Thread Drift

[Pax]

Made me LOL, NY!

[Blueberry]

I just need to complain for a minute...

This was supposed to be a relaxing summer off for me. I re-start class in a week, and this is the last major break I get until graduation (3 years). On his birthday in late June, DH got hit by a car while riding his bike. Hotel valet driver's fault. The hotel isn't covering it (despite saying they would) - the car owner (who wasn't driving) has to. He will be fine, but has just now stopped having to use bandages. So - I've been dealing with insurance companies. We went to Ireland for a vacation (complete with healing road rash). We had the worst flights ever coming home (10+ hour delay in NYC) AND TSA did some major damage to our Bike Fridays (broken light, shifters, brakes, paint damage, case damage, cable damage). We have filed claims with the airlines, our travel insurance (definitely not worth it - I do not recommend Allianz), and MasterCard. Hopefully someone will pay - but honestly I'm not holding out much hope right now. As soon as we got home, I got sick (gee - could have had something to do with sitting in airports for 10+ hours). It's my last week off, and I can't rest (to get well) or do anything productive - because someone is currently angle grinding out the grout in our master bath - because someone before us skim coated it and it was flaking off. UGH!!

(I do realize I'm lucky and my DH is OK, I have a nice house, and I got to travel at all - but this is kinda pushing all my buttons with stressors at the moment).

Not to mention - I can't even go for a walk to get away. Our current heat index is 116. Boo.

[Crankin]

Wow, Blueberry, that is enough to complain about! I am sorry about it all. Can you go for a swim somewhere, in a lake or pool?

[Aromig]

I'm sorry Blueberry. That's a lot to deal with all at once, especially when you know you need to save up energy to start new classes.

[ny biker]

Oh yes, when things pile on and on it can be frustrating. Can you find someplace with air conditioning so you can at least get out of the house -- like an out-of-the-way corner of a public library or a matinee movie?

[emily_in_nc]

Man o man, so sorry to hear about all this coming one thing right after another, Blueberry! I would be frustrated too!

I'm especially sorry to hear about your Bike Fridays being damaged by TSA. We shipped ours to and from Mexico with nary a glitch, and both times our suitcases were inspected by TSA. We felt very, very fortunate. There's just no excuse for that whatsoever!

I hope that you will get some reimbursement, but you will have to be very persistent. Whatta royal pain when you don't need yet another thing on your plate.

I hope your DH's healing will continue -- sounds like it has been a long haul for him.

Virtual hugs to you... <3

[Blueberry]

Thanks everybody! I feel a bit better today (less congested, less fever, and less headache) - so better able to handle the non-stop racket from upstairs. Sadly no swimming - between me being sick and not wanting to share and most of our local pools being closed because of cryptosporidium (a nasty GI bug that normal concentrations of chlorine won't touch). I might try getting on the bike trainer very gently a bit later. I'm sort of stuck babysitting the contractors (at least when DH has to be out). I might try to take the laptop to a library later (if DH is willing to be home) to get some online training I have to do for a research project done.

As far as the bikes - hopefully someone will do something. MasterCard seems as though it might be our best bet - but they are trying to require a claim with our homeowners insurance (which won't cover this). Things are somewhat held up by the fact that we are waiting on an estimate while our local shop is on vacation for the week. We can't file the TSA claim until we have estimates (in fact, we have to have 2 estimates to repair everything) - not sure where we'll even get a second estimate for some of this.

I honestly never want to travel by air again - I'm sure I will (it will be necessary) - but the coming home kind of wrecked what was otherwise an awesome vacation. There's absolutely no excuse for the damage, but there's nothing to stop it either. TSA is virtually immune from having to pay for the damage they cause as best I can tell - there's no incentive for them to be careful. As we were leaving Dublin there was an announcement that the flight was delayed because they were sending 2 suitcases back to be x-rayed again. At that point, we had a really bad feeling. Dublin is weird - TSA has an outpost. We had to clear EU security and then clear TSA. The EU people laughed at me when I took my shoes off - the TSA people barked at me to do it more quickly. It was pretty obvious that my case was hurriedly closed (water bottle just jammed in, tools not put back up, bike padding not put back, handlebars jammed in, etc.). DH's they just ripped the straps instead of releasing the buckle.

We had to change airports because of the flight delay - and so had to re-go through security at JFK. They dumped by bag for a "very dangerous sharp object" - euro coins. Yep - very dangerous, those. Much more dangerous than leaving my passport, wallet, and personal effects out where they could be stolen (unprotected) and where I wasn't allowed to reach them. Then I got groped without them bothering to actually wait for consent. *sigh* Wish I were convinced that any of their $hit makes us any safer.

[Pax]

Right there with you on air travel, Blueberry. You basically sign away all your rights and any property you bring with you when you fly. Since I'm tall and have short hair (and am often called "sir") I had a male TSA agent run his hands down my chest until he hit boobs, he stepped back and called a female agent over to finish, but no apology, no oops. I hate flying with a passion.