Flying home from Christmas is never a very simple or emotionally stable task, is it? This time I really thought I had it together though--finals weren't so bad and I'd been pretty well rested for about a week leading up to the flight, so I was pretty sure that even if my flight had the usual 1-2 hour delay, I'd be cool with it. I'd stocked up on funtime books and what not, and Becca and Kyle dropped me off in time to easily check my bag and be stress free.
So I sat and read my book for a couple hours wihtout even thinking about it--it wasn't until people around me started to look around that I looked up and saw that the flight was already half an hour late! So, you know, weird since the board had said we were going to be on time, but not really that surprising--I don't think I've ever taken the 9:30 pm flight and had it actually be on time. But then time kept passing, until it was something like 11. A guy came on the intercom and said that we were being delayed because even though SLC was clear and we had a plane, storms in other places had held up our flight crew, so they were calling around to assemble one for us. Half an hour later he came on and said that they had everyone together EXCEPT for a pilot. You know, important. A further complication is that apparently pilots are only allowed to fly for a certain number of hours per day, and by 11:30 at night most people had already flown to the limit. It was midnight when they finally decided to cancel the flight. So I'm sitting there thinking, Holy crap, what does one do when one's flight has been cancelled at midnight and one is without a car or flight or place to stay?
Well, it turns out that in this situation you stand in line for an hour until you get rebooked on the first flight the next morning (6:30am), and then you decide that since it's already 1am, you may as well just sit tight for the next 5 hours. The kind airport workers pulled out some boxes of airplane pillows and blankets and earplugs all the sodas and peanuts and stuff from off the plane.
And thus it came to pass that I literally spent the night in the Salt Lake City airport.
Battling screaming children, un-turn-off-able lights and CNN WorldNews, and a creepy guy from the re-booking line, I snatched an hour's sleep somewhere between 2 and 5 am, and was totally unconcious for the entirity of the flight, when it finally came to pass.
It's a really good thing that no raptors showed up, 'cuz I was in no mood to evade and defeat them.
So I sat and read my book for a couple hours wihtout even thinking about it--it wasn't until people around me started to look around that I looked up and saw that the flight was already half an hour late! So, you know, weird since the board had said we were going to be on time, but not really that surprising--I don't think I've ever taken the 9:30 pm flight and had it actually be on time. But then time kept passing, until it was something like 11. A guy came on the intercom and said that we were being delayed because even though SLC was clear and we had a plane, storms in other places had held up our flight crew, so they were calling around to assemble one for us. Half an hour later he came on and said that they had everyone together EXCEPT for a pilot. You know, important. A further complication is that apparently pilots are only allowed to fly for a certain number of hours per day, and by 11:30 at night most people had already flown to the limit. It was midnight when they finally decided to cancel the flight. So I'm sitting there thinking, Holy crap, what does one do when one's flight has been cancelled at midnight and one is without a car or flight or place to stay?
Well, it turns out that in this situation you stand in line for an hour until you get rebooked on the first flight the next morning (6:30am), and then you decide that since it's already 1am, you may as well just sit tight for the next 5 hours. The kind airport workers pulled out some boxes of airplane pillows and blankets and earplugs all the sodas and peanuts and stuff from off the plane.
And thus it came to pass that I literally spent the night in the Salt Lake City airport.
Battling screaming children, un-turn-off-able lights and CNN WorldNews, and a creepy guy from the re-booking line, I snatched an hour's sleep somewhere between 2 and 5 am, and was totally unconcious for the entirity of the flight, when it finally came to pass.
It's a really good thing that no raptors showed up, 'cuz I was in no mood to evade and defeat them.
6 comments:
As opposed to other times, when you are TOTALLY in the mood to battle and defeat raptors.
And today it was Katy the STAR. The little girls lined up outside the class door clapping "Katy's here! Katy's here!" --kinda like a rock star had come to D2! So glad no raptors nor creepy guys held you back!
On our honeymoon, we volunteered to be bumped from our flight to South Carolina. So we sat in an airport for 12 hours. Because, it's not like we had anything better to do...
wow you see i would probably cry fromt he shock of it all and the loneliness but you're awesome for being patient. happy christmas and merry new year!!!
well at least you survived!
i have a book sitting by the door for you* supresses grin*
and i finally watched jurassic park. i think it did something to my cat, cuz she was acting like the freakin raptors for hours. darn kitty.
i have never had that bad a trip- but we once got stranded in florence, and once our tour bus broke down on the way to venice and we had to squeeze onto the other already packed bus. nightmare!
right now i'm sleepy, but this morning- after finishing christmas gift wrapping 3 whole days early- i felt like taking on a raptor.
though, if I were that kid in the movie, i would so not be screaming. i'd be to scared to scream, and i'd just keep praying...
I laughed a lot at your post, so much that I directed myself through your blog index to find your raptor plan at the elementary school. I then imagined opening my front door to a scene of you outside amidst running, screaming people being eaten by raptors and you walking at a normal pace blowing them to small raptorian pieces with your bazooka gun (it was hand held size)
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