Adventures so far
The storm was worse that expected. My wife and Ian drove through it anyhow.
The weather reports said the worst time to travel would be just when I had to leave for the airport. So, I decided to leave very early. Like 8PM for a 5AM flight early.
It took me 2 hours to go the 30miles/50km. Just as I was pulling into the airport, the airline computer called and said “we’re only cancelling one flight tomorrow, but it’s yours.”
They offered to have me arrive at 11:30 at night instead of the scheduled 9:15 in the morning.
“Do better,” I told their computer. It connected me with a helpful man who ran through every city in their network looking for a way to get me here.
The best option was Boston to Chicago to Charolette to Florida. 6:30 at night, but that’s still 5 hours earlier.
The problem was, now I was at the airport. A major snow storm blowing outside. I was 8 hours until my flight. Did I want to spend 4 of it driving back and forth?
I tried to go through security and a very direct woman stopped me.
“I ain’t telling you you can’t go in,” she said. “But, at 2AM they close down and kick everyone out. So, you’re spending the night on this side of that wall unless you have a badge. You ain’t got a badge, so you ain’t staying there no matter what you do. You could find a nice place now, or be part of the crowd at 2AM.”
I went to one of the walkways between terminals, found a nice rocking chair and settled in. There were about 4 other folks there.
At 10 past 2, about 30 more showed up.
Many coveted my chair...
At 4AM security opened again and I went in. My 5AM flight was cancelled, but there was a 6 on my original path. I got a standby ticket for it and waited.
Everyone got on the plane.
The agent turned to me and motioned me to come up.
Two men ran into the gate area and asked if they were too late.
They got on and I didn’t.
So, I went over to the 7AM flight. Because I just missed the 6, they put me number 1 on the standby list.
But, I had bought a discount ticket. So, when full price people asked for standby, I was bumped to #3.
The first 2 made it.
So, I went and got on my flight for Chicago. It was not 100% full and the air flight attendant moved me to another row to give me more space.
They closed the doors.
We sat there.
And, sat there.
And, sat there.
After about 15 minutes, the pilot came on and explained another airline had parked a plane behind us and we couldn’t pull out. But, he was sure it would go soon.
We sat there.
And, sat there.
And, sat there.
After about 15 minutes, the pilot came on and explained it was a disabled plane that could not actually move. They were looking for someone to tow it away.
We sat there.
And, sat there.
And, sat there.
After about 15 minutes the pilot came on and explained that the other airline wasn’t going to move it as the airport told them to put it there during the storm, so they had to move it.
We sat there.
And, sat there.
And, sat there.
After about 15 minutes the pilot came on and explained they found a person to move it and if we looked out the right side of the plane we could see it being towed away.
During this the young children in the row behind me smashed their tables up and down for fun. The air flight attendant said “how cute!”
Finally I said “Stop it or I will encourage your children to stop.”
The woman gave me a defiant look. The kids flipped the trays.
“Please stop that,” I said to them. “Those are attached to the back of our chairs and it hurts us.”
“Oh, sorry,” the young kid said, and didn’t do it again.
Because we were late, and they were in the last row of the plane, they were in a big rush to get off and make their connection. So, she whacked me with her suitcase and pushed past me getting off.
Now, I’m in Chicago. My wife and Ian have reached the faire site and are setting things up. I still have 2 flight to go.
My next one is 90 minutes late and getting later. Hopefully this won’t go back to me getting in at 11:30 after all...