"I buy airline tickets"

painting by Felix Pasilis, Tucson AZ

7:02 am, Thursday, November 8, 2007
"I buy airline tickets"

I like this time of soon after dawn in Tucson. I think I actually first opened my eyes to the first loud bird chorus of after dawn. Now my yard is still in shadow, but I can see the top of the tree to the west is lit up, so the sun must be part way above the mountains to the east. It could be all the way risen but very low on the horizon. By November the location of the sun in the sky is so different from mid-summer it seems to me, like long slants away. There seems to be some birdie chorus or business going on to the west of me. O there is more light in my yard now, and the sky seems bluer. I know what it is! it is a bird twittering. That is why he sounds busy. It is a nice twitter. Very melodic.

Bill’s kid sister Mary invited him to spend a few days around Christmas with her and her family, and since Bill wanted to spend Christmas with Mary in San Diego he is delighted to be invited. He was there in June, when their mom went to Heaven, and he had a nice time being the guest of his sister. She and her husband were wonderful to him. And he liked the warmth and closeness of family, of having a sister and brother-in-law devoted to him. And getting to spend time with them and getting to know them. And liking them so much. They are both such nice people, and so warm and loving to Bill. His sister loves him very much, and he loves his sister.

This summer one of the summer lifeguards told me she and her mom are going to New York City for two weeks, and she is so happy because she went on internet and found round-trip ticket for 100 dollars. Her mom grew up on Long Island and she is going to see all her family back there. And her daughter, my lifeguard friend, is so excited about seeing all her cousins and spending two weeks in New York. I never got to hear about her trip to New York because by the time she returned, the school kids in Tucson were back in school, swim pools were no longer on summer schedule, and the summer lifeguards were no longer there, just the regular staff was there. But it had stuck in my mind that she found round-trip ticket to NYC for $100, and it had cost us close to $400 when Bill went to be with his sister in June. San Diego is such a short hop from Tucson.

So yesterday, when there was no one in the pool but me and Bill, and I had more or less finished my swim, when Samantha was in the lifeguard stand-- Samantha is the head lifeguard at the Fort Lowell Pool and whenever I have a question about anything I usually ask Samantha, she knows everything-- I treaded water and called up to her “Bill is going to San Diego for Christmas to be with his sister, how do I find a cheap ticket?” She explained to me that the earlier you make the reservation the cheaper the ticket, and if I had made the reservation last month, it would be even cheaper than it is now. Which I was vaguely aware of, but not fully. I knew I had to make reservations early because Bill was leaving two days before Christmas and coming home two days after Christmas, and the flights would be filled up, that is busy travel time. Sam explained to me that I go to Travel Zoo.com, and they have all the best sites on there like Expedia. The girl who had gone to New York had told me she found a new site on the internet which had the great deal she got. I wasn’t clear what any of this meant. When Sam said “Travel Zoo has many of the best” and mentioned Expedia and another one, I said “are those airlines?” I travel so infrequently I thought maybe a bunch of new airlines had started up with these unusual names. I said “how come they have these cheap tickets?” and she said “maybe there are group tickets and cancellations.” I said “what do I do when I get to Travel Zoo?” She said “just type in when you want to leave and return.”

So I thanked Samantha and memorized TravelZoo.com in my mind. And in the car going home I told Bill everything Samantha said. “Do you want to try it when we get home?” I asked. “No, let’s do it tomorrow” he said. “Well I might start to research it when I get home” I said. “Good” he said, “thank you.” “You have to decide how long you will be there and which day you will leave and return.” I had been thinking 4 days would be good. Bill said “4 days would be perfect, I’ll leave two days before Christmas and come home two days afterwards.” “I would like to make the reservations early” I told him, “because it is busy time, and Jim said he’d drive you to airport and pick you up, but he goes to sleep at 8 PM, so he asked for you to come at 7 pm. I want to find a flight which returns home then. He said he can take you to airport anytime in morning.”

So when I got home I did click on Travel Zoo and put in departure and return dates. And they suggested two links. The one Sam had mentioned Expedia and another one. But to my shock all their flights meant either one or two stops on the way, with very long waits, one was 4 hours, one was 8 hours. It seemed so illogical to me, San Diego is only one hour away from Tucson by air. The stops were either in Los Angeles or Phoenix. I couldn’t believe my eyes, and tried a few times, but I kept getting the same answers.

So finally I gave up on it, and just clicked on Southwest Airlines, the one I had called when he went to San Diego in June. The prices were much cheaper, it does make a huge difference that it is 7 weeks ahead of time, instead of two days ahead of time. It is about half the price. I looked at the flights the day he wanted to leave and day he wanted to return and found the ones which were best for Jim driving him to airport and picking him up. And then I called Bill in to look at what I found.

We both agreed they were the right ones for us. He’d return to Tucson at 5:15 on Thursday after Christmas, and even tho Jim didn’t want to drive in rush hour traffic, the one after it was midnight, so it was the best one. And the one arriving in San Diego, arrives at 11 am Sunday, which Bill said is perfect for his sister picking him up. It also seemed like a good time for Jim in the morning when he had to take Bill, altho now I realize Bill will have to be at the airport 2 hours ahead because Christmas is busy at airport.

“Should I just call Southwest Airlines and buy the tickets?” I asked Bill, “put them on my credit card?” “Yes” he said, “yes.” “Don’t you want to call your sister first and find out if this is fine with her?” “No” he said, “this fits into her schedule perfectly, just go ahead and call.”

“OK” I said. And I dialed the number. The announcement said it would be 3 minute wait to get to talk to a real person and I should have my credit card out to expedite things, but I was so nervous about doing it, I didn’t want to get out my hand bag. It was in the chair just behind me, on top of all the clothes.

The woman who answered said she was Kathie, and I told her everything, about Bill going to San Diego to be with his sister, and how we have to work out the times, because Jim is driving him and picking him up, and his sister is doing the same in San Diego. And she said “it is nice to have family at both ends," and I said “yes.” Altho Jim is actually a good friend, very good friend. On my computer screen there were 4 choices for tickets, from most expensive to cheapest. Cheapest said “internet.” Altho the two cheapest for return, said “not available.” But Kathie had different things up on her screen, so I just asked for the cheapest she can give me.

We did the ticket for Bill going to San Diego, she came up with same flight as I did. And she asked if I want a return ticket too. Which for some reason made me burst out laughing. The idea that you could have such an effortless divorce. Buy a ticket for your husband to go to San Diego over Christmas to be with his sister! And then buy no return ticket! And he stays in San Diego and that is that! When you’ve had a long marriage and there have been so many ups and downs, you have given serious consideration to divorce during some of the downs. And it is so immensely complicated what is involved. Fixing up the house! Selling the house! Making a new start somewhere else! Where do you make your new start? Dividing up the money from selling the house! Is he going to cooperate in all this? It’s incredible all the complexity, it is mind boggling. It is always such a relief when all the treacherous waters have been navigated thru, to discover you are not going to divorce after all, things are back on track, and you will just go right on living in your house with your husband in Tucson, and don’t have to go thru any of these difficult long complex hard labor.

Which is why I totally cracked up when Kathie asked “would you like a return ticket too?” “Yes” I said, “I'll keep my husband, I want him back.” And then I giggled again and said “altho there have been moments.…”

I cracked up again when Kathie asked me if Bill would like to sign up for Frequent Flyer. I said “we took the airplane with the dog when we moved from New York City to Tucson, and then he flew to San Diego to be with his sister this past June when his mom went to Heaven, and now he is flying out for Christmas, and that is the only times he has gone in an airplane in his whole life, I don’t think he is a frequent flyer, altho my cousin Betty started out as stewardess so someone in my family has flown a lot.”

Kathie was very sympathetic about Bill's mom, and she didn’t find anything wrong about Bill flying so infrequently, “if you like where you are, stay there, that is fine.” And she guessed that we like Tucson better than New York. “You must enjoy the warm winters” she said, “altho maybe it was hard for you to sleep at first, you were used to all that noise at night.”

I said “we arrived in the middle of the night, we didn’t even know what Tucson looked like, we had never been here, but our apartment was behind the car dealership, where they let all the guard dogs out at night, they barked all night, and it really saved us, it was so reassuring hearing that barking all night, that familiar sound of dogs barking, it helped me settle down, and I bet my dog loved it too.”

It is true what I told Kathie. We were serenaded by dogs barking our whole first night in Tucson and it did help us, and when we woke up we were serenaded by the birds. And in the light of day we saw what Tucson looked like, and we were floored, it was so beautiful. Opening our front door on second floor, stepping out on the balcony ramp, and looking up at those beautiful mountains, it took my breath away. I could not believe my good fortune that I was here. No one had told me Tucson had mountains.

And it was one of those beautiful days you only get once a year in New York City, but which in Tucson turns out to be every day.

Kathie worked it all out for me. I was so happy and I went to get my Credit Card. “My purse is right behind me” I said to Kathie, which for some reason made her giggle. It was only after she took down all my numbers on my Credit Card, and she was about to give me Bill’s confirmation number, when it occurred to me to ask “how much did it all come to?” “180” she said. “That is great” I said, “you did good, it is half what it cost for him to fly out in June.”

She asked if I wanted her to email me all the information, and I said “yes, please,” so she took down my email address. And then she tried to explain to me how I do the boarding pass on my computer the day before. She said “do it! even if your printer is not working.” I said “I don’t know if my printer is working, it ran out of ink two years ago, and I haven’t replaced the ink cartridge yet.” She explained about doing the boarding pass, but it was too much information for me to absorb. I thought, I’ll figure it out with Mary, Bill’s sister, the day before he leaves, she is very good with computer. Kathie said “do it! even if it doesn’t print out for you, because it means they know he is coming and are expecting him.” So then I thanked Kathie for all her excellent help and got off the phone and told Bill his tickets are bought and he said “great!”