December 30, 2008

Travel Hell

I must have angered the travel gods because I’ve had the worst luck lately. What started as a decent morning – caught a cab with the world’s nicest driver, had a traffic-free 15-minute ride to O’Hare, only 5 minutes to check in and less than 20 through security – swiftly turned to crap when they announced a 1.5 hour delay AFTER we had boarded the plane. I heard mumblings of a delay amongst the flight crew as I boarded so they clearly knew, yet chose to trap us like rats instead of allowing us to stay at the gate enjoying free wireless and plentiful Starbucks.

We stayed at the gate for 30 minutes before driving all over O’Hare to find a place to park. We waited an hour, then got the unhappy news of another 1.5 hour delay. Amazingly, no one was complaining. How could this be? We’d been on the plan for 2.5 hours already, stuck in the same tiny seat, unable to move.

Just moments after the pilot said he still didn’t have an update, he announced we’d been cleared to take off and within minutes we were airborne. We took off about 30 minutes after I was originally supposed to land.

I had such high hopes for a productive day but with the delays, I knew I’d be lucky to get anything done at all. I needed to get to Brooklyn to pick up the keys to my new apartment so that was my top priority. Anything after that would be a bonus.

By the time we landed, I was beyond exhausted so I accomplished the bare minimum. I wrote the day off as a loss and will start fresh tomorrow. While it was an abrupt end to a really nice vacation, everything worked out ok and it could always be worse. I’m just happy I had a good time with family and friends and made it home safely.

1 comment:

  1. I was told once that, as long as the gate closes on time - regardless of when the plane actually leaves the ground - it counts as an "on time" departure as far as the FAA is concerned.

    Uh-huh...

    Anywho, I found your blog through beginner triathlete, and just love your writing style. It's a great read.

    Best of luck on your IM journey (I'm also signed up for IMWI this year), and I look forward to following along.

    Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete

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