“Let’s have a treat”

So there’s an scene in the great series The Comeback which always, invariably comes to mind every time I travel. I wish there was a video online, but there doesn’t seem to be, so I’ll have to recap.

Our heroine, the cringey, deluded former sitcom star played by the amazing Lisa Kudrow, is headed to the upfronts in New York for her horrible new show in which she is degraded, not only daily, but hourly. She’s accompanied by Mickey, her faithful hairdresser and probably closest friend. She’s checking in at LAX and discovers, I think, that the network hasn’t paid for a ticket for Mickey. Or something like that. So sweet Mickey is standing there with Valerie, ready to accompany her to her big moment, her big comeback, and he has no ticket – and the absolutely fairest thing for Valerie to do would be to buy the ticket, and make it first class, with her. (I think that was the plot – I may be wrong in details).

You can see Valerie’s brain working in all of the marvelous subtleties of Kudrow’s face acting: her mouth, her eyes, her body language. All in something like three seconds, maybe less. No, she does not want to spend six thousand dollars on a ticket for Mickey, and probably can’t afford it, either, but there he is, expectant and excited – for her. What will she do?

Our Valerie – “Red” – as Micky calls her – waves her credit card, figuratively girds her loins and, resigned to it all, chirps, in her pained exuberance:

“Oh!” she says, “Let’s have a treat!”

Swear to God …..that’s me. Every. Single Trip.

I spend hours – planning and figuring out deals. Saving ten bucks here, twenty here.

And then, invariably- often right off – here’s a crisis or a crossroads or something. And in order to address the issue in a timely way, money is going to have to be spent.

“Oh,” I think – and sometimes say aloud, much to the confusion of those around me, “Let’s have a treat!”

I won’t go into the gory details, but that’s happened twice over the past two days. The first time, I took a risk and it resolved itself, because I ended up getting a refund – a big one – when I wasn’t sure I would at the time I requested it. So that came out absolutely even, for which I’m grateful.

The second time…well, it won’t come out even and while hopefully I’ll get a refund for part of it, I’m still going to end up paying far more for a rental car than I – but I repeat myself – spent so much time – working to find a good deal for.

Why?

Because after years of doing this under exactly these circumstances and with the same identifying documents, I hit the Nate Bergatze Situation: My legal name is Amelie, it’s what’s on my driver’s license and passport…and nothing else. Never, ever been a problem before, even doing a car rental with this same process (Hotwire). This time – it was. They refused to rent the car, saying I had to call Hotwire to get my name changed on the reservation (because luckily I have one credit card with Amelie on it – never giving that one up now) – but who has time for that. The counter agent that Hotwire should refund my prepaid $$ since the agency did not complete the rental – which she communicated to them. I’m trusting. Because since I assumed it would take hours to reach Hotwire, I asked if they had cars available, heard yes, channeled Valerie Cherish, waved that card and said,

Let’s have a treat!

If I don’t get that refund – most expensive rental car Ms. Cheap here has ever acquired but well….I’ll justify it, somehow…Life is short maybe? That’s what I usually fall back on.

By then it was mid-afternoon, and our only goal was to see a bit of Salt Lake City and then drive the 3+ hours to our weekend destination. I’d hoped to make a couple of stops along the way, but our time to do that shrank, thanks to Utah liquor laws.

Son had searched the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives database for local spots and found one that served a hamburger he’d thought he’d like – a Pastrami Burger, which he said was a standard of this part of the country (he’s studied up on hamburgers). We went to some lengths to find the place, spent ten minutes finding parking, and were stopped short by a sign out front warning that proper ID was required to enter. So, waving, not my credit card, but my license (with!the!wrong!name!), I entered and said….Er…no minors allowed?

Nope, she said, we’re a bar. But – she continued, very, very nicely and helpfully – they had a family-friendly outpost somewhat south of here and just a little, tiny bit out of our way.

So we were off.

Below are photos of the day –

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The Temple Square stuff was under extensive renovation. I remarked on Instagram that the scaffolding around the Temple reminded me of being in Rome- pilgrims come to see major religious structures, only to find them surrounded by scaffolding. At least it wasn’t a huge advertising banner hanging from a tower advertising perfume.

I will say that I was surprised by the difference in appearance of the temple between reality and what they advertised in photos. You can see why they are cleaning and renovating – the photos give the impression that it is much whiter than it actually is.

So just a quick walk-around there, with an assurance (seen above) that “Temples Dot the Earth!)”

Up to the state capitol, then home – down to the amazing, gorgeous, Cathedral of the Madeleine. Really, along with St. Louis, possibly two of the most beautiful Catholic cathedrals in the country. An organist was practicing, so that was a lovely accompaniment.

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I didn’t see the pamphlet guide to the Cathedral – I wasn’t really looking, being more focused on timing of getting to the restaurant and then driving 3+ hours, but I did see a young, hipster-looking couple walking slowly around the interior, studying a tri-fold guide produced by the Cathedral – so I won’t have to complain about this one, as I’ve done about so many others!

Remember – an open church with a guide to the meaning of the interior is ….wait for it….evangelization.

Some photos. No photos of our destination, because it was dark, and the sun is just now rising. I may add another when we’re all up and ready to head out, if I have time. If not, you’ll just have to check back!

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Also – my rental car has plates of my home county back in Tennessee. Which is weird.

More photos and videos at Instagram, both in posts and in “highlights.”

All posts linked on the “Travel” page