Things no one tells you.

Pittsburgh is beautiful. Normal might be nice.

I took my first business trip in almost ten years Monday through Tuesday. I used to travel constantly for work, driving around PA, flying to Chicago, traveling to New York or Oakland or wherever. But between teaching public school, COVID (during which I worked as a Case Investigator for PA and loved being able to help our most vulnerable citizens during that terrible time) and working for entirely remote entities, I just haven’t had much occasion to travel.

Lessons learned:

1. Get TSA Pre-check. I have not seen such long lines in security in years.

2. Drip pricing is so real! (Hi Professor Friedman!) Horror story to follow.

3. Stay open to possibilities.

I flew from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh on an airline that I won’t name because I don’t want them to send terrorists to my house (there are plenty of terrorists in the neighborhood who would be happy to kill me for $15 an hour as it is), but it’s not American and it flies Philly to Pittsburgh very cheaply. Too cheaply.

I couldn’t get the mobile app on my phone for reasons having to do with a new iPhone and a forgotten password, so I called customer service to find out how I could check in and get my boarding passes on a computer. You can’t. If you don’t check in with the mobile app, you have to check in at the airport. For a fee.

The fee to get my boarding pass at the airport was $25. I asked for a receipt. The agent said there would be a fee for that. $5. Yes, I had to pay a $5 fee to get a printed receipt. No, there was no option for a free email receipt. Yes, I asked.

This airline that is not American Airlines but flies to Pittsburgh from Philadelphia very cheaply also charges you to take a carry on bag. Not a big one, even the kind that would fit under the seat. If you have anything larger than a purse, you have to pay to bring it on board.

You’re supposed to pay for it on the mobile app. If you don’t, it costs more at the airport.

Guess how much it cost to carry on my nice new leopard print bag?

$99!!!

At this point the ticket for American would have been cheaper.

My flight was at 6:05 am and I’m always early to the airport anyway, but the customer service person had told me to get to the airport 2-3 hours early to check in at the ticket counter. So I left my house just after 3:30 am, got to the airport at 4. Got in the security line at 4:20 after getting my boarding pass at the counter.

The wait time listed for security when I got in the line was 48 minutes. There were literally hundreds of people in line. As we stood in line the wait time listed kept getting longer. Eventually it was 58 minutes.

People in line were talking about how they would miss their flights. This is clearly part of the airline’s strategy. People miss their flights, then they will charge them for a new one or to rebook. I’m guessing they radically overbook their flights assuming people won’t make it.

I got through security just in time to stop and grab a Diet Pepsi and then get on the plane.

So that was the bad part.

Then the good part started!

A coworker picked me up from the airport. She grew up near Pittsburgh and went to college there, so she gave me a nice tour as we went to our first meeting.

PITTSBURGH IS BEAUTIFUL!

No one tells you that. Hills, rivers, fluffy trees. Pretty bridges. Plentiful water. Tall elegant buildings.

The people are really, really nice.

Okay, I’m comparing it to Philly, but I’ve loved Philly for almost thirty years until recently. I never thought of people in Philly as rude, just direct.

But Pittsburgh - people say hello to you and chat like it’s the South! Service people are friendly.

There was a funny thing I heard when I thanked people for doing their jobs. For example, I thanked the TSA guy for being so nice about explaining to me that the system really is different in every airport, even from machine to machine. Some places you take out your laptop, some you don’t. I thanked him for being nice, and he said, “Well, I have nothing better to do with my day!” with a big smile.

I had a fantastic series of work meetings, got to work with some of my favorite people, give presentations and do the things I’m good at, and actually felt like myself again. I’m working on an article about what makes you feel like you. Getting up in front of people and speaking makes me feel like me. Organizing makes me feel like me. Being friendly with strangers makes me feel like me.

I sat looking out my hotel window yesterday at the beautiful river, bridges and trains. Hills, fluffy trees, happy normal looking people.

It seemed so far from my neighborhood, where “Hamas” is literally carved into a sidewalk near my apartment and there are posters up that call for throwing bricks through windows of locally owned cafes to “fight gentrification.”

I learned from a coworker that the pro-Palestinian encampment at Pitt, which had been calling for Hillel to be banned from campus (and these idiots say they aren’t antisemitic? They’re okay with Jews who just don’t identify as Jews. They are indeed antisemites. Obviously.) was talked into peacefully leaving their camp by the mayor and city council. Wow. Actual leaders actually leading!

The beautiful apartment building across from our Pittsburgh office that is way fancier than I need has one bedrooms for more than $1000 per month what one of those would cost in the Philly suburbs.

I couldn’t help looking up apartments. There are tons of nice ones in cute neighborhoods that go for under $1000. That’s about what I can afford.

I’ve known I needed to get out of here for awhile. It’s so much worse now. I don’t want to post the scrawlings on buildings and sidewalks I see because I don’t want to upset my worldwide family even more than we are already upset. But it’s awful.

Also, I need to get to somewhere where my mom and I can live close together and be safe. She’s almost 80 and I am her only child. My mom and my fluffy daughter (and my mom’s fluffy daughter and son, Georgia and Elliot) are my top priorities.

My health and sanity are up there too. My health has suffered in the last year, and it’s hard to climb out when you feel constantly afraid. I’ve joined an awesome gym near my new office, and that helps, but I still find that I stress eat. I felt so relaxed in Pittsburgh, even though I was super “on” for work. I tend to be more relaxed when I’m on for work though - it’s being alone too much that stresses me out.

Now who knows… I’m not making plans fast. I could work at my current job there, but I’m not going anywhere without my mommy who is currently committed to her responsibilities. But we may make plans to make plans.

Pittsburgh seems normal and sane and nice. Philadelphia has grown into something I no longer recognize. Sad, but true.

And if people were to ask why I came there, I could say, “I came here for the waters.” No one could reply, “The waters? We’re in a desert!”