So, I’m in Buckeye, Arizona for a few days to attend a memorial service for the wife of a good friend of mine.

I set up the flight and the rental car, and the hotel on Expedia (I don’t travel much via air, if at all).

Book a car, through Hertz.  Because I’ve been to Phoenix exactly one time before (and that was only in the airport to change planes), I made sure that the car I chose had CarPlay, which would give me the ability to have Apple Maps navigation for my excursions in Buckeye/Phoenix.  Great.  So I reserved a 2024 Chevrolet Spark.  I previously owned a 2019 Chevrolet Spark, so I was familiar with the car, and knew that even if they had no options on the car, it came standard with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.  Great.

So, I took the flight from Everett, Washington (Paine Field, highly recommended) to Phoenix Sky Harbor.  Go to the Hertz counter, get checked in, given a place to go to pick up the car I reserved.  I get there, and someone else has taken the car.  At first, I thought I was  just stupid and couldn’t find the car.  But no, someone else had taken it.

Ugh.  So I go back inside, and get switched to a 2024 Toyota Camry.  Really nice car, since it is  a 2024, it should have CarPlay.  But the place where you plug the USB cable into is USB A.  In 2024!  Sadly, I only brought USB C->USB C cables.  I did actually bring a USB A cable, but it is the only style connector (Lightning) not USB C.  Ugh.

So, I used navigation on the trip from the airport to the hotel, about 40 miles away.  It worked OK, but certainly was substandard.  After doing some research, I discovered, thanks to the utility of Amazon Prime, I can get a USB A to USB C cable delivered tomorrow.  Awesome.  So hopefully, after that, CarPlay will work for me for the ride back on Sunday (and my excursions on Saturday).

The moral of the story is this – Never trust anyone.  Bring all cables you think you MIGHT need, even if they turn out not to be needed. It might just save some brain cells, and in my case, some hair on my head.  Since I have very little hair to start, it must have been brain cells.

I should have been more prepared.  But Hertz shouldn’t have let someone else take my reserved rental car.

Second problem was that I had reserved the car using my wife’s credit card (at her insistence).  When I got to the Hertz counter, they wouldn’t let me use it, because she wasn’t there.  I totally get this.  But I had to pay for an upgrade to the Camry, and had to use my debit card, which was an additional $200 charge.  Supposedly, that charge will be refunded when I return the car unscathed.  We shall see.

Anyway, mentioned all of this to a few people and all they said was “Welcome to travelling. ”  Thanks, I’ll drive from now on.  At least I know the car I have, it’s limitations, and it’s quirks.  I also know it works with CarPlay for navigation.

As I have told others.  This is a very first world problem.  I shouldn’t be dependent on CarPlay for navigation.  But I am.  Especially in cities/towns I’ve never been to before.

Thus ends my rant for the day.

• Tomorrow, I’ll tell you about the bride who sat next to me with her sister, and who almost invited me to be her maid of honor in her wedding in Dublin on June 8th, 2025. Because her sister doesn’t like to fly (I don’t either, but what other chance am I going to get to wear a wedding color matching kilt and be a maid of honor in an Irish wedding?)