Another Raincheck

While in North Carolina I drank Dom Perignon (the '85, god rest its soul) and ate pickled eggs. TOGETHER.

See what I mean? Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

Unlike RC and moonpies (I love RC, by the way, but moonpies? no) I do not think this pairing is indicative of native tastes. It seems to me that eating a pickled egg while drinking champagne is more like the drunkard's canary in the coal mine. Does this sound like a good idea? Really, it does? Then PUT DOWN THE MAGNUM AND GO STRAIGHT TO BED.

For the record, never tell a Southerner that you love absolutely anything pickled and will be more than willing to ingest whatever pickled product they put before you. Apparently Down South this can be interpreted FAR BEYOND the realm of what God ever intended to be put into brine.

No offense meant, of course. The South is inhabited by a weird and sugary people but their collective heritage is one that I am (mostly) proud to also claim as my own. We might not pickle snakes and eat them, but both sides of my family got their asses kicked by the Yankees during the Aggression and if you rummage in my drawers long enough you will find that I am a member of both the D.A.R. and the D.A.C. Some girls turn to heroin to upset their mothers during their teen years... I joined elitist (largely elderly) social clubs and simultaneously started attending Catholic mass. My mom almost flipped the fuck out, I swear. Thank heavens I discovered bars my junior year of high school, that's all I can say.

On a completely unrelated topic, do you ever have those moments when you find yourself making kind, almost saintly, offers? And then they get accepted and you think oh damn it, now I have to actually fly to DC and take care of my sister-in-law and her new baby next week?

Steve's sister had a little boy on Friday, via c-section. The world's longest induction (four days) ate up a chunk of her husband's vacation time and she is going to be home alone before she is even allowed to drive again. It all sounded so pitiful that I impulsively offered to fly out and be her housekeeper/nanny/chauffeur for a few days. I told her to think about it. She just called about an hour ago and said, yes, please.

So now rather than tell you stories as promised I have to see if I can actually keep both my kidneys and get an airplane ticket for a week from tomorrow. It does not look promising. $700 to fly to Baltimore! BALTIMORE! Good grief.

Hey! Have you guys ever used Hotwire? Is it any good? Do they divert you through Peru first? Seriously, if you have any insight on cheap travel let me know, would you?   

More later.

Comments

[Donna]

Holy crap. You're a saint.

[Donnie]

Julia,
I've used Hotwire. It was great; no problems. They just like to play with your head ("What airline will we use? When will you leave? OoOoooOooo" [supposed to sound spooky there]) first.
You can determine how many stops you want, etc. I always found they had the lowest fares.
Good luck,
-D.
PS:
Thanks for the email clearing up the quote and letting me get some sleep. I know exactly the episode you're talking about. "Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos."
:)

[Hanna]

Ditto on instant sainthood for you.

ATA from Mpls through Midway is supposed to be cheap if you don't mind changing planes.

[MistressMary]

You're an angel from heaven. What's up with "busy" sister and step-mom? Sheesh.

Hey, tell Steve that lick-lick-dab-dab is better than sleep-sleep-snore-snore.

[VHMPrincess]

Independence Air!

[jen]

I've used Hotwire for a couple of trips and all was well. The departure times were actually okay and once I had a direct flight.

I don't know that I'd be up for paying $700 toward my own sainthood.

[AmyinMotown]

You're in a Northworst hub, as are we: they are annoying but get up early tomorrow and check their website, nwa.com, for their Wednesday sales of any unsold seats. And if they route you through Detroit come say hi.

[penelope]

try sidestep.com to get rate comparisons - hotwire works fine as well - you just can't pick the times -

[elisabeth]

JULIA!! A WEEK FROM TOMORROW?? You have to call her and tell you her can't go because you will be busy bowling.

[Lisa S (& Riley, Bella, & Adelyn)]

Ummmm, I had three C-Sections...sort of not THAT long ago...and I was wondering...while you're in Maryland and all...maybe you could swing by Philly and be my housekeeper/nanny/chauffeur for a few days?

Thanks.

[stephanie]

I've used hotwire before- it's fine, though not always the cheapest.

[shannon]

Yeah, I've done priceline. Not bad. Not great, but not $700 to Baltimore.

[Angie]

ebay to buy people's credits on airlines. doesn't make the flight any cheaper, but you can save some money.

[Boulder]

Have you tried qixo.com? It does a comparison like sidestep, but without installing anything. Just a thought. Too bad you are so fricking far north because SW airlines would be great to get to Baltimore or points south.... Can you get to Chicago inexpensively? If so, that may be a thought.

Pickled EGGS? um, not so much, but thanks.

[Kinneret]

Have you looked at Southwest and Delta? Both have relatively cheap fares for quick travel. Southwest definitely flies into BWI, it's their main hub.
Good luck!

[LizM]

You are out of your motherf*cking mind, you a*shole!
Your sil should've understood that she's not supposed to actually take you up on the offer, just appreciate that you offered!! I have to say that if she really wants to you come out, the least she can do is pay for your godd*mn ticket. Excust the language but WTF?
The fact that you're actually looking for flights is reason enough to canonize you.
:-)

[Jenni]

That's a BIG EEEEEEWWWWW!!!!! You deserve some kind of award for agreeing to go help out you SIL at a moments notice!

Jenni

[Kristen]

I'd say check out Southwest, they tend to be reasonable.

[Steph]

A friend of mine just got a great deal using cheapseats.com. Good Luck.

[Emily Drew]

Well, hell Julia, if you're going to be in Baltimore, just swing on up to Pittsburgh to say hi. It's only four hours away. :)

[Krissy]

Look, on behalf of the mothers out there who are overwhelmed and miserable and have nobody to help, I'd like to seriously thank you on behalf of the cosmos. You're doing a wonderful thing and if Karma exists you should be set for the next ten years or so.

This is an incredibly nice thing to do. I hope you find a nice, cheap flight.

We're flying from Chicago Midway to Washington Dulles this weekend for $156 round-trip on a special United (Ted) promotional fare. They may have something affordable.

[Scully]

You're a wonderful woman or the pickled egg pickled your brain.

[Debe]

Try www.site59.com that's what we used to get to Seatlle when my dad died, way cheaper than "bereavement" fares!

[Amber]

I live about 7 miles from BWI, and since you are in the mood to be extremely helpful...would you swing by here & see what you can do about a 20 month old that just stopped listening and started throwing HUGE fits ALL OF THE TIME?

Thanks.

[patricia]

ummm. What the fuck were you thinking?

Hotwire is great. I've gotten non-stop flights on United. I've also gotten flights that connect on America West, but connection and stops were reasonable. Not 4 hour delays. The other thing you can do is see what's being offered on hotwire and then bid about 10-15% under on Priceline. They have the same (or almost the same) stock. But hotwire's business model is to make a consistent profit/cover their costs per ticket, while Priceline's bidding model allows them to make more money on some people and a slight loss on others. At least this was all true about a year ago when I was using them a lot.

[Jenn]

Hey what's wrong with Baltimore? :)

[libby]

Northwest has a flight from msp to bwi for $440 (depart 4/27 return 5/4). Not great but not $700. You ARE a saint for doing this, you know.

[Cathy]

Hi Julia,

Does it make sense to you what happened with the PGD at SG? I mean, did they explain why there was a 10% error rate? I don't understand that. Either you see 4 normal chromosomes there, or you see some weird combo. How does a messed up cell manage to look normal?

Cathy

[chris]

You act like we're all just sitting around waiting to hear about your trip. Well we are, damn it, so update already.

[andrea]

well,i think this page is horrible.i don't like this page.

BYE BYE !!!!

ANDREA

[andrea]

ITS OK