Airport Tag…Onto, Oh, Ohio!

Perhaps my Pays Du Vaud report was a tad late because of an unfortunate situation that every traveler will face at some point. I am of course talking about getting stuck in the airport. I happen to travel 33 straight hours from the time I was dropped off at the train station in Izegem to the airport in Myrtle Beach. Entering the airport, I could sense something was wrong. I walked up to the lady and she started checking me in for the 11:50 flight to JFK. She told me it was delayed by 3 hours to 2:50. Odd…she asked for an earlier flight at 11:20am to Atlanta which was the second connection from JFK. I said yes. However, she quickly changed her mind and said there was no room available, sorry. Well I have experience in waiting around for flights so no worries there…the flight over to JFK was quite pleasant I managed to grab 4 meals on the plane and they even served ice cream (!?)

At JFK I had to collect my bags and recheck them in successfully. I went through security check where I got the good ole random selection screening. No biggie. I get to my gate where I have under an hour to relax and charge the labtop. I walk up to the screen where it has the departure time and destination. I saw the 6:50pm flip to 8:30pm as I was standing there. Bewildered I stumbled off to Starbucks hoping it was the lack of sleep that was messing with my eyes. I come back from Starbucks and check it again. Ha! I thought to myself I am awake and the flight is 30 minutes away. I gaze at the screen in bewilderment: 9:10pm, #%*#* I realize there is no way I can make the 3rd connection flight from Atlanta to Myrtle Beach. And I would ring my father for one of many times. After a few conversations, my dad hooks me up with a night at the holiday inn express for the night and an early flight out to MB. Sweet!

I went and sat down next to a cute girl. Since I was hoped up on expresso I cracked a joke to her and she just starred back at me. May be I said it to fast: I repeat it again. She looks at me and starts talking to me in French. Oh, she is French. Well I would have communicated back to her but the only words I knew in French where the lyrics off the Moulin Rouge song and that might not go over so well.

Anywho, the plane starts boarding and I am in my comfortable seat next to the window. I fell asleep…hour or so passes and I wake up still on the runway. Great! The captain comes on and says we are 3rd in line for takeoff. Okay just a matter of minutes! I doze off and on again and wake to the captain’s voice: we are 8th for takeoff now. What?! Minutes later we jumped to 19th. Finally, I doze off again praying it would all end soon. It did but in a different way. The flight was cancelled as the crew timed out. Everybody was kicked off the airplane. I managed to snag a couple of pretzels on the way out (take that Delta!). I spent 4 hours on the runway no Holiday Inn express and early flight to MB for me 😦

Next what would be possibly the craziest hours of my life. I fought tough and nail for my 156th place in line to reschedule my flight. Finally, the counter help got me on the flight to Manchester, NH to Atlanta. Since I was still on European time and caffeine surging through my vains I stayed awake the next hours until 4:30am when the security gates opened. I knew I had to get out of JFK if it is the last thing I do. I again got random selection screening at 4:30 in the morning. Finally, I find the earliest flight out to Atlanta at 6:30am. Hahaha! I used my European toughness from fighting tooth and nail over golf cart sized path roads with 200 others to find myself 1st in line to try to get Stand By on the early flight. I managed another hit up of Starbucks again. Guess whose name was called first on Stand By? yours truly! Finally some good luck.

I arrived in ATL fully regenerated. I went to collect my bags. I found one…the other would not show up until 3 days later. Again I went through Security Check and found myself getting selected for the “random selection screening”. I did not care anymore. I boarded a 2:35 flight to Myrtle Beach. I arrived a little before 4pm. I think I drank 12 cokes, 2 expressos, 1 double shot expresso, and 2 cappuccinos.

Now that I have returned from the beach, tomorrow morning I have a 9 hour drive to Ohio for a 6 day stage race. ha 9hrs is nothing now…I will keep you updated.

Just remember next time your scheduling a flight, it might be wise to do it by car. You might just get there at the same time 😉

David