The Economy Parking Shuttle: Don't Do It!!

I had a 6:55am flight to Indianapolis this morning, and thought everything was going really well when I found a parking spot quickly and made it to the shuttle stop just as a bus was pulling up. Off to a perfect start!

So I got on the economy lot shuttle and was standing in the middle of the bus with about 12 other people, hanging onto a pole to steady my balance. Very typical of public transportation -- no big deal. The bus was packed, everybody was on, but we didn't move. Over the microphone comes a snarly voice: "We ain't goin nowheres til everybody finds a seat." Everybody on the bus kinda looked at each other, and wondered exactly where we were supposed to sit since it was obvious the bus was completely full. Some man yelled back "There are no seats." Snarlypuss responded: "Yuh huh there are. I'm looking right at 'em." At this point, we either had to sit down or get off the bus because she wasn't moving. Luckily I acted quickly before things got too desperate. This old man rolled up on one cheek and made room for half of my cheek in his seat. Good enough, I thought. Some of the other people were sitting on the floor. Alas, everyone was finally seated and off we went! Flying up the aisles of the economy lot. Flying around the corner. Oh my God! My cheek flew off the seat and I was hanging with each arm grabbing a pole, stretched across the center of the bus (in my dress) like a human safety net. Somebody's golf clubs fell on the girl sitting on the floor next to me. It was like a scene out of one of those "bus gone crazy" movies.

The bus driver finally slowed down and I was able to hoist myself back into a respectable position. People got on, so now the bus was even more crowded. I just couldn't take the chance of sliding off my seat again, so I found a hiding space behind the luggage compartment. I figured if I crouched down out of sight it would be okay. How would she see me there? Well, she did. Snarlypuss got on the mic again: "Girl in the red coat, find a seat or we ain't goin nowheres." Shit! Now what was I going to do? My old "seat" was gone. I had to sit on some woman's lap, like a little (big) kid. How embarrassing. It only would have been worse if she started burping me. And all of this before 6am!!!

Luckily, we only had 2 more stops before we got to the first terminal and people got off. Of course I was the very last terminal, but by then all of my new best friends were off the bus.

Now I remember why I usually cough up the $36/day for the short term garage.