Tales of Traveling: Episode 1

Tales of Traveling: Episode 1

Sometimes there are events you experience and you think, “no one is ever going to believe this.”

As a novice traveler for work and an aspiring writer, I decided would document said times in writing with hopes that maybe one day I will have enough to put together a book of hilarious tales of traveling!

I traveled all day Sunday with no flaws in my trip. I had a long layover in Charlotte but I was able to maximize my time by writing content for LinkedIn, networking, and catching up on some other work.?

Had a great week and Friday morning I presented a training workshop but my flight out was not until 7:15 p.m. that evening. So I decided to drive from Kissimmee to my cousin’s in Lake Forest, Florida to visit and have some family time.?As always, we got to talking and I lost track of time, leaving her house later than I had originally planned. Despite being behind schedule, I was able to remain pretty calm, said a quick goodbye and jumped in the car to the airport.

Almost immediately after entering the highway, I approached what turned out to be a large accident, creating a huge backup. Oh, and the sky opened up in a typical late-afternoon thundershower like it does all the time in Florida.?It took a bit to crawl through and just as I was beginning to panic, I got an alert my flight was delayed 25 minutes.?

Great! I can make the flight still!!?

I returned my rental car (WAY easier than I expected it to be) and breezed through TSA (if you don’t have Clear and travel a lot- I highly recommend this)! I made it to my gate with no issue before the scheduled takeoff.?

Not having enough time to grab “real food,” I grabbed a snack and a bottle of water from the concession stand right near my gate before boarding started. After I paid, I boarded the plane. I watched and listened as the flight crew announced the plane would be delayed another 10-15 minutes due to poor weather at the Georgia/Florida border…now pushing my connection time in Charlotte to 10 minutes. Okay…still not panicking. I figured this happens and if enough of us are on that connecting flight they may hold the plane (in hindsight I know this was just naive of me to think).

The flight was completely full. One of the last people to get on the plane was a young lady, not out of high school yet who was assigned right next to me. Before we even took off, I realized I would not make my connecting flight. Still, I stayed calm… surely they will put me on another flight home. Also by the time we took off, I knew she was a very troubled young girl, had been hospitalized multiple times, and was currently unmedicated and hated to fly. In attempts to practice what I preach about kindness, I wanted to be helpful and she clearly wanted to talk….but she literally did not stop talking until we landed in Charlotte.?

Once in Charlotte, it became apparent that more than ? of the people on my flight had missed connecting flights all over the country, and because it was now almost 11 pm, there were not going to be flights out until morning.?Ok, I thought. I can handle this. I will get a hotel through the airline and fly out in the morning.?

After waiting for more than 70 minutes in a line over 100 people long, I reached the American Airlines Customer Service desk.?The gentleman assigned to help me was lovely to deal with and it was not his fault, but by this point, I was getting annoyed and tired, and other than some mixed nuts and a granola bar, I had not eaten all day.?He finally booked me on a flight out at 6:35 PM (YES PM!) the next night. Ok- still not mad, I figured it will give me time to catch up with some friends since I used to live there. Trying to go with the flow.?

He finally booked me after quite some time to go to a local hotel and I headed outside to wait for a ride the airline had arranged to the hotel. (Oh, I should also mention it was cold and windy, and I was flying from Florida to the beaches of NC, so I was not prepared for HOW cold it would be.)?We froze while we waited for at least another 20 minutes before they loaded several of us into a van to drop us all off at various hotels.?

Or course, my hotel was the last drop off, and I was the last one out of the car, and last in the line of seven others to check-in.?After several minutes of the attendant rushing around and making calls, she turned to us as a group and says, “I don’t know why they sent you here; I don’t have any rooms available.”?

At this point, it’s about 12:30 a.m. so too late for me to call anyone in the area for help. I got on the phone with American Airlines (and continued to be on the phone with them until almost 4 a.m. with no solutions).?While I was on hold, I opened a chat on the computer with a different AA representative. At this point, all I wanted was to be on the first plane home I could get. I clearly was not going to get to sleep.

He was very helpful. After several minutes, he was able to get me booked on a flight from Charlotte to Wilmington at 9:15 a.m. in first class for my “troubles”. Since it was now after 4 a.m. in the morning, I decided to just get a cab back to the airport (luckily I did have a voucher for this).

I got in line at TSA at 4:20 a.m. and there were about 60 people in line in front of me. (Here’s my second plug for Clear; Charlotte Airport does not have it yet and NEEDS it ASAP!)?I waited in line for over 45 minutes but having serval hours to kill, I was fine and still trying to just go with the flow overall. Once through security, I headed straight to my gate since all the stores and restaurants were still closed.?

I found a double chair and since I am only 4-10” tall, I was able to use my backpack as a pillow and lay down, sort of. But it was freezing in the airport and again, coming from Florida, I had no clothing options that would have helped me warm up.?

I decided to kill time by walking around the airport a bit and slowly watched the stores open and more people arrive to work and catch their flights.?At this point, I was so tired that I could not even eat. I don’t know if you have ever felt this way before, but I was at the point of exhaustion that it hurt to blink my eyes, and my whole body hurt.?My flight was supposed to start boarding at 8:45 a.m. and after wandering and wasting time for over 4 hours, I was ready.?

Right before 8:45 a.m. the screen above the flight attendant’s head changed from “on time” to “delayed.”?At first, it was 10 minutes…then another 10…and finally another 10.?My flight which was supposed to leave at 9:15 a.m. arrived at about 9:30 a.m. after taxiing and unloading. And after what seemed to be several minutes after the plane de-boarded, a younger gentleman came stumbling out of the door, clearly not well.?The airline did the best it could to turn the flight around quickly and get us back on board and we took off at about 10:00 a.m.

Once on board (in my first-class seat) I listened and watched everyone else board.?The flight attendants shuffled around and finally took their seats to prepare for take-off.?I overheard one of them turn to the two others and say, “I cannot believe the boy overdosed on the plane! He’s so lucky to be alive!”?

I eventually leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes. As we took flight, I began running through the last 24+ hours of chaos and thought to myself, “no one is ever going to believe this!”?