Horror of horrors...broken phone on a business trip

So, I travel a fair bit for work. Such as I was remarking to someone "I haven't traveled in a long time" they replied "How long has it been?" I then realized it had been less then two months. Yup, I travel "a fair bit" for work.

Now, that I am back on my regular travel schedule, I will be spending this week and next in San Antonio have a week in Atlanta and then head to Ft Lauderdale for a conference. Sad to say, this can be pretty standard for me!

So, Friday night M and I go out for dinner at Dakota Blue (note to self: do NOT!!! go to Dakota Blue for a early quiet dinner on Friday nights with your hubby, the entire under 7 population of Grant Park has invaded the place)

Then he drops me off at the airport. Yes, I had to be in San Antonio for Saturday morning. So, I fly through security, grab some books at the bookstore in the terminal and head to my gate. Sit down pull out my phone to call M and let him know I'm all set.

It dials his number and.....nothing.....the little timer is counting up, but I can't hear a thing. No ring, no dial tone, definitely not M's voice on the other end of the line. Hmm... maybe my service is bad??

I try again...the same thing.

Then he calls me...the phone rings and....Nothing.

I check my voicemail...nothing. It is playing, again I can see the timer, but no noise is coming out.

Texting, email, web, those all work, just no basic phone service.

First issue: I am leading this expedition to San Antonio and everyone has my cell number to check in. I'm not going to be able to get their calls.

Second issue: People not in San Antonio are going to want to "check-in" and see how things are going.

Third issue, and most important: How am I going to talk to M????

Luckily, I had one of my partners in crime meeting me at the airport. When the masses in the terminal cleared, I was able to find him and he verified that my phone wasn't working, but his was!!

I spent the next day having people call me and me calling them back on whomever's phone was available. To call M I had to log into the mothership network and use my softphone (voice over IP) to talk with him, a long tedious process.

Yesterday (Sunday) I was able to make an appointment at the Sprint store where they replaced my phone with the same model, updated my contacts and transfered my sim card. Other then a few shortcuts I am back up to speed. all in less than 30 minutes.

The lucky part was that I actually somewhere with a Sprint store and not in the middle of nowhere!