Journey to America – My Recent Trip to Boston, MA. Part 1

As our flight started to descend into Logan Boston International Airport, I could see water all around us. Then I saw something so cool – hundreds of little white boats doted the bay and rivers all along the coast. What was neat though, is that most of them were anchored out in the water and no one was on them – as that’s where they are kept. We landed at the airport, and then plowed on through the craziness of one of America’s busiest airports. Like two disoriented amigos, we made our way through the crowds of people with our carry-ons (we packed light) and hopped on a shuttle bus to transport us to the other side of the airport to the rental car center.

*Important tip: there are no indicators in the Boston airport shuttles that tell you what stop you are currently at (many of the buses and subways in Toronto have light indicators notifying you of your current stop), so many people were asking “Where stop are we at now?” and multiple times people departed the bus when it stopped only to hop right back on when they realized this wasn’t the right stop.

We finally arrived at the rental car center and to our surprise there was a massive line up of about forty people waiting in line at the Budget car rentals line alone (there were about six other car rental lines besides this). It was 6:30 p.m., and I knew that we weren’t going anywhere fast. There were only four workers on the desks, and the line barely moved after ten minutes. It felt like I was on set for the filming of Zootopia at the motor registration building with the Sloths as the workers.

I mentioned to Josh about checking out the parking garage location (where there was a Budget rental counter there) because a sign stated Fast-Track there (which you availed of if you were a member). We honestly didn’t know if we qualified, but what the heck – if I stayed in the line of misery while Josh attempted the other location, we didn’t have much to lose – only our dinner reservation (which we had already called the restaurant and asked them to move the time).

Then B#1 happened. As I stayed in the lineup with a bunch of folks grumbling about the shortage of staff and our hungry bellies, Josh had approached the other counter where you pick up your rental car. He asked one worker at the counter if he could check-in there, to which the guy told him that this wasn’t the right spot for that, and that it was actually the line I was already standing in.

Then something really cool happened.

He asked if the line was really busy and backed up, to which Josh replied that it was. Then the guy exclaimed, “You know what, I’m going to help you out. Your a nice guy. Your a nice guy man.” He then turned to his female colleague and repeated, “He’s a nice guy. I’m going to help him out.”

He checked in my brother right there.

Not knowing any of this yet, I quietly stood in the line of eternity with all the other subjects, listening to more complaints and grumbles of the quality of service. Then my phone rang, “Bro, I got the keys man. Come on down.”

No way… I then said in my heart, Thank you, God, for your favour!

I opened up the line-strap thing so I could exit the line (]I was about half-way through the line at the point of the call). As I was hooking the strap back onto the post, the dude behind me( which the main complainer) said, “Giving up, hey?”

“No man, my brother just got out rental at the other place,” I replied.

The guy looked at me as if I had ten heads, as if I had some supernatural ability to make rental agreements work.

As I entered the garage, we found our rental SUV and out we went into the wide world of Boston. We zoomed to the restaurant, ate a delicious burger platter while overlooking the bay full of ferries and yachts travelling back and forth, and then we turned on the “HIGHWAY OF DOOM.”

Yes, I have labelled it that, as we were in four lane traffic, on a Friday evening in Boston.

ZOOM!

ZOOM!

ZOOM!

It was some of the craziest driving I have experienced (besides Montreal in 2013), as people cut in and out of traffic like their lives depended on it. I was quite happy that my brother was driving as he is a great driver and pretty experienced during in nutso traffic.

After driving for an hour in this traffic flow, we finally arrived at our low-key inn in Somerset, MA (about 15 minutes from Battleship Cove). Our stay at the inn wasn’t the best, as the pictures online certainly did not match the quality of the room we were in. The tiles were cracked in the bathroom, with the door handle coming off, and the shower head high enough for Bilbo Baggins of the Shire. The pillows were like half that of a normal pillow, and we both had a pretty crappy sleep.

The following morning, after a pitiful sleep of a few hours, I suggested that we find a new spot to stay for our next night.

Then B#2 happened.

I went searching online and found another hotel. There was one room at a Holiday Inn Express just on the outskirts of Fall River, as all the other hotels were booked solid. Even though it was over our budget, we decided that our sleep was more important – so I went down to the front desk at our current location, told the worker that we weren’t impressed or satisfied with our experience, and he gave back our money for the next night and the deposit – I then booked the other hotel.

Favour all over us.

The awesome blessings were just beginning…

Tune in for Part 2 of this blog, releasing this Friday.

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