For the past several weeks, I have been running into situations of slight chaos. The most recent has come in the form of air travel.
After waking up early for a doctor's appointment, I checked my email to see an email from JetBlue with the subject line CANCELLED. I knew that there was going to be a storm, but figured we would wait it out. (D.C. is pretty notorious for being wimps when it comes to the cold- I remember too many snow days in school when ultimately nothing happened.)
I went to the airport that was fortunately a 10 minute drive and went to try and get on an earlier direct flight. Nothing. There were also nothing going out until 7 pm the next day, and even with the snow, that was likely to get cancelled. The only hope was for T.R. and I to get on a standby flight to Orlando early that night that would then make it easier to get to San Juan. The problem was that T.R. was in Boston (he was planning on coming home that night and then flying with me the next morning). No problem- we would try to get him on a flight from Boston to San Juan, however he would have to go to the airport immediately from my grandparents...and didn't have any of his clothes. Ultimately he did get on a flight that got him in at 3 am...and didn't have a hotel booked because we had to leave early.
By a miracle, I was able to fit both of our stuff into a carry on and got on the flight to Orlando. Our flight however, was waiting for seven people from Boston for two hours and meant I missed my connecting flight. No problem! But the next one didn't leave until 6 am the next morning. That is where I find myself now. Sitting alone in the terminal at 3:30 am listening to the cacophony of The Weather Channel and distant flute music.
I think there are a lot of things to take away from this experience. First to start, I know that this is a problem of privilege and ultimately doesn't matter much in the long run. Even reading this on a computer, we are so blessed. I often think about these words, especially when traveling. Nothing ever goes the way it's intended and winter storms happen. I am grateful that we were even able to make it out at all. Taking one bite at a time and a step back is everything and even in the most stressful situations, we get a good story and by a miracle, make it out to the other side. {Image}
No comments