Up at 4.20am and into the shower. Crept around so as not to wake anyone. Wrote some Valentine cards and left them out for M. Cab came at 5am.
Rocket-powered speeds to LAX (made it in 20 mins) - bugger all else on the roads at this time other than other cabs trying to break the sound barrier.
Arrived at LAX and presented my booking sheet to the nice lady...
No booking. Pardon? No booking. Ah, um.... Let me check....Nope, no booking.
So, I rang AmEx travel on the East Coast and asked them what was going on. "Oh, sorry, I can't talk to you sir, you're not the card holder."
"Yes, fair enough", I said, "but please bear in mind that it's 5.45am and I'm standing at a check in counter at LAX and the card holder is in Central America and can't come to the phone right now. I understand that you have procedures for protecting the cardholder and yourself but I politely request that you find a work around and tell me what the hell's going on."
"One moment, please", said the little voice on the other end...
"It looks like this reservation was just that, a reservation, and as it wasn't paid for, it expired two days ago." Great. Fine. Marvelous.
What am I going to do? If I go home, there's going to be a shoot with 200 extras somewhere in Panama without a leading man! Can't let that happen....
OK, what other flights are there? My new best friend, Blanca M, the lovely lady from Continental checks her screen and types furiously trying to find some flights. "Well, the flight you were meant to be on is full but there's a direct flight at 12.15am tomorrow with Copa Airlines."
I can get you on Delta which goes at 7.20am today and that goes to Panama via Atlanta. You'll get in at 10pm tonight.
Perfect, let's book it. $1708.50! Holy shit. Call M, no answer (it's 6am). OK, let's put it on the Visa card. BIG mistake....
Get on the flight. 737 in coach. But, a three seat on my own. Good.
Girl leans over to me and asks if I'm going to sleep during the flight and when I told her that I wasn't, she asked if she could stretch out and sleep. I said sure.
Just before takeoff there was another free pair of seats next to the window so I moved there. Little lady slid over after takeoff and gave me a poem on a card to say thanks. Ahhhh.
Nice flight, no worries. Movie was 'Yours Mine & Ours' which I saw on the way back from Atlanta, coincidentally on a Delta plane.
Coming into Atlanta and my ears goes absolutely mental with the pressure change. Really really painful. Landed and called M. Told her where I was, what had happened and that I paid for the ticket on the Visa card. She FLIPS out. Seems that 1708 will take us over our agreed credit limit and cancels out our 0% finance charge moving it to 28% on the total (which is rather a lot, actually).
Shit. When I get into the terminal, I call Continental to give them another card to pay for the ticket. No dice. Can't refund it. No way on earth. This is very bad news. So, I called Sonia who kicks into action. She calls Rachel and basically everyone wades into the fray. Long story short... they won't refund the first half of the charge but they will do the return leg. Bastards. No amount of pleading change their mind. Emails and calls make no difference.
Feeling very low, I get onto the plane to Panama. Things are looking up as I sit in First class. Rather nice. Waitress service the whole way and huge, huge chairs. Just what I need. Take off 40 minutes late.
Movie is 'Walk the Line'. Seen it. Read.
Approach to Panama and my ears give me a total nightmare AGAIN.
OK, I'm deaf, in pain, tired and my missus hates me. Great.
Land and thru immigration. Looks like the whole airport is getting a makeover. Gearing up for busy season, I expect.
Out the door and Rachel is waiting for me. Outside the terminal building and the heat hits me. Oh my god, it's SO hot, I cannot tell you. I get into a large bus and we're the only people on it! Chat til we get back to the Hotel along dark freeways and alongside huge swathes of black water.
Wow, this hotel is NICE. Very very upscale. The bar off the lobby is tres exclusive and lots of beautiful people are sipping cocktails.
Upto my room and I'm almost bowled over as to how nice it is. Art on the walls. Etched glass separating the basin area from the bedroom and the bathroom behind yet another glass wall. Wow.
12.30am. I'm wired. Change and go out to the Casino just to have a look. It's across a skywalk from the hotel so I don't have to exit the air/con world. Table games and electronic boards. Video roulette as well as real roulette, real poker and blackjack.
Come back to my room.
No work tomorrow, thank god. Feeling lousy. zzzzzzz