on winter travel
(this is partially for you, David, to show how painfully aware I am of the havoc wreaked by flight delays in the wintertime.)
Mike and I had a not too difficult time flying from San Diego up to Pasco (via Salt Lake City) on December 21. We were delayed a couple of hours and sat on the tarmac for two hours once, but all in all not so bad. Aunt Pam came in from Kansas City the next day, and she barely made it out of Salt Lake the same day because her first plane was so delayed that she missed her connecting flight. Then came Aunt Rebecca.
She was supposed to fly from the DC area to Chicago to Seattle to Pasco on December 23. Yeah, that didn't happen. Delta told her to stay at home and they rebooked her to fly on Christmas Day due to weather. So, my family bumped Christmas (the present-opening part, anyway) to the 26th. Meanwhile Mike flew from Pasco to Seattle midday on the 24th and was only delayed three hours. (It's a 45 minute Horizon flight, but at least you get free regional wine or beer.)
And along came the 25th. Rebecca was supposed to get in at 8:45pm, so we started checking her flight status online that afternoon. It alternated from "Boarding" to "Awaiting Takeoff" for about three solid hours, with various semi-updated (often nonsensical) ETAs. We watched a movie. We finally tried to call Delta, talked nonsense to the automated system to get to a real person, and discovered that the airport was closed and the flight was canceled. Of course Aunt Rebecca doesn't have a cell phone, so she apparently had to pay $15 to make a pay phone call to tell us where she was. Meantime, fly.faa.gov showed Salt Lake as bright green - no significant delays and certainly not closed. Right.
The next day, I was scheduled to follow Mike to Seattle in the evening around 8pm. Rebecca was rebooked to arrive around 4pm. Presents were opened, wii bowling was played, and afternoon became evening. Her flight was delayed until 6:30pm and mine wasn't going to leave until 9pm. The end result? Dad picked her up and was back around 7:20. We overlapped for about half an hour. I opened presents from her. We chatted, took some pictures, and then Dad shuttled me over to the airport. I got into Seattle around 11pm in the end.
The great part is, Pam and Rebecca are both supposed to fly out from Pasco on the 29th. Rebecca is flying through Seattle. So if she gets stuck here, maybe I'll get to see her some more! Mike and I are in Seattle until the morning of the 31st, when we catch a direct flight back to San Diego.
So, this has been the weirdest holiday season in a while. We're pretty sure we don't want to do it quite like this again, simply because it's one notch too nutty and the winter weather threw everything for a loop. Mike and I aren't sure how we'll do Christmas in the future. Maybe it would make sense to do an extended Thanksgiving with his family and then Christmas with my family, especially since I don't necessarily see Dad, Pam, or Rebecca at any other time? It's hard to say. Someday we'll make our own traditions. All this *really* makes me wish that Mike's and my families weren't on opposite sides of the state. (I tell myself they could easily be on opposite sides of the *country*... but still.)
Yet all this travel madness aside, I very much enjoy winter!! The amount of snow in the Tri-Cities was amazing and whenever I look outside to see it snowing I get a smile on my face. Yes it is cold, and sometimes it prohibits travel, but I spent a semester in Russia for heaven's sake. Life goes on. It feels like a common hindrance such as weather really brings communities together. Washington State will never forget this winter. I can't wait for life to carry me back to the Northwest so I can have my seasons back.
Merry Christmas everyone! (It lasts for 12 days, you know.) And Happy New Year!
Mike and I had a not too difficult time flying from San Diego up to Pasco (via Salt Lake City) on December 21. We were delayed a couple of hours and sat on the tarmac for two hours once, but all in all not so bad. Aunt Pam came in from Kansas City the next day, and she barely made it out of Salt Lake the same day because her first plane was so delayed that she missed her connecting flight. Then came Aunt Rebecca.
She was supposed to fly from the DC area to Chicago to Seattle to Pasco on December 23. Yeah, that didn't happen. Delta told her to stay at home and they rebooked her to fly on Christmas Day due to weather. So, my family bumped Christmas (the present-opening part, anyway) to the 26th. Meanwhile Mike flew from Pasco to Seattle midday on the 24th and was only delayed three hours. (It's a 45 minute Horizon flight, but at least you get free regional wine or beer.)
And along came the 25th. Rebecca was supposed to get in at 8:45pm, so we started checking her flight status online that afternoon. It alternated from "Boarding" to "Awaiting Takeoff" for about three solid hours, with various semi-updated (often nonsensical) ETAs. We watched a movie. We finally tried to call Delta, talked nonsense to the automated system to get to a real person, and discovered that the airport was closed and the flight was canceled. Of course Aunt Rebecca doesn't have a cell phone, so she apparently had to pay $15 to make a pay phone call to tell us where she was. Meantime, fly.faa.gov showed Salt Lake as bright green - no significant delays and certainly not closed. Right.
The next day, I was scheduled to follow Mike to Seattle in the evening around 8pm. Rebecca was rebooked to arrive around 4pm. Presents were opened, wii bowling was played, and afternoon became evening. Her flight was delayed until 6:30pm and mine wasn't going to leave until 9pm. The end result? Dad picked her up and was back around 7:20. We overlapped for about half an hour. I opened presents from her. We chatted, took some pictures, and then Dad shuttled me over to the airport. I got into Seattle around 11pm in the end.
The great part is, Pam and Rebecca are both supposed to fly out from Pasco on the 29th. Rebecca is flying through Seattle. So if she gets stuck here, maybe I'll get to see her some more! Mike and I are in Seattle until the morning of the 31st, when we catch a direct flight back to San Diego.
So, this has been the weirdest holiday season in a while. We're pretty sure we don't want to do it quite like this again, simply because it's one notch too nutty and the winter weather threw everything for a loop. Mike and I aren't sure how we'll do Christmas in the future. Maybe it would make sense to do an extended Thanksgiving with his family and then Christmas with my family, especially since I don't necessarily see Dad, Pam, or Rebecca at any other time? It's hard to say. Someday we'll make our own traditions. All this *really* makes me wish that Mike's and my families weren't on opposite sides of the state. (I tell myself they could easily be on opposite sides of the *country*... but still.)
Yet all this travel madness aside, I very much enjoy winter!! The amount of snow in the Tri-Cities was amazing and whenever I look outside to see it snowing I get a smile on my face. Yes it is cold, and sometimes it prohibits travel, but I spent a semester in Russia for heaven's sake. Life goes on. It feels like a common hindrance such as weather really brings communities together. Washington State will never forget this winter. I can't wait for life to carry me back to the Northwest so I can have my seasons back.
Merry Christmas everyone! (It lasts for 12 days, you know.) And Happy New Year!