Now for the dramatic conclusion to our Boston trilogy. Early, like 3:00 AM early, on Tuesday the
27th after a rewarding day and night of bar hopping we got a text saying our return flight to Baltimore had been cancelled. A quick check revealed that there was no Southwest return flight available until Saturday the 31st. It was at that time that we first became aware of the great Southwest meltdown. A check of the news and a little social networking revealed the true magnitude of the collapse. There were no available flights home on any other airline and Amtrak tickets were no cheaper than $470 a seat. Moving on to plan C, I began frantically searching bus options. I finally hit upon FlixBus with two available seats for Baltimore at $183 total…Bingo!
On the morning of the 28th we walked the few blocks down to Boston’s South Station to catch our FlixBus. South Station, a real challenge to negotiate, is a dizzying multi-story labyrinth of train tracks and bus boarding gates. We finally found our boarding gate and made ourselves comfortable for the short wait. Our seats were in the last LixBusrow next to the bathroom, which was both a good and a bad thing . The bus was full and the two drivers, we switched drivers in midtown NYC, made not a single announcement the entire journey from Boston to Baltimore. During the 9-1/2 ride with stops in the Boston suburbs, NYC, the Biden Welcome Center in Delaware, and finally Baltimore City, the drivers did not make a peep. We didn’t know what was the next stop or how long we would be stopped. Eagle eye Yolie spotted a hot dog cart outside Madison Square Garden in NYC, so I jumped up and made a bee line to get us some lunch. Thank goodness I haven’t lost all my foot speed as I was able to spent for the dogs and dive back on the bus just before the door closed. On the other hand, we thought we’d spend just a couple minutes unloading passengers at the Biden Welcome Center, but we spent a good 20 minutes there. Wish we knew that would happen. But regular FlixBus riders seemed to know the drill as they leisurely strolled back on board with their Popeyes chicken wafting throughout the bus. Boo hoo we love Popeyes chicken.
We finally arrived in Baltimore City and were so glad to see our daughter waiting for us in the pitch dark parking lot. She graciously gave us a ride to our car, which was still at BWI airport, and we headed home. We were exhausted and hungry but we survived the Southwest meltdown. It’s been 4 weeks since our trip, Southwest has been more than gracious in refunding our airfare, paying for the bus tickets and some incidentals, and giving us 25,000 points each for our troubles. We are very loyal to Southwest and will be back traveling with them in the near future. On the other hand we’re still battling with our credit card company and FlixBus to resolve a double billing issue. We’ll see how long it takes for them to resolve the matter to our satisfaction . Thank you for hanging with us through this trilogy. See you next time and happy old tavern hunting!
James
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