A new feature page here at Renee’s Revelings!  I had been talking to Travel Man about posting some of his travel quips and stories.  He meets a lot of interesting people in all regions of the country and is starting to travel internationally too.  He always has an interesting story or two that he tells me while he’s on the road or after he gets home.  I’ll be sharing some of my favorites here for your reading pleasure.

Date: August 16, 2012                     Location: Ontario, California

Finally!!!  Travel Man’s suitcase was delivered to the house today, intact, and with all the contents in place. Yay!  He has his Leatherman of 15 years back.  His steel toed work boots have returned, and almost his entire wardrobe of work clothes.  Getting this bag back however, was not an easy feat.  It took numerous phone calls to the airline by Travel Man to keep them looking for his suitcase, and then getting it flown back to our hometown airport.  After being “on hold” more times than I can count the suitcase was back home where it belonged.  Oh and the airline has a service that delivered the bag directly to the house.  I did confirm that this was the first time in all his years of travel, that Travel Man’s suitcase went missing and was gone for a week!  Luckily it wasn’t the suitcase we were using for our vacation trip to New York City.  That’s a travel story for another post.

Date: August 10, 2012                     Location: Toronto, Canada

As of this writing Travel Man has been in Toronto since Friday night, and his suitcase still has not arrived.  It is lost in suitcase world somewhere between O’Hare International in Chicago and Toronto.  This is what we know so far.  His suitcase made it from Ontario, California to Chicago, IL. The tracking information with the airline (which shall remain nameless at this time)  has no information available on his bag.  However, the airline graciously allows you to go and buy yourself some clothes (up to $100) while they try and locate your suitcase.  My question is if the don’t find Travel Man’s suitcase will he have to carry his new clothes home in a grocery bag?  In over 25 years of travel this may be the first time Travel Man has to file a claim with the airline for an entire suticase lost, gone, vanished!  We’ll keep you posted, check back soon for updates.

Date: July 26, 2012                     Location: Mira Loma, CA – The Home Front

I just wanted to share with everyone how my Travel Man “jinxed” himself.  He was home all last week and wasn’t scheduled to go anywhere as of the 25th.  He had told the twenty-somethings how nice it was going to be,  to be home for more than a few days, and that he was feeling good about getting a few things done around the house.  On the morning of the 26th, which was a Camp Grandma day, his new schedule came out.  We had just told Evan we were taking him to Knott’s Berry Farm on Friday, and now Travel Man thought he would be leaving for Mexico City on the same day.  As it turned out we both got to take Evan on Friday, and Travel Man left for Mexico City on Sunday.  It was just a friendly reminder that we have to be careful planning ahead, as Travel Man can be scheduled out at a moments notice.  That’s his job.

Date: July 13, 2012                  Location: Ontario International Airport

This is the day Travel Man and I have been anxiously awaiting.  He is finally coming home!  After 22 days on the road, and a 24 hour delay in Brasalia due to a missed connection, Travel Man arrived!!  This wonderful picture was taken by our oldest son, Bryan, who went to the airport with Evan and myself.

This picture sums up the emotion of the day.  So relieved for Tom to be home.  I am always a little extra nervous when he has to travel out of the country.  And he’s so glad to be back home in the USA.  Now it’s time for some of Travel Man’s favorite dinners.  First up is homemade spaghetti, garlic bread and a big glass of cold milk.  He hasn’t had much milk in the past few weeks.  Glad he’s home for a while.  Next assignment – Mexico City.

Date: July 2, 2012               Location: Lucas do Rio Verde, Brazil – Population, 28,000

As you may or may not know Travel Man is on a work  assignment in the little town of Lucas do Rio Verde, Brazil.  He has been there since the 25th of June and will return home this coming week.  On Monday of this week I got the funniest text message from my travel guy so I though I would share it with all of you.

Message from Travel Man-

Can you go to Home Depot and get some charcoal for me?  Two 13.9 pound bags for $6.88.   4th of July sale.  There is a limit of 5.  (as I’m reading this I am laughing out loud)

I Reply- How do you know about the sale?

He replies- I have my sources.  ( remember he’s 3000 miles away from home and I’m thinking how does he know this!!)

My reply- very funny spindle!

Travel Mans’ response- Weber forum, I like to keep up on these things. (meaning the weber grill forum for those of you who don’t grill too often)

Charcoal @ Home Depot.

I was impressed to say the least.  Travel Man has been working long, long hours, and I never would have expected him to be watching his grilling forum.  Just made me laugh, and totally made my day.  These are the quirky kinds of things that can happen when you are married to a Road Warrior like mine.  Life’s always an adventure.

Location: Cherokee, Iowa – Population 5,253 – Airport of choice- Omaha, Nebraska

Funny item #1 – Tom was staying at a local hotel, and asked the front desk clerk where he could go for the nearest mall.  He likes to mall walk when he travels.  The clerk gave him directions to the mall, and then told him if he didn’t want to go that far since it was Thursday night he could just go downtown.  She told him, “It’s Late ‘Til 8 night.  All of the downtown shops stay open ’til 8 tonight.”  Tom thanked her and went downtown, and had a great time.  It’s funny how living in the hustle and bustle of Southern California we are so removed from “small town” America.

Funny Item #2 – Tom was talking to the same front desk clerk on a different day.  They were talking about the weather, and the heat, and then Tom said, “I wish I had remembered my bathing suit.”  The clerk says to Tom, “It’s no problem.  We have loaner bathing suits!”.  Ewwwww – that does not conjure up good thoughts for me. It did make me laugh quite hysterically!  Needless to say Tom did not take her up on the offer.

Funny Item #3 – Tom and a co-worker were eating at one of the Mom & Pop diner’s in town.  They finished their meal, asked for the check, and handed the waitress their credit cards to pay the bill.  The owner said, “Just a minute, I’ll be right back.”  He had to run across the street with their credit cards to his brother’s store to run the transactions.  Too funny.  I suppose that’s another case of “small town” America for you.  It’s a funny story for Tom to add to his story-telling arsenal.

Hope you enjoyed the trip to Iowa.  I find it hilarious that Tom came away with 3 funny little stories from “small town” America.   We’ll be back again soon with some stories from Brazil!