I left my Twitter friends hanging last night. If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know that my travel luck has been…poor…lately. Ever since February, when Delta lost my bags twice in two weeks, things have gone crazy when I try to travel. This past trip, on my way to Cincinnati, my flight was canceled, they were going to keep me in the airport for ten hours before the next flight (after generously giving me a FIVE DOLLAR meal voucher) so I opted for rerouting to Dayton. But not before running into my ex-husband in an airport in a city in which neither of us live. Travel karma, I haz it.

So on the way back, I was bemoaning that I was once again facing bad travel mojo, as my flight was delayed an hour and a half (and once again US Airways wouldn’t let me on an earlier flight due to checked luggage. I HATE that policy), putting me home at midnight. I was grateful the flight wasn’t canceled (since it was the last flight out of the day) and thought that once I boarded, my travel woes were done. Not so.

The flight from Philadelphia to my town is not a long one, maybe 40 minutes. It was late at night, I was tired and a little irritable and so I didn’t appreciate it when the flight attendant spent the entire flight standing in the aisle talking to the woman in front of me. In fact, she spent so long talking to her that she did none of the final landing announcements (turn off portable electronics, put your seat backs and tray tables up, make sure your seatbelts are fastened) and didn’t take her seat until we were almost touching down. Ergh. So I was mildly irritated by that, but having her stand there did put m in the unique position of seeing the absolute panic on her face when a large thump sounded on our side of the plane. And then hear her say “what was that?” before she hurried to the front to call the pilots. I know, reassuring, right?

Turns out we hit a bird. Thankfully, it didn’t get into one of the engines, but it still scared the hell out of the flight attendant and a few of the passengers.

So as I’m sitting on the plane, I’m just thankful my bad travel mojo hasn’t resulted in death for anything but the poor bird. And as we land, I’m glad for the end of my travel adventures. Ahahahaha…how wrong I was.

Since we landed so late (not quite midnight) I called a taxi to come and get me rather than having Josh drag Brianna out of bed. I called from the plane to expedite the process, and only had to wait a few minutes after I got my luggage for the taxi to arrive. Well, it turns out another man had also called a taxi, so the driver decided to take both of us. Fine with me. Of course, as we’re leaving the airport, we see another taxi–from another company–coming our way. Um, yeah, turns out that guy had gotten into my taxi. He’d called a different company. No big deal, the town isn’t that big, we’ll deliver him to his hotel, The Country Inn and Suites, and I’ll get home within minutes. Riiiight. The taxi driver starts telling us a story of one of the drivers being mugged just minutes earlier, and then was telling me another was shot at several nights before. We talk about the crime in town for about 15 minutes while driving to…The Comfort Inn. When we pull up, I mention that the gentleman is staying at the Country Inn and Suites and off we go again, the taxi driver saying “oh okay, of course, I know where that is…” as he takes us ten minutes later…to the Marriott Residence Inn. At this point, I’m pulling out my iPhone to get the address (because I really don’t remember ever seeing the Country Inn and Suites so I can’t recall where it’s at) and the driver calls the hotel. Turns out the hotel is actually pretty close to where we started at the airport. So our third stop is, thank God, the actual Country Inn and Suites. We took that poor man on a tour of the area that he didn’t need to see–and he had to be up for meetings in five hours.

By this time, I’ve been traveling around with the taxi driver for almost 45 minutes, and am just giggling to myself because 1) my husband is asleep and if that driver had decided to drive me to Baltimore, I’m not sure he’d have noticed until morning and 2) I think the driver (Tony) was kind of glad for the company because he talked my ear off. and 3) at one point he’d pulled out a taser stick and demo’d it for me and the other passenger, and then told us of the gun he carried under his seat (we were talking about how dangerous it was to be a taxi driver). Is it weird that I wasn’t nervous about this adventure at all? At the end of it all, he got me home, yes he did charge me full fare for a trip from the airport (there’s no meter, it’s a flat fee) and he gave me his card so I could ask for him by name next time I needed a taxi. And you know what? I probably will. Because I’m crazy like that.

So, who wants to travel with me?

I’m leaving town again. Yes, I did just get back from three weeks of traveling to North Dakota, Virginia and Florida. But I’m still leaving again. Thursday we’re off for a fun trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where Josh and I are meeting up with some of his longtime friends for a long weekend at a beach house there. We’re dropping Brianna off to spend some time with my in-laws while Josh and I have an “adults only” weekend. It should be fun. From there, I’m flying to NYC where I’m going to be giving a short presentation at Digital Book 2009 on the topic of digital publishing and the role of DRM (anyone want to wager a guess what my main message will be?)

I’ll be flying home on Wednesday, so my time away will be less than a week, but when you add in all my other recent traveling, it does seem like a lot, doesn’t it? That’s how conference season usually feels, though. Like you’re always heading to or catching up from traveling.

So next week I’ll be editing and packing. This past week I dedicated to clearing out my inbox, because it was getting out of control. I’ve also been reading submissions and will continue to do that through the weekend.

And unrelated to anything, yesteday afternoon I took the day off to have a date afternoon with Josh (it’s significantly cheaper for us to keep Brianna in daycare for an afternoon than it is to hire a babysitter to come in at night!). We went to lunch and did some shopping, but the main reason for our date was to go see Wolverine. Yes, I did enjoy my glimpses of Hugh Jackman unclothed, but I also enjoyed learning more about the story behind Wolverine. I’m told true fans of the comics aren’t that happy with the movie, because it’s not true to the comic story, but I liked it. It was exactly what I’d expected.

(That would be yesterday) I went to Epcot and had a great time. It’s interesting to do things on your own, because you have time to notice different things, things you wouldn’t otherwise notice because you’re too wrapped up in your companions or your schedules. But because I was flying solo, I was much more observant. And I also talked to a lot more people. Random strangers, from women and men to children, shop workers, cast and crew members, and others. It did help that it rained off and on all day, plus it was Monday, so it wasn’t overly crowded or busy. I think people had more time to talk.

I had a great time, it was nice to just go and wander. I spent most of my day in the World Showcase. And I Twittered some of my journey. Actually, Twittering it made me feel like I wasn’t there totally by myself, because I had “someone” to share what I saw/did with. It made my day even more enjoyable and entertaining.

Anyway, I’m not going to recap my day, but instead am going to post my Twitter account so you can read along and check out the pictures if you’re curious.

No big plans this morning/early afternoon. My conference duties start tomorrow late afternoon and then dinner plans!

Click through to read Epcot adventures and see pics

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I’ve left the lovely WRW retreat (fabulous, fun, welcoming chapter) and am now in the BWI airport getting ready to fly off to Orlando for a week at RT. I’m looking forward to seeing all my authors and industry friends there and getting some good conversation done.

One thing about these conferences and retreats is that they always inspire me with ideas for great blog posts. Which I almost never end up writing because I forget by the time I have time and energy to write them. I should start jotting notes or something.

Also, just have to say that I did not totally suck at Romance Jeopardy, a yearly event at the retreat. Whew!

Some of you might know the reference if you’re fans of the National Lampoon movies with Chevy Chase. You know the ones, where things always seem to go wrong on their trips? I swear, that’s my travel mojo lately, with lost luggage, plane delays and now, on our epic drive from Maryland to North Dakota…our truck breaking down.

Our trip started out fine, we got on the road by 7am and by 8am Brianna had only asked “are we at the hotel yet” twice (and again a bazillion times after that throughout the day). But about 5 or 6 hours into our trip, we had a noise. I was the first one to hear it, Josh thought it was just the road but…sadly no. It was an unwelcome kind of grinding noise. That came and went. With no discernible rhyme or reason. We stopped, we looked. Josh is pretty car savvy but he was stumped. We drove in circles. We braked and accelerated. We turned the 4 wheel drive on and off. We called my father-in-law who’s also car savvy. He was stumped. The noise came, it went, it got worse, it got better. We drove through rain and then snow and then rain and then perfectly clear skies. We went through Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. We decided to drive past Chicago so we wouldn’t have to battle rush hour traffic in the morning. Josh said we were stopping at 10pm (Eastern time) no matter where we were, to get Brianna out of the car.

So we got to Chicago around 9:30 Eastern time (Chicago is central but we were still operating on Eastern time). I Twittered how pretty Chicago is at night and how much I love Chicago (I really do, it’s one of my favorite towns) and that I wished we were visiting. We drove through Chicago and…oh boy. The noise got worse. The car started pulling and then…things got worse, and worse. As much as I love Chicago, I also know there are some parts you just don’t want to be in at any time of day, but especially night. That makes knowing where to stop when you HAVE NO CHOICE really hard. I spotted a Walgreens/Best Buy just off the interstate and ordered (yes, I really did) Josh to take that exit so we could “break down” in that parking lot. And that’s exactly what we did. Right around 10pm (please see Josh’s statement in above paragraph. I blame him. Even if I was the one who Twittered I wished I was visiting Chicago.)

This is where we’re lucky. 1) we made it to somewhere well lit, out of harms way and 2) with a bathroom (important when you have a toddler.) 3) we have AAA so we knew we had options. 4) Aren’t on a timetable so had time to make decisions 5) got an incredibly awesome taxi driver. Having traveled the world and gotten a variety of taxi drivers, some just plain horrible and unfriendly, the fact that we got such a helpful, kind taxi driver in the middle of Chicago was truly a blessing. 6) were able to leave the truck in the parking lot overnight until 7)the ONLY Ford service center within miles that we just happened to be very close to opened in the morning and 8)we found a hotel room at a clean, comfortable hotel (albeit one that had no working heat in our room and a car alarm that went off outside FIVE times–but who was counting–at 5am. And they did switch us to a new room at 6am when we asked. A very nice, warm room with a view of Borders:P)

But our luck doesn’t stop there. Josh was able to get back and meet the AAA tow truck by about 8am and get the truck to the service center. The tow truck driver also mentioned how it was the only Ford service center in miles because everything else has shut down. In fact, it’s only a mile from our hotel so Josh was able to walk back. It’s now 10:20 and they called about 40 minutes ago to let us know the problem was already diagnosed and should be fixed by 1pm. They didn’t have the part, but found one an hour and a half away and had already sent someone for it. Wow! And it’s all only costing just over $500. I say “only” because we were expecting it to be something much more expensive and at least $1000, plus possibly more hotel and car rental costs, with a longer fix time. In the end, it turns out the right rear emergency brake lost a shoe that kept getting wedged/unwedged and finally wedged, causing the bad noises and undriveability.

So hopefully we’ll be back on our way sometime this afternoon. We won’t make it today (tomorrow sometime), but honestly, there are so many things that could have gone so much more horribly wrong that I’m okay with all this. I really think in the end we have been lucky with how it’s all worked out. And hey! I’m in Chicago. In a really cute, nice part of town. With a Lush store only a mile away. Clearly my guardian angel knows how to make me smile after all.

We got back from Las Vegas late last night. 13.5 hours from hotel to my driveway. We were…exhausted. Unfortunately, there’s no rest for the wicked. My FIL is due to pull up at any minute. He’s on his way north and so he’s going to spend the night here…oh, and he’s dropping my daughter off. Wheee! It’s been ten days since I’ve seen her. I’m ready for her to be home. But that did mean I needed to de-fur and declutter my house/spare bedroom today. Send. Maid.

I have a lot of pictures to share. I know many of you don’t follow my Twitter updates, so you weren’t able to share in any of my Vegas adventures, but I had a great time!

In the meantime, now that I’m home, my goal for myself was to start working out again. I’m ready to load the Nano so I can get started. Um. Soon. Heh. Right before I left, I realized I still had two 2009 Aussie calendars to give away. One is Australia Bronzed Boys and one is Australia Bronzed girls. I think I’d better give those away before the year is over, don’t you think?

In the comments, tell me what song(s) you either use for working out yourself or think would make good workout music. Help me load my Nano with everything from dance, to rap, rock, country and 80s music. Then tell me if you want to be entered for the Bronzed Boys, Bronzed Girls or both. Sorry, I can only ship within the U.S. because Las Vegas took all my money If you’re out of the U.S. and want to enter, I’ll give you a Samhain download instead.

Contest will close…Friday. You’ll need to come back and check to see if you’re a winner. If you don’t contact me with your mailing details by next Tuesday, I’ll draw a new winner. Fair enough?

So those of you who don’t follow my Twitter probably didn’t get to hear the adventure of my travels yesterday. The adventure of 2 delayed flights, being rerouted to a new flight through Salt Lake City and how Delta lost our bags. Yes, they managed to lose my luggage for the second time this month. As we speak, one of our bags is supposedly here in Vegas (though not in our possession yet) and the other is in, wait for it…Portland, Oregon. No, I don’t know how that happens. Especially since both were supposedly in New York last night and on their way here. Apparently, Portland is on the way? Then, to top it off, after we finally got here (late) last night, Hertz had our car reservation but no car with which to fill that reservation. Genius. But, you know, there’s really nothing you can do except keep a sense of humor about the whole thing and carry on.

We did walk around the casino last night (of course) and I watched the craps tables for awhile. I don’t understand craps at all so this morning we’re going to attend a craps lesson. Because I need something other than slots or blackjack where I can lose my money. Although with our run of bad travel luck yesterday (I mean, seriously, not much went right. Well. The planes didn’t crash. That’s something), but with our bad travel luck, I figure we’re due to win some major money here in Las Vegas. Right? Heh.

Since I woke up at 6am LV time, we’re going to grab the chance to have some breakfast, tour the casino and then go get some craps lessons. We have no other plans for the day. Jaci and Charlie should be here by lunchtime and then it’s off to the tequila bar in the hotel! (okay, not really, but it sounds like something wild and exciting).

Wish me good gambling luck! Oh, and pray our bag makes it from Portland.

Of my travel schedule for 2008! Can I get a round of cheers? Have you been as exhausted reading my travel schedule as I’ve been actually doing it? Yeah, I thought so.

As you read this, I’m on my way to Williamsburg, Virginia for a conference. This year, it’s a combination of two RWA chapters, the Chesapeake and Virginia chapters. I went to the Chesapeake chapter’s conference last year, and they were so warm and welcoming, I really enjoyed them, so I’m looking forward to seeing them again, and meeting the Virginia members!

The good news is that Josh and Brianna are traveling with me, so we can do some sightseeing in the Williamsburg area (I hear there’s a winery!) after I fill my obligations to the conference. I’m glad they’re going to be with me. And I’m very glad that after this, I don’t have anything scheduled until February 2009 , when I’ll be speaking at the O’Reilly Tools of Change conference with Kassia Krozser of Booksquare and Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. Yeah, kind of intimidating company, eh? I have no idea how that happened.

But for one more weekend this year, I’m hitting the road, living in a hotel and eating restaurant food. I’ll be back next week, see you then!

Don’t tell anyone, but today I spent my first day in Seattle holed up in my hotel room with room service, watching a good portion of the first seas of Chuck.

I will be leaving my room in a few hours, as I’m meeting with a local chapter (which is why I’m here early), but in the meantime, it’s been kind of nice loafing about. I even used my flight time for work (reading submissions) so I feel a little naughty taking a partial day to do not much of anything. I should have at least gone out to see the sites…a mall…something. But actually, I’m okay with this. Me and Chuck. He’s kind of cute. Don’t tell my husband. Plus, Adam Baldwin as the cold-blooded agent? Hello! I swear they typecast him from his Firefly days. It’s perfect!

So, yeah, traveling. Now you know.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here in Australia, and appropriately enough, I ended my trip with a visit to “Oz” tonight by way of Wicked, which is showing here in Melbourne. I loved it. LOVED it. More on that later, when I get home.

I’m for bed shortly, and we leave for a long trip home in the morning. What amounts to two full days of travel for me before I get there, and at least half of that on a plane. Blech. But I can hardly stand how excited I am to see Josh and Brianna on Tuesday.

Once I hit the States, I’ll be able to Twitter via my phone again, so look for any updates there. See you in a few days, once I’ve recovered!