ROCKFORD, IL - After a reportedly grueling day of travel with his family, a 34-year-old father of 3 made a beeline to a hotel bar shortly after checking in with this family. Witnesses said Gilmer slammed his hand on the bartop and demanded 3 shots of the cheapest tequila.
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ROCKFORD, IL – After a grueling day of travel with his family, a 34-year-old father of 3 made a beeline to a hotel bar shortly after checking in with this family. Witnesses said the man slammed his hand on the bartop and demanded 3 shots of the cheapest tequila.


Business traveler Jeff Gilmer, his wife, and their 3 children headed to Rockford, IL to attend a family wedding this week. Apparently, the expert road warrior and his family have had quite the travel day. Gilmer recounted their travails in between 3 shots of tequila noting that after leaving their San Diego County home at 2:45 AM to make a 7:15 AM flight and that the family had been traveling most of the day.

And it was hell.

From his wife not having TSA Precheck, to his 9-year-old daughter bringing a full-size bottle of shampoo, to a lost iPad, and more, just getting through security was an absolute nightmare. Then, their Southwest Airlines flight to Chicago’s Midway Airport was delayed by 1:45 minutes, plus a last-minute gate change which meant they had to lumber across the terminal with their 11-year-old son’s carryon that only had one working wheel.

Gilmer was at his wit’s end by the time the family boarded the flight with their B45+ boarding passes (his wife booked the tickets). After begging another traveler to switch seats they managed to get seating relatively close to each other with Gilmer in a middle seat so his daughter didn’t have to sit next to a leering creep for the ~3-hour flight.

After watching his wife get chatted up by a friendly-looking surfer for the entire flight while playing 4,389 rounds of Angry Birds with his daughter, Gilmer was pretty much done by the time the flight landed – and had a full bladder.

After waiting until most of the passengers had deplaned so he could retrieve their bags which had been stowed behind their seats, Gilmer and his family finally made it off the plane and started their journey toward the rental car facility.

After the 3-hour drive through Chicago traffic to their hotel in Rockland that featured a spilled Dr Pepper soda and 3 arguments with his wife, the family pretty much wasn’t talking by the time they arrived to check-in.

After getting the family into the room, Gilmer went straight to the bar, vowing to never travel with family again.

Lee Ballou

Lee is the brains (but definitely not the looks) of The Takeoff Nap. When he's not complaining about upgrades he runs a few travel blogs, but this one is his favorite.

5 replies on “Dad heads to hotel bar and pounds 3 shots after grueling day of traveling with family”

  1. Give me a break! He’s a whiny little man that blames his wife for boarding numbers, kid’s for….being kids, Grow up!

  2. Wow! I don’t know if he’s joking or not. But, he makes his experience sound really bad.

    We’ve had travels that were 2x as bad as that (delayed international flights up to the next 2 days, sleeping at airport and lost luggages)

    I wouldn’t think about vowing to never travel with family again nor would my spouse. Also, I’m also pretty sure travel horror stories are common nowadays.

    I guess this dad wasn’t having fun spending time with his family on a regular basis. This trip only made it worst.

    His family must be also be thinking it’s better to not travel with dad next time.
    He’s no fun.

  3. Just about every sentence includes another rookie mistake. I’d like to say anyone pounding cheap tequila shots gets what he deserves. He obviously wasn’t a Boy Scout as the motto is “be prepared”

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