This morning we ate breakfast with Mom and Dad, put some of the last things that needed to be stored into their attic, and took pictures before taking off. We were on time and ready for the day.
When we arrived in Grand Prairie, TX to the car shipping facility, we were thirty minutes early for our appointment. After some initial confusion about where to park the car, we figured ourselves out and signed the sign-in sheet. We sat in the lobby and noticed that there were lots of people who were out in the parking lot cleaning out their cars. Ben had cleaned all of the personal effects out of the car, but our luggage was still in there. It was 11:15, so he had me stay in the lobby in case they called us while he went and grabbed the luggage.
After Ben brought the luggage in, he noticed that there were people being sent out to their cars with tape and rags to clean all the dust off the dashboards and sediment out of their carpets. There hadn’t been any mention in the approximately 30 pages of paperwork he completed before the appointment time that said the car needed to be detailed. The outside of the car also had to be spotless. We devised a plan where I would go get the car cleaned and Ben would stay to do the paperwork. I took the car to a well-rated car wash that specialized in cleaning cars for shipping. I paid for a basic clean and vacuum and the technician told me that he’d try to get the car ready to ship, but with the dog hair in the back, he wasn’t sure if it would pass inspection. He vacuumed and vacuumed until the owner of the place came to him and said he was taking too long.
20 minutes of vacuuming later, it was noon and Ben was finally being seen for his paperwork. He texted me to see where I was and the car was just being put through the wash. Another 15 minutes later, as I was getting ready to leave, Ben said we had lost our spot in line because cleaning the car had taken too long. The lady at the shipping office assured us that we would still be able to make our 2:15 flight, she would bump us up the list once I returned with the car ready for inspection.
I got back around 12:30 and put our names back on the list. If there was any list bumping, it took about an hour and a half to do. At 1:30, I was sure we would miss our flight and I hadn’t eaten since about 8:00 that morning. My mood was sour and I was about stressed and annoyed as I could be. Finally they called Ben’s name and I waited impatiently with our baggage as he talked to the clerk. When he stood up, paperwork in hand, I threw on my backpack, ready for escape.
“Order food,” Ben said, “We have to wait about 40 minutes until someone can inspect the car.” At this point, we were MOST DEFINITELY missing our flight. I ordered food from a Church’s Chicken that was two miles away (to be delivered in 50 minutes, wtf?), and called American Airlines to reschedule our flight. After being placed on hold and offered a call-back when a call center person was available to reschedule our flight, of course the food and call-back arrived at the same time.
I was on the phone with the ticket officer and trying to wrangle the Postmates delivery guy who was super uncomfortable with delivering to the vehicle shipping office. I was on hold, then not on hold while trying to collect the food and hand it off to Ben, and wrangling airline options while (of course) still waiting for our car to be inspected. After a thirty minute phone call, we had a new flight for tomorrow at 8:30 in the morning. Of course, this meant I would eat the cost of the $120 hotel room I had booked in Baltimore and would have to book another hotel room in Dallas, but we had a way to get to BWI.
I ate my room temperature fast food — which despite being lukewarm, brightened my mood considerably — and called Mom and Joy and explained the changes. Of course, we wouldn’t be able to meet Dave and Joy in Baltimore any more, since they were planning to leave about thirty minutes before our plane arrived in Baltimore. After the phone call, we waited. I read my book. Finally around 3:00, the inspector came to see the car. By 3:45, we could finally leave. We booked a hotel with shuttle service to the airport, took a long Lyft from Grand Prairie to Euless and are finally safely ensconced in our hotel room with a way to get to where we need to be for our flight to Germany tomorrow.
Was it an annoying day? Absolutely. But we are going to have Thai food for dinner and take a swim in the hotel pool, so it can’t be all bad.
Whatever Comes Next 