Travel Excursions Part 1

I finish my final test on Friday and two hours before I need to leave to head to the airport it starts snowing... and I'm not talking about the peaceful romantic snow where a snow flake lightly lands on your cheek and melts away... No.. I mean the aggressive snow that has it out for you and is blinding and well... wet.  Hideous snow.

So one of my classmates had to be at the airport the same time as me so we agreed to catch a cab together so it'd be cheaper.  She told me to wait on the corner of her street... in the snow...

So here I am... waiting on a street corner for her to show up.

And waiting... After 10 minutes of waiting for her or the cab I phone her to see what the deal is... She said the cab wasnt coming yet.

Apparently the cab company told her when she called a half hour early that she needed to call when she wanted to leave.  Then when she called five minutes early the cab company told her it'd be a twenty to twenty five minute wait.  She got mad at the person on the phone but thought they would still come.  So I went to her apartment building to wait.  After twenty minutes we were pretty sure they weren't coming.  So we decided to walk to a main street and catch a cab in the snow.

So there are two things I hate about it being snowy while you are trying to travel...

1st.  How about the fact that dragging your luggage through the snow sucks... Ya.. its pretty much you draggin a bunch of snow... I pretty much shovelled the sidewalk as I went along.

2nd.  Cab drivers are way less likely to pick you up... because they are anti going far.  It took about fifteen minutes to catch a cab.  And then he drove uber slow because of the snow and his crappy tires.

But I finally make it to the airport... a little damp because of all the snow melting on me but all in all nothing can spoil my spirits because in a short 7 hours I will be home...

Wait.. except oh ya.. I wait in the huge line to check my bag and check in... and I get to the front finally and swipe my passport and the computer tells me that my flight is cancelled.  A guy is walking past and I'm like "It says my flight is cancelled" and he goes "Yah... your flight is cancelled."  And then he walks away leaving me standing there going... crap... what do I do now.

So they have these phones available to talk to the airline company so that you can get on another flight if something like this happens.  Except... oh wait... all the phones are dead.  So I am getting a little upset by now... Ok... not a little... alot.  I pretty much put all my excitement into this one flight... the saving flight that would take me home to my family... and it was cancelled.  So I'm bawling right there in the airport.  If you ever want to feel like a child just try that.  Works like a charm.  So a guy who looks like he works for the airport walks by me.  And as I'm crying I'm asking him to help me... He gives me the 1-800 number to call the airline... so I start dialing and he comes back and is like "oh... it might be 225 not 255... just try them both."  I wasnt all that impressed.  But something I have learned on my travels is that dialing airline 1-800 numbers is COMPLETELY useless.  You phone... enter your info... and then it tells you its too busy to take your call... Or it puts you on hold until you die first.  Kinda not exactly helpful in a crunch.

So thats not working out.  I'm talking to my dad and he's telling me to find someone to help me.  Easier said than done.  The guy who was in line behind me gets into another line behind this girl who has an employee helping her.  So I decide that maybe this is the help line.  I mean they must have one of those.

As it turns out.. no... no they dont.  The man helping people gets mad because a line has formed and he's like "This isnt a line... you need to get back into the main line."  I have zero control over my emotions by now so I'm crying out that I was in that line and no one was helping me and he isnt havent any of it.  No sympathy for a poor traveller.

So I get back in the line.  And the girl the man who rejected me was helping comes up to me... and I'm trying to cry in peace in the line... the people around me are ignoring the blatant embarrassing display of emotions until this girl... comes up.  She tells me to keep trying the 1-800 number and saying that the people really will help you... But her hand on the shoulder wasnt exactly making me feel better.

But I'm trying to suck it up.  Because well... public displays of emotion arent exactly my favorite thing in the world.  But every time I think about not being able to get home and losing a few days of my holiday to stupid Boston... well... you know how that works out.

So I get to the front of the line again.  And this time I am not being budged from the line without someone actually helping me.  So this time I make the man helping stick around.  I tell him my flight has been cancelled and I dont know what to do.  Well he tells me that they've cancelled pretty much every flight because of the snow.  That doesnt make me feel better.  Then he tells me the earliest I could get out would be Monday.  That definitely doesnt make me feel better.  And I'm getting a little pathetic at this point.  I cant form real sentences and I'm trying not to cry so every word that does manage to come out is full of that adorable sobbing five year old stutter cry... where everything is high pitched and slurred together.  But this man was a rock.  My tears had zero effect on him.  He looked at me making a fool of myself and then looked back at the screen.  Then he handed me my "revised" flight plan and told me that maybe space would open up in an earlier flight and I should just keep calling the 1-800 number or check the airport.  Not exactly helpful...

So I call my dad again.  And he tells me that we might just have to buy a new ticket and that I should go to all the different airlines to see what they've got.  He's trying to tell me that if nothing works out, one more weekend in Boston wont be that bad... Though I definitely begged to differ on that.  I had built up leaving Boston so much it was pretty much torture to be there for even a second longer... let alone three more days.

But I decide to just walk it out... And trek (And I mean a trek because the terminals were far away from each other) to another terminal to find another airline.

So I go to the first airline.. delta or something like that.  And I go up and ask the Lady if there are any flights that end up in Calgary.  Well this lady checks... and she proceeds to tell me that they have a flight from Salt Lake to Calgary... but none from Boston to Salt Lake... thanks... ya thats so not helpful.  So I move onto the next airline...

Continental airlines... and both people appeared to be helping people but when I started to sit on my luggage the guy called out that I shouldnt get too comfy... And I was a little strained so him talking to me startled me and I almost tripped over my suitcase and biffed it to the ground.  But I walked up and asked if he had any flights going to Calgary... and while he's checking he's telling me that he lived in Calgary in like 1963... and he looks up at me and goes "You werent born then were you?"  And I'm like ya. no... definitely not.  So he's checking and he finds a flight going to houston that got delayed.  It was leaving at 8pm and since it was only like 6pm I had plenty of time to make it.  But he asks to see my flight itinerary and wants to switch my ticket from northwestern (who sucks) to continental (who rocks)... So he tries calling northwestern to get approval for the switcheroo... but of course they arent answering phones... Stupid northwestern.  So then he goes... well... I'm just gonna do it myself then.  So he's working the computer and every now and then he'll toss out a "ya... take that.." or "Stole it.. perfect this'll work"... all good little sound bits.  I will take a stolen ticket.  Finally he gets it all worked out and tells me that it is done.  He switched my ticket to his airline and I didnt have to pay a cent extra to get it done.  I was like "Seriously you are my freaking hero"... and since I've been trying to be a blogger I asked him if it would be weird to take a picture of him... and he was like no... so he puts his arms up and is like cheering at his own genius... Sadly I was being a little slow so I took my camera out but was waiting... For what... I'm not quite sure... I guess I didnt feel like I really had his permission... so he's got his arms up... but I'm not taking the picture... And slowly... he lowers them because well... I way missed the moment and it was getting awkward to have his arms up.  So once they're down I asked if its really ok... And he says yes.

Edward C.  Great Guy

So I head to wait for my flight to Houston.  It got re-routed to Maine to be re-fueled and was on its way back.  So we wait until like 9 ish for it to finally land.  And I think yes... we're getting out of here.  But no... we werent.  We were missing ONE flight attendant.  We had both pilots... and three others... but we were not allowed to board without a fourth flight attendant. It was so gay.  So we wait some more.  And the flight departure keeps getting pushed back and back.  Because our new flight attendant was supposed to be coming in from New Jersey... except their flight got re-routed to Banglada Maine... And so they're telling us that if we want a re-fund we can come up and get it... and that the flight might be cancelled.  And I am dying.  All I want to do is at least leave Boston.  I dont care if I have to wait in another airport... As long as I at least make some progress.

So I try to entertain myself by working on a present for my best friend.  I decided to make her a cheer book... so basically I got people who love her to write her letters and put a bunch of pictures in it and stuff... so I'm glueing construction paper to every page so that it doesnt look so ghetto... and I'm taping pictures to the pages... But I ran out of glue.

That kinda put a damper on things.  But while I'm working on it this old couple comes up and are asking me what I'm doing.  And this little kid comes up and his mom is trying to play interference so he doesnt mess anything.  So I gave him some paper to draw on and a pen... and he drew me a "picture"... It was kinda cute.

But finally the airline announces that another flight just landed and we got their flight attendant.  Huge cheers... people hugging and laughing.  Pretty great moment.  So they tell us we can start boarding.  So everyone gets up and gets in line.  But then no progress is happening.  And people are overhearing them say that there isnt enough of a time window to de-ice the plane and take off in the time allotted us... so they might not let us leave.  So they announce that everyone should sit down again cause it might be awhile.  People were not impressed.  So we wait some more.

I just sat with my backpack and listened to music.

Luckily their fake out didnt throw us off the right path because five minutes later they tell us we can board the plane because they've gotten it all figured out.  YES!

Here are people boarding... finally... it

 only took till 12:30am to get to this point.

Then we got on the plane and had to have it de-iced... Being on a plane beats being stuck in the actual airport.

And when we took off I couldnt be more happy.

Until they brought out the microwaved cheeseburger... just kidding... it was pretty sick dump.

I didnt really sleep on the four hour flight... I worked on my project.

That is until I ran out of tape too.

I probably fell asleep for an hour and then we landed in Houston at 4 am.

To Be Continued...