life, apparently

I've had so much to say the past week or so that I've said nothing because I don't know where to start. Today is apparently mow the lawn and cut the trees day. It took me about an hour to drive to my office, weaving around various lawn mowing companies with 20-something boys smoking cigarettes while standing next to big trucks, fail to find a parking space without a 'do not park here' sign, and return back home. And so, I am annoyed and resort to blogging rather than anything requiring thought and/or effort.

• Visit to FriendWithKids was eventFUL. Turns out our kids don't play together so well. OldestBlondeBoy was happy to share as long as toys being shared were chosen by him and played with as directed. TheKid is not so good at following directions, especially those given by a 3 yr old and of course only wanted to play with toys OBB had in his hand. Instead TheKid decided to steal from, push, and maybe even step on TallBabyBoy. TBB on the other hand was a perfect angel. If TheKid was so well behaved at 11 months I would have had 2 more by now.
• FriendWithRestlessLeg had remarkably restful legs and I must say is a brave soul. I would surely have lost my mind if I spent days with other peoples misbeavin' kids.
• Father of TBB and OBB is a saint. He voluntarily spent the entire day with all 3 kids so us girls could go to TheBigCity. I have to say it was a pretty great, if a bit cold, day (for us, not so much for him).
• Flight home was cancelled with no announcement. When we checked-in the board said 'on time'. We found food, found the gate, and hung out until I got nervous when there was no plane, no gate agents, and the sign said some destination other than home, at 10 minutes til departure. I went to investigate (expecting a gate change) and found out that our flight was cancelled. They tried all kinds of crazy re-routing including taking a taxi to other airport and flying home, taking a taxi to yet a different airport and flying directly to GradSchool, waiting until tomorrow, etc. I had made the mistake of truthfully informing ticketing agent that TheKid was 2. After 30 minutes of trying to put me in a taxi or a hotel, a supervisor came over, pushed a few buttons, and said to me "He [TheKid] is under 2, right?" to which I enthusiastically responded "YES" and we were on the next flight home. I wasn't exactly thrilled about holding a sleeping, grouchy, dirty* kid on my lap for the flight home but I was happy that I'd still catch my flight to GradSchool.
• My connection was now too close to walk out exchange Kid for computer and re-enter through security so the wonderful ticketing people at America West arranged for TheHusband to get a gate pass (who knew this was even possible post 9-11? really, who knew?). We met at the gate and like Superman I removed one child, one backpack, and one coat handed them to TheHusband, spun around, and accepted one computer and one carryon then dashed off for my other flight.
  
• Of course that flight (which was originally delayed 1.5 hours) was now delayed another 1.5 hours. When I arrived at the gate, many angry people were talking to the gate agent and I learned that there was no pilot and no flight attendants, thus the delay. Early morning flight was full but mid afternoon flight had seats. I decided that I could not spend any more time in any airport, called TheHusband before he left, and exchanged my ticket for afternoon flight.
  
• Luckily (?) TheKid's luggage was lost so TheHusband hadn't left because he was still waiting for it to come flying down the ramp.
  
• We filed a lost luggage form and went home.
  
• As soon as we arrived, TheHusband called airline and they confirmed me on early morning flight (rather than afternoon flight) and booked me a taxi.
  
• Flight to GradSchool was fine** (shortened) trip was great.
• Return flight, as you might have guessed by now, was delayed 3.5 hours. I had 2 gigantic margaritas (what else to do?) and caught up on some blog reading.
  

*TheKid and 5 yr old MilesfromNewState were the best of friends at the airport. They played a game where MfNS rolled (most of the time anyway) a ball to TheKid, then ran down to retrieve the ball before TheKid could, and handed it to TheKid. TheKid then rolled (and/or threw) the ball to MfNS's end of the airport with a 50% chance of hitting an innocent bystander before MfNS had time to run back to his station at the other end of the airport and retrieve the ball. Some people were not happy. At all. Especially when they were hit in the head with the ball. It was foam, so I wasn't too worried. No one actually complained to me, so I pretended not to notice. I figured being hit in the head by a foam ball was better than listening to a 2yr old scream and throw himself to the ground. Maybe some people disagreed, I don't know and honestly I don't care.

**Although when I arrived at the airport they announced that they needed 5 people to volunteer to be bumped (of a 30 person flight) and that our flight crew was not present and we would be delayed. I nearly freaked out. Somehow everything magically resolved itself when I went to the restroom and though we took off late, we actually arrived early.

Labels: airports, whining

Posted Wednesday on Wednesday Whining from NortheastAirport:

Whine: Went to airport at 4am with wet hair (hotel hair dryer was broke). Waited outside in an ice storm (or what I thought at the moment to be an ice storm but what turned out to be only the slightest beginning of THE ICE STORM) for an hour. Finally I'm next in line -- wait -- airport is closed. Somehow convinced them to check me in despite orders to "close" ticketing.

teeny-tiny anti-whine: no line for security and relatively fresh food.

Back to the whine: Waited until 1pm with virtually no information about status of flight (other than delayed - duh!).

teeny-tine anti-whine: at least I didn't wait on the plane like several others.

Back to the whine: Finally decided to book flight for tomorrow despite no official cancellation of flights to Hometown. Booked with a connection in DC (uh oh) as all 5 direct flights were already booked. Waited outside in THE ICE STORM for 30 mins to take a 5 min shuttle to hotel. Waited in hotel lobby for another hour for a clean room.

anti-whine: I have a hotel room! A nice hotel room! with a free bag of microwave popcorn!

to-be-determined whine: I just checked in for tomorrow's flight so I will not have to wait in ticketing line (in theory) again. At least not until that flight is indefinitely delayed (seriously that is what the official declaration was - not cancelled but indefinitley delayed - WTF?)
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When I woke up Thursday, I found out flight to DC was delayed which would void any possibility of making a connection to Hometown flight. So, I went immediately to the airport because calling US (wait, this is a blog I should use a pseudonym) SuckyAirways is completely useless (if you do not get a busy signal (probability of which is 15%), then you are automatically disconnected). I went back to see my friends the gate agents and rebooked on a flight through the CityofNotherlyLove (all 6 direct flights were booked or cancelled). Flight was delayed and we waited on the tarmac for close to 90 minutes. Connection was delayed even longer but I eventually made it home. Total number of different reservations I had in less than 24 hours: 5. Total number of hours spent in the airport: 17. Total number of hours in flight: less than 2

Overheard/overseen at the airport:

• "There are 5 of us, so we can drive all night and make it there tomorrow night" - woman & friends who declared they would just drive from Northeast Airport to Florida for the race (I'm assuming this one). Perhaps she didn't realize that the reason we were all standing in line re-booking our flights was that there were several inches of ICE falling from the sky. Not exactly the best driving conditions.
  
• "hi. I'm scheduled to get married Friday and I'm wondering if I can reschedule for Monday or Tuesday?" - woman on a cell phone standing in airport with group of family, friends, and future-husband who were planning to fly to Cancun for her wedding.
• Woman in the seat next to me while we sat on the tarmac - sobbing on phone with her father's answering machine. Someone had died or was near death (I'm guessing the latter) and she wasn't sure if she'd make it to Florida to be with her father but was clearly putting on a brave face for him.
• Large group of students with disabilities running through the airport to board a plane bound for Ft Lauderdale only to sit on the tarmac for hours and attempt to take off twice. None of those passengers were too happy when they got off that plane (including woman determined to drive).
• State troopers on segways zooming through the airport. Honestly, the strangest thing I've ever seen. First, when did state troopers replace TSA? Second, where did they get the budget for segways?
• My sister booked a flight to visit us in March. Her seats are messed up and she is worried because she is flying with her 2 year old son (and she doesn't fly much). While I'm waiting to board my delayed flight she calls to complain that she has been calling SuckyAirways and Partner and was on hold forever with Partner but Sucky's line was always busy. I explain to her that perhaps the reason is that people like me are stranded in the Northeast. Perhaps her seating requests could wait a week or two. "Oh yeah I forgot about that" Wish I could have.

There are undoubtedly more stories I should tell. In my 9 hours at the airport Wed, I kept thinking "I need to remember that for my blog" but the following 8 hours apparently zapped those memories. Despite the craziness, I was particularly stress-free during the whole thing. I smiled at the craziness, laughed at the crazies, and had an excellent stay at the hotel (slept from 5-8:30pm and then 10:30-7!). I was quite relieved to be back home. I even complimented the SuckyAirways gate crew in NortheastAirport and I told him that is was not often that I am impressed by Sucky crew members so they shold take my compliment with the utmost of sincerity.

Labels: airports, ice storms, whining