Adventure of a Lifetime

Most of you have already seen pictures on facebook and read bits and pieces of what happened on my way to New York through my status updates. Very few of you know the whole story, and it's good enough to share.

On Friday, I was picked up around 2:15 at my house. I was shuttled to the airport and arrived at 4:50. I was nervously finding my way around hoping that I would reach my gate on time. I arrived at my gate around 5:20 only to find out that there was a 25 minute delay for take off. I called Andrew and told him. He assured me that if we left on time, I would have no problems making my connection in Detroit. So, I waited.

30 minutes later, we were boarding the plane. As I was stepping onto the plane, another passenger came out with her rolling bag, looked at mine, and said "You are going to have to check that, they ran out of room." Sure enough, I was going to have to check my carryon bag that I worked so hard for to avoid checking it. So, at the last minute, a guy slaps a tag on it and gives me the other portion with a handy tracking number. All should be well, right?

So, the flight goes smoothly except I was seated next to a squirrely couple who totally did not deserve the window sleep. The lady next to me was a complete grouch and slept on her husband's shoulder when she wasn't being grouchy. The man read a book the whole time and didn't look out his window once. Waste. Anyway, that's beside the point.

So, we land in Detroit with an hour for me to get to my gate. Piece of cake, right? I pulled out the handy map Andrew made for me, read some of the signs, and found a shuttle through the airport. When I exited the shuttle, I still had a ways to go. Luckily, they had people movers... except people were just standing still on them. So, I ran... and beat everyone on the people movers. By the way, I was still wearing my dress clothes and shoes from my externship that day.

So, I made it to the actual gate with 20 minutes to spare. I texted Andrew and let him know I was there. I was so excited! I sat down to breathe... that's when they came over the speaker and quickly said, "The 9:56 flight to Ithaca has been cancelled. Go to Gate 2 for rebooking." WHAT?!?! How can it be cancelled?!

So- I sprinted back across the airport to Gate 2. I saw a flight boarding for Elmira, NY which would work very well. Nope, no such luck. There was no way I was getting on that flight. Ugh.

So, here is where the fun really began...

I joined literally hundreds of people in line. You see, they also cancelled about five other flights. At first, there was no word as to why the flights were cancelled. No one was coming around talking to us, and there was only one girl at the counter for rebooking. Finally, a person in line caught someone's attention and demanded to know why the flight to Ithaca was cancelled. My ears perked up, because I was also very interested. I was on the phone with Andrew, and he said the weather was fine, so I knew that wasn't the reason. After a few minutes, she came back and announced that our flight had been cancelled because there was no crew. How in the world do you have a flight booked and NO CREW shows up? Needless to say, this did not make people happy. Weather is one thing, lack of professionalism is another.

Regardless, I spent about 3.5 hours in this line waiting to get to the rebooking desk. For the first 2.5 hours, there was only one girl working the desk. When it was finally my turn, I approached the man who was going to decide my fate. But wait, he had to take a phone call first... from his girlfriend... who he "aww babied and I'm so sorry-ed" because he wasn't coming home for a while because he had to "deal with people whose flights were cancelled". I was NOT happy. Let me tell you, I did not ask for this to happen. So, any bit of sweetness I had in me was gone at this point.

When he finally got off of the phone, he told me that there were no more hotel rooms available for the night and assured me that I would be fine staying in the terminal. Great. He also told me that my flight had been rebooked for 10:20 the next day, but he added that he could not promise that the flight would go out. Therefore, there was a good chance I could be there until Sunday. Wonderful. He then tried to send me on my merry way. No way. I asked him for food vouchers as I had not had anything to eat since breakfast. He sighed, and after some coaxing, handed me some vouchers. Then I had to request a blanket and a pillow. Afterall, I was already at home sweet home. When he came back with the blanket, he told me that they were out of pillows. I exclaimed, "Of course you are." Not nice, but I was not happy. I then asked him where I could find my luggage that I had to check at the last minute. He asked for my tag, scanned it, and told me that it could not be located. OF COURSE. He told me that I would have to leave the terminal to go to baggage claim to find it. TSA was already gone for the day, so this meant if I left, I couldn't get back in. I wanted to find my luggage though, so off I went.

When I arrived in baggage claims, I waited an hour in that line. When it was my turn, the lady scanned my tag... and my luggage still could not be located. Oh my gosh. Seriously? So, she called out over the speakers and requested that everyone keep their eye out for it. She then sent me to belt 5 to wait.

At this point, I pulled out my paper thin blanket compliments of Delta airlines, and set up camp next to an electrical outlet so I could plug in my dying phone. I then waited... and waited... and waited. Oh, and did I mention that the ONE food place that was still opened closed as I was waiting in line to ask about my luggage? So, yep, you guessed it... no food still.

A couple hours later, I heard the belt siren go off, and I jumped up. When I saw that bright orange pop up on the belt, I was so relieved! I ran over and snatched it right up.

A guy then came over to me and asked me if this was my luggage. I said that it was. He then said that it was a good thing that it was such a unique and bright color or else I would have probably never seen it again. Wanna know why? It didn't have the tag on it. OF COURSE. See that little tag? That's the only identification on it... and that was put on it to send to belt 5. It did not have any information on it to go to Ithaca... or where it came from. Had I not left the terminal to find it, it would still be lost... and had that guy not taken the time to look a little harder, I would not have it. I thanked him several times.

Now that I had my luggage, I left the floor by belt 5 and found a row of seats in a great location...

1. They were in front of the night security desk
2. They were also in front of the bathrooms
3. They were right by an electrical outlet

After all of this, I still had some smiles in me. I was exhausted, but there was no way that I was going to sleep. I mean, afterall, I was all alone with only a few employees of the airport. No way were my eyes closing.

A couple hours later, I was still waiting.

Luckily, I had Andrew to keep me company. My main concern at this time was food. I still had not eaten, and I was getting very hungry. Around 4 or so, a sweet lady appeared from virtually nowhere and asked me if I would like some water. I quickly exclaimed "YES!" Before I knew it, she was back with a bottle of lukewarm water and several packages of airplane pretzels. Boy, these things have never tasted so good! I was very appreciative. 30 minutes later, this lady appears out of nowhere again with a banana. Her random acts of kindess definitely did not go unnoticed!

Around 6:10 on Saturday morning, my adventure in the airport drew to an end. This is not a surprise ending, because most of you know what happened, but...

My amazing husband came to my rescue! When he found out that my flight was cancelled... and that I was not promised a flight the next day... he immediately made the decision to drive 8 hours to get me. Pretty amazing, huh?! So, not only were we apart for a month, but he also rescued me from the airport. I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I was to see him! It did not even matter that we had both been up for 24 hours and still had an 8 hour drive ahead of us, just being with each other made EVERYTHING worth it.

We ended up being awake for 40 hours (Andrew) and 38 hours (me- due to the time difference) by the time all was said and done. Crazy, yes. I didn't even do that in middle school! Like I said, it was absolutely worth it. I am SO thankful to have a husband who didn't think twice about coming to get me. He also stayed on the phone with me for the majority of the time to make sure that I was safe. He's incredible- and I am grateful!

So, that's the story! It was absolutely insane, but it makes for a great story now.