The Internet Lied, And I Cried: Part 1

It was 9:30 p.m. on May 18, 2025. I settled into sleep, looking forward to our trip to the Grand Canyon starting on May 20. Suddenly, a thought occurred and I begrudgingly picked up my phone, typing in “shuttle from Flagstaff Pulliam to Grand Canyon.”  Wait! What? I searched again. And again. And again. ​

With each new search phrase, the results were the same. There is a shuttle from Flagstaff Pulliam Airport to the Grand Canyon Village, just like all the sites said when I researched back in February. What those sites didn’t tell me, however, is that the shuttle’s last run is at 4:00 p.m. and its first run is at 10:00 a.m. Inconvenient when all the flights arrive between 8:00-10:00 p.m. and depart at 7:00 a.m. 

Grateful that I thought to check on transportation, but also panicked over what to do, I Googled other options. Train? Nope. Greyhound? Nope. Taxi? Elusive contact information does not inspire confidence. Car rental? The website information is unclear; I would have to wait until the morning when I could call.

We had hoped to avoid the expense of renting a car, but needs must. 

Then I did the math. If we had to be at the airport by 6:00 for a 7:00 a.m. flight and it is a 1.5 hour drive from the Grand Canyon, then we would have to get up miserably early. I got out of bed and consulted with my husband. We agreed to cancel the last night at Maswik Lodge, assuming we wouldn’t get charged for the cancellation, and stay in Flagstaff the night before our flight.

I checked the cancellation policy at Maswik Lodge. It was unclear on the policies for cancelling the end of a booked stay. I checked the time. If the 24-hour period ran midnight to midnight, then I had 60 minutes to modify the booking without a cancellation penalty. I struggled with the unwieldy website with confusing instructions. I tried calling, but the reservations desk was closed. I went back to the website. 45 minutes. 

I clicked around, looking for options. I read whatever fine print I could find. I tried to get my tired brain to interpret the button labels from the perspective of a website creator instead of from a customer perspective. 30 minutes. 

I used the option to modify a booking, confused that it required me to pick a different room. The confirmation showed a refund for 1 night and no penalty charges. 15 minutes left. I breathed a sigh of relief.

I didn’t see anything else I could do that night, so I put away my phone and eventually went to sleep. 

Part 2