Red Room Chronicles

The grace of heaven has lead me to the Residence Inn Saddle River. Sounds dramatic I know but what a day!

I started by driving from Woodstock, NY to Newark Airport. Once at the airport I was on and then off a flight to Atlanta on Continental Airlines.

It became evident around 4:30PM that no one was going anywhere so I got in line with the masses to try to get a refund on my flight. After waiting a frustratingly long period of time on line I decided to make a dash for the Continental President’s Club at Terminal A in Newark Airport. I’m not a member but the $45 day access fee was worth it to save a heck of a lot of time. The agent there spent almost an hour on hold waiting for them to finish my refund.

In the meantime I got some coffee and set up at a workstation. I canceled my reservation at the Courtyard Executive Park in Atlanta.

At around 7:30PM I decided to get moving. The airport monorail system was closed at Newark. Luckily my parking lot was near Terminal A. The short walk got pretty long while trying to walk down and unshoveled walkway in the midst of an ice storm. I departed the parking lot at 8PM.

I had decided to drive part of the way home and get a hotel. The roads are beyond treacherous right now. Snow and freezing rain are everywhere. As a result the 1 hour drive from Newark Airport to Saddle River was a white knuckle affair. My knuckles turning white gripping the steering wheel while knuckleheads in four wheel drive vehicles and tractor trailers careened through inches of ice and snow.

There are quite a few small hotels along Route 17 in New Jersey. Most of them are probably less expensive than the $103 AAA rate here at the Residence Inn. I knew what I would get here though. The theme of this evening is peace of mind. Sometimes the peace of mind of a brand is a really good thing. And my wife and mom have the peace of mind knowing that I’m off the road and safe for the evening.