Extravagant

In the past week, I have been at altitudes of 2,400 feet and over 12,000 feet. My legs have carried me up and down Arizona's highest and lowest places. Well, second highest place, to be exact. I attempted to climb to Humphrey's Peak, which really is the highest point in Arizona, but an unfortunate mistaken deviation from the trail led me to Agassiz Peak instead. Second highest. But close. And only two days later, without fully recovering from the climb, I hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and then back up the following day.

I have lots to say about both of these experiences, including other mishaps and potentially dangerous situations from which I gratefully escaped with only a few sore muscles (situations which may or may not have to do with unpreparedly climbing the San Francisco Peaks in monsoon season without adequate attire and then actually being caught in a monsoon, descending steep drop-offs of loose boulders and falling rock while watching the lightning pierce nearer and nearer, scaling a "no hiking allowed" fence out of dire necessity, and things of this nature).

But, alas, I am not here to write about my hiking adventures. Not yet. That will come later, along with a top ten list of the most exciting non-life-threatening things that happened during my trip (you know, freestyling in broken French while suffering mild heat exhaustion, biking in the dark while pretty much unable to see at night, Charlie the bike-rental kid who was either hitting on me or hating on me, depending on the day, etc.)

I am here tonight, instead, to gush about my extravagant compensation for volunteering to give my airline ticket to a standby passenger. Well, maybe it's not really extravagant, considering that I am stuck here in Phoenix overnight, but to a month-by-month fiscally irresponsible young lady like myself, getting a free hotel room, a free breakfast, a free shuttle to and from the airport AND a free round trip ticket to anywhere in the contiguous U.S. is pretty luxurious.

So here I am, using free internet after my free swim in the underwater-lit, outdoor pool, under the open night sky, after a free shower with free lemon-verbena shampoo and lotion soap, just winding down from my adventurous trip with a free stay in a fancy-shmancy hotel room with two double beds (which one should I choose? How does one choose between two beds?). There is free coffee, free towels to use, free toothpaste, free air conditioning (it was 106 degrees in Phoenix today), free TV (which I won't use--even free, I still hate that animated box), free wake-up calls, and even free food for me, compliments of the airline.

Apparently there are people who seek out this sort of situation--who immediately ask at the ticket counter if they need volunteers to give up their seats. I didn't seek it out--I wanted to be in St. Paul tonight, snuggly in my bed (er, well, the borrowed bed I am sleeping in for the next few months). Instead, I got bumped from my flight, which was delayed anyway, and here I am, soaking up the luxury that only an unsuspecting, strapped-for-cash wide-eyed, lovestruck traveler can really appreciate.

This free stuff doesn't come without some amount of guilt for me--do I really deserve this? I mean, really, two beds? Three towels in the bathroom? Air conditioning?

But...for now I am just going to enjoy it. Luxury awaits me and my stinky backpack.

Anyway, if I were really going to be extravagant, of my own accord, I would have turned down the fancy-schmancy hotel room offer and rented a car and driven the three hours back to Flagstaff, from where I just came, even if for just overnight. Free food, multiple towels, and an outdoor pool are nothing compared to the extravagance that a little bit of romance can inspire.

My sensibilities keep me here, in this free hotel. Extravagant or not, even leaving Arizona is an adventure. Let's just hope I can get on my return flight tomorrow...