked, and presumably, felt pretty stupid. I was tempted to grab her drink when it came up, look at her and say, “Do something!,” then walk away with it. I didn’t partly because Nadia would have been embarrassed. Also, I don’t think I have the guts to do something like that. I wish I did.   

Anyhow, the flight was smooth and relatively quick, at about an hour and 20 minutes. Our arrival was also smooth and uneventful. It couldn’t have been timed better, actually, because as we approached baggage claim, our bag came out of the chute.

We made our way to the Thrifty Car Rental desk to pick up our reserved car. We were met by a somewhat disinterested attendant who informed us that they didn’t have any cars. “But we made a reservation,” I thought. I felt like I was in that Seinfeld episode:

I actually debated reacting the same way, but the woman behind the counter didn’t look like she watched the show, and Nadia doesn’t watch it, so she wouldn’t have gotten it either. It would have been a wasted joke.

Anyway, the reservation apparently didn’t matter, as they didn’t have any cars and they told us to go to another rental company. But they said they would reimburse us for the difference between the price we were quoted, and the price we would pay for the rental from another company.

Update: I completely forgot that Thrifty actually had two reservations in our name, but didn’t keep either one, making it much worse. You mess up and assign us two cars, then you don’t even hold one of them for us?!?!?! Thanks for reminding me, Nadia.

Only one (Avis) of the other five or six carriers had cars.  They also had the longest line. We waited for a few minutes. The line didn’t move. The attendant made an announcement that we could also head to their base location, located on the airport campus (3 minutes away by shuttle) and rent a car there.
 
We arrived at Avis, and Nadia booked over to the counter while I got the bag. It’s a good thing she did, as she was first in line. Shortly after we got there, a long line started to form, so it was good we got there when we did. We ended up with a white, four-door Chevy Cobalt.

We drove to our hotel, a Country Inn & Suites that was about 5 minutes from the airport. Check-in was quick, and the room was nice. Everything looked relatively new, and the room was spacious. The bathroom was not built logically, though. The door opened inward, and there was less than an inch clearance between the door and the toilet, which faced the door.
 
This meant that I couldn’t leave the door open and use the toilet at the same time. (Not that I would, but to not even have the option…) It also meant that if the door was completely open, I couldn’t get out of the shower. I would have preferred that the door opened outward, but whatever.

Once we got settled in, we then had to figure out where we were going to go.