I started to feel better when I realized things could become tragically worse. I thought I would recap my top worst traveling moment in honor of my achy feverish body.
Late December 2009:
I was working in Atlanta and just days before Christmas I was released from work to go home for the holidays. I booked a flight to Baltimore, where Lila was staying with her Nana and then one for the following day to El Paso, Tx. I was flying Delta. For those who aren't yet aware, Delta is by far the worst airline I have ever flown with, and I fly quite a bit. They are always delayed, canceled, losing luggage, something. Well, this time, they did all of the above at once.
My flight from Atlanta to Baltimore was delayed because they couldn't find one of their stewardesses. Seriously. Also, some luggage had fallen off of the cart that transports it to the bottom of the plane, so there were a lucky 7 of us who's luggage was lost. Thanks Delta! I finally arrived in Baltimore after about a two hour delay and had to wait for a different plane to bring in my luggage. I finally got my bags and I began getting ready for my 6 a.m. flight to El Paso the following morning. Nana Kathy drove us to the airport and when I approached the counter the Delta representative informed me that my flight had been canceled because the 'snow detectors' on the plane were broken. Side note: What the heck are snow detectors? Can't the pilots just see the snow!? Anyway, at days before Christmas, everything was booked solid. True to form, I began to cause a scene at the counter informing the Delta representative that I would not be leaving the counter until I had a clear flight to El Paso. She was able to find a fight in an airport in Virginia that was leaving that afternoon. It would be a bit of a drive but Kathy was gracious enough to take us.
We left Baltimore with hours to spare. Feeling confident the the worst was behind us, we made our way to Virginia. My world came crashing down when we realized we were stuck in 10 mph traffic due to a massive car wreck. Kathy's car then overheated and wouldn't turn on. Nervous wreck can't begin to describe how I was feeling. I arrived at the airport minutes after final check-in had closed. Before completely losing my composure I asked the woman what the next stand by flight would be.
Now, before I tell you this next part, you have to know that I now feel really terrible about it. The woman in Virginia did not know what circumstances I was coming from and did not deserve the reaction that then came from me.
The lady looked at the monitor and informed me that I was not eligible for another stand-by flight since I had missed my 6 am flight. I interrupted her to tell her that no, in fact, my flight that morning had been canceled. She assured me that the flight had only been delayed two hours and had arrived safely in El Paso. I'm not proud of what followed. I released every bit of anger and frustration from the previous 36 hours on this poor woman. There was shouting, there were hand gestures, there were tears; on both of our parts. I caused such a commotion that the actual airport manager came out to try to pacify the situation. Ultimately, and to this day I don't know how, I was transferred to United Airlines and they were able to book me on a flight to Chicago that night. I stayed the night at a hotel and boarded my flight to Texas the following morning. Ultimately, everything worked itself out.
On that note, I now know nothing could be worse than that experience and I survived it so a little fever doesn't seem as serious now.
If I can finish packing today I will be back on schedule. There is just so much to pack!
This is my laundry from yesterday:
And this is my 'his and hers' closet, which is 12 feet of nothing but my clothes:
I'm only going to take two large suitcases and fill them half way to allow for shopping space. Come on, it's Chicago!
Wish me luck!
