[marianne e cornett]

Well, we finally returned on Wed. 1-2-08 in the wee early morning hours. Boy, there is SO much to tell and so much you should know,that you will love,if you still have a trip ahead of you. I spent two days in a half sleep, trying to get used to the 4 degree temps here in WI. Then I had to work on Fri. Sat. and Sun. were spent with family and friends celebrating the Christmas we missed with them. So here I am finally after many chores and errands, ready to start the report. We begin with FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21st: DH Paul and I decided to leave an hour early at 11 AM as we could not stand the wait any longer. Drove to Mayfair Mall in Milwaukee to eat lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Waited about 10 minutes for a table. Had our usual favorite the chicken salad sandwich and soup and caesar salad plus tropical ice tea followed by the Dulce de Leche cheesecake. It's what we come here for! Great food, fun atmosphere and excellent service and a fair price. Can't beat it! Went to the mall to shop around at Barnes and Noble for a bit and then hit the road again to go to the Best Western Airport to drop off our car for long term parking. Then hopped on their shuttle to the airport, did curbside check-in, and ZOOM we were thru security and at our gate with . . . well . . . a couple of hours to spare. So sat and relaxed and read and people watched until it was boarding time. Hmmmmm! We are not boarding yet. What gives? No planes can land due to fog that rolled in off of Lake Michigan. So we have no equipment and no take off! So I hop right up and got to the counter and book us on the next flight out . . . 7AM in the morning but still non-stop. Our sons are happy they will not have to meet us so early in the morning as planned BUT we have lost a night at the CSR. After I booked the air, called the Best Western for a room, called CSR directly. They were so nice. They cancelled that one night and said there would be no charge for the late cancellation. And saved our room for the next day. Retrieved our luggage and caught the shuttle back. Found our room . . . but it was freezing so turned up the heat and went downstairs to the restaurant for some dinner. This is where it gets ugly! It took our waitress 2 hours to finally take our order, serve our appetizer, sandwich and salad, and bring us a bill. And she only had 3 tables. Even asked the manager twice for our waitress. Both times HE disappeared and she never came. Needless to say there was NO tip. And I always tip 20% even when the waiters have some problems as I have had 3 sons who worked their way thru college as waiters. Now I was tired, disgruntled and cold. Ready for a nice warm bed and my jammies. TA-DA! The room temp was 48 degrees! The heater was blowing cold air and NO the air was not on. I turned off the entire unit and called down to the desk. Someone would be right up to fix it. An hour later still no one has come but now it is 11PM and we are exhausted and we must get up and leave by 5AM tomorrow. Call again! Girl answers, "What do you want me to do? Leave my customers standing at the desk and come take care of you?" Well, I didn't say it but we are customers too. Someone will come up when they have time. 1/2 hour later we are in bed under the covers warming up a little as it was a down comforter when they call and ask if they can move us to another room. Forget It! We are going to sleep. Meanwhile the TV is on mute and Closed Captioning neither of which will turn off no matter what we do. Give up and go to sleep and CROSS THIS HOTEL OFF OF OUR LIST. DO NOT STAY AT THE BEST WESTERN AIRPORT HOTEL IN MILWAUKEE, WI UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! Honestly, very little bad ever happens to us when we travel so we considered ourselves quite lucky and were rolling with the punches quite nicely until we hit this hotel. Oh, well, it can only get better from here! Next installment: SAT. 12-22-07!