The One Thing I Never Intended to Do in Denver

OFFICIAL UPDATE: I am officially stranded in Denver. All flights today and tomorrow are cancelled. I was smart enough to stay on top of the situation and call as soon as I saw my flight cancelled this morning, so I was able to get a seat on Friday late afternoon. So if all goes well, I'll still be home for Christmas.

This is the most snow I have ever seen in my life. I mean, I've seen in already on the ground, but I've never seen this much coming out of the sky. I went to train my class (what there was of it) this morning and we ended early since the second wave of students didn't come to work. It was just as well since I barely made it back to the hotel. The rental car is not exactly equipped for this kind of driving, so I kind of slid sideways into the hotel parking lot (it was the only way in without stalling) then the car got stuck and I couldn't move it another inch. So I left it all sideway hanging out in part of the entry way to the hotel. Then I got to drag my luggage across the parking lot and back inside.

Damn it - I didn't even bring boots!

I'm in Denver training this week and scheduled to fly out tonight. Of course, those of you who watch the weather channel already know where this post is going, so I'm only going to ask once - who sent the blizzard?

The one thing I never intended to do in Denver was STAY. I kind of have a family of my own and Christmas is this weekend. Depending on which news cast you're listening to, they're calling for 9-15 inches of snow. Keep your fingers crossed that I get home before Christmas, especially since I'm sure all the flights are already full with holiday travelers.

Do the airlines schedule additional flights if they have to cancel? Or do they just do that fake apology and leave you stranded? I'm thinking it's probably the latter, but I'd love, just once, to be pleasantly surprised by something.

Even worse, I have to check out of the hotel this morning and hope if my flight gets cancelled that I can find a room again for tonight. So for all you out there that talk about the "romantic" life of business travel, please take note. There is no romantic side of business travel. And for those of you who think it's so cool that I get to "see" all these different places, I have one thing to say: The inside of a Hampton Inn pretty much looks the same everywhere.

The reality is, it's a job. I don't travel then do nothing all day - I train classes. Once class is over I have as much time as any other job before it gets dark and is too late to do anything. And these days it's dark right after I leave class. Not to mention that I just worked all day and I have to work again tomorrow. Spending all night pursuing tourist pursuits is not a good way to excel at your job and my obligation is to the clients who are paying me to be there, not to my own interest in seeing the sights.

The up side is that one day I hope to have enough points (and enough vacation time) to actually take a real vacation again - for free! But for now, I'll just enjoy the snowfall in Denver. You don't get to see this very often in Texas, and as I'm here anyway, I figure I might as well enjoy it.

So how's the weather where you are?