Traveling Adventures
Well, as of approximately 8:47 pm on 15 December 2006, I am officially finished with my second to last semester of college. Finally.
And now for the adventure as to why I didn't finish with it by 10:00 this morning as I had planned...
Mrs. Layton brought me to the Pittsburgh airport at about 4:00 yesterday. My flight was scheduled to leave at 6:10, so I had plenty of time to get through security and such. As I was checking in, the people at the Southwest counter told me they would bump me to the 6:30 flight because the 6:10 had some delays. So that was all well and good. So then I am waiting around at the gate for boarding around 6:00. The sign by the gate changed to say that we were now boarding. One of the Southwest people came to the microphone, however, and said that the sign is controlled in Dallas and we weren't actually boarding, but rather our flight has been delayed to somewhere between 9 and 10 because of Air Traffic Control and the weather in Philly. I then proceeded to get in line at the counter because I had a 10:10 connecting flight in Philly to Manchester and I was afraid I was not going to catch the connection. The nice lady (Heather) assured me that I would be able to make the connection because the flight to Manchester was also delayed. Okay, fine. Then the departures board finally says that our flight is leaving at 9:50. I got back in line again because I knew there was no way I would catch my slightly delayed connection if we weren't leaving until 9:50. She confirmed that there was indeed no way I could get to Manchester last night. Instead of waiting around just to get stuck in Philly, however, I decided to ask if I could just fly out tomorrow (which is now today). Being the absolutely amazing company that they are, Heather said I could fly out the next day. And so then began my search for someone who could pick me up at the Pittsburgh airport. There were several people who were either busy or didn't answer their phones. And then I had the amazing realization that Debbie was back in Pittsburgh! So I got her number from Jen D. and called her. And she came to pick me up! I spent the night at her house and got to see her for the first time since the LDW banquet :) It was a lot of fun, despite the circumstances that brought me to her. Okay, so Debbie brought me back to the airport for my flight that was supposed to (keyword: supposed to) leave at 11:25. And I thought that was going to happen. We got on the plane shortly after our scheduled time, so that wasn't too bad. We started taxiing out and I thought for sure we were going to be home soon. And then we started driving around the airport and back to a gate. As we were getting ready to take off, Philly closed their airport to arrivals again. We were able to get off the plane for a while- about an hour- so I went to Sbarro to get lunch. The same place I ate dinner last night. Exciting. We finally did get back on the plane just after 1:00 and eventually took off for Philly. And then we went to Manchester without a hitch. So now I am home and I was able to finish my last paper of the semester and I am officially done for 3 weeks. It'll be a good break.
I love traveling. Really, I do.
And now for the adventure as to why I didn't finish with it by 10:00 this morning as I had planned...
Mrs. Layton brought me to the Pittsburgh airport at about 4:00 yesterday. My flight was scheduled to leave at 6:10, so I had plenty of time to get through security and such. As I was checking in, the people at the Southwest counter told me they would bump me to the 6:30 flight because the 6:10 had some delays. So that was all well and good. So then I am waiting around at the gate for boarding around 6:00. The sign by the gate changed to say that we were now boarding. One of the Southwest people came to the microphone, however, and said that the sign is controlled in Dallas and we weren't actually boarding, but rather our flight has been delayed to somewhere between 9 and 10 because of Air Traffic Control and the weather in Philly. I then proceeded to get in line at the counter because I had a 10:10 connecting flight in Philly to Manchester and I was afraid I was not going to catch the connection. The nice lady (Heather) assured me that I would be able to make the connection because the flight to Manchester was also delayed. Okay, fine. Then the departures board finally says that our flight is leaving at 9:50. I got back in line again because I knew there was no way I would catch my slightly delayed connection if we weren't leaving until 9:50. She confirmed that there was indeed no way I could get to Manchester last night. Instead of waiting around just to get stuck in Philly, however, I decided to ask if I could just fly out tomorrow (which is now today). Being the absolutely amazing company that they are, Heather said I could fly out the next day. And so then began my search for someone who could pick me up at the Pittsburgh airport. There were several people who were either busy or didn't answer their phones. And then I had the amazing realization that Debbie was back in Pittsburgh! So I got her number from Jen D. and called her. And she came to pick me up! I spent the night at her house and got to see her for the first time since the LDW banquet :) It was a lot of fun, despite the circumstances that brought me to her. Okay, so Debbie brought me back to the airport for my flight that was supposed to (keyword: supposed to) leave at 11:25. And I thought that was going to happen. We got on the plane shortly after our scheduled time, so that wasn't too bad. We started taxiing out and I thought for sure we were going to be home soon. And then we started driving around the airport and back to a gate. As we were getting ready to take off, Philly closed their airport to arrivals again. We were able to get off the plane for a while- about an hour- so I went to Sbarro to get lunch. The same place I ate dinner last night. Exciting. We finally did get back on the plane just after 1:00 and eventually took off for Philly. And then we went to Manchester without a hitch. So now I am home and I was able to finish my last paper of the semester and I am officially done for 3 weeks. It'll be a good break.
I love traveling. Really, I do.