Travel gods

I'm not entirely sure what I've done in order to anger the travel gods but I have done one heck of a good job at it!  Why you might ask?  Let me tell you...

About 27 hours ago now, I was packing my suitcase in order to leave Mom and Dad's (which we already know from past writings that I don't do well with goodbyes in any way, shape or form) and was just about to head to bed.  My phone was on the nightstand, was on silent, and it buzzed once - which for my phone signifies an email.  I usually only get junk emails in the middle of the night so I almost ignored it.  Something told me to just check it since it would only take about 2.5 seconds to delete said junk email.  Was I ever glad I checked it...  It was an email from the airline telling me at midnight that my 4 pm flight was cancelled.  Rather than just waiting (as the email suggested), I got on the phone with the airline.  After being informed by the robot voice that my call was very important to them, I was told that my wait time would be approximately an hour!  Being it was the middle of the night, I was obviously not amused...

Since I didn't have much else to do in the middle of the night while I was on hold (since I didn't want to wake up my parents or their dogs), I began to search for possible alternative flights.  I found there was one out of an airport about 2.5 hours from my parent's a few minutes before a customer service representative answered the phone.  They said they were sorry about my situation after I explained what had happened (even though I could hear in their voice that they were more indifferent) and they didn't see any flights until the next day and then they couldn't guarantee any connecting flights after that point.  I brought up the flight I had found and they didn't know what I was talking about.  I had to give them the flight number (in which they responded, "you DO realize what airport that's out of, right?"; yes, I do since I found the flight)) and then they were able to book me on that flight.

I left a note in the bathroom for my parents to find in the morning and then I went to bed.  After a few hours of broken sleep, I got up to inform my parents about what had happened in the middle of the night.  They drove me to the airport that my flight was now out of and while I was sitting at the gate, I got another email from the airline.  The next connecting flight along my journey was already slated to be delayed at least 2 hours and they were still hoping I would make the next (and final) connection.  Yeah, that didn't happen...  The connecting flight was about the 2 hours late, I missed my connection and am on the AM flight from this airport.  So, I find myself sitting overnight in an airport yet again...

Granted, I did talk to a ticket agent a little bit ago and they actually presented me with a hotel voucher (there is a first for everything!).  I am glad though that one of their comments made me pause and I did a check on the hotel they wanted me to spend the night in...  Their comment was they had "stuck" me there for the night (they also told me there were no other options unless I wanted to pay for a hotel room out of pocket) and they shook their head.  As I walked away, that really didn't sit well with me.  Before walking out through the point of no return of the airport, I stopped and checked the reviews of this particular hotel on my phone and boy am I glad I did!  "Dirty."  "Creepy vibe/evil."  "Didn't get much sleep."  Comments like that didn't really sit well with me...  I figured I would be safer at the airport so I stayed.  Time will tell if that was the correct decision or not...

Yes, I may have been able to get a couple of hours of sleep but maybe not.  I also didn't relish the thought of having to go through airline security yet again (because I would've needed to get up very early in the AM in order to catch the shuttle from the hotel to the airport and then go through all of the security checkpoints again).  Oh, well.  I made my decision and if it was a good one or not I have to live with the consequences of said decision (travel voucher "expired" 20-25 minutes ago).

I guess what I wish is that this isn't how my travel experience ended.  I had a GREAT time visiting with family these past couple of weeks and now this is how it wraps up.  Yes, the story of it is an adventurous one but I just want to not be in an airport anymore...  I guess how I just need to learn how to look at things is I can't let this mishap of getting from my parent's house back to my apartment ruin my trip as a whole.  Yes, it can frustrate me and make me want to pull my hair out - but what good will that do?  I'm sure at this point you're asking yourself, "why in the world is she just figuring that out now after we've read her ranting and raving about it?!?" (at least I hope you're still reading at this point...).  You know me at this point, my dear readers, and sometimes I just need to get things out of my system.

As I said, I had a GREAT time visiting with family and am already looking forward to the next opportunity I'll have to be with them all again.  Well, my dear readers, I think I'm going to bring this to a close for this evening (very early morning), I wish you all the very best for the New Year ahead and can't wait to write to you again on the flip side of 2014!  Be safe out there!  =)