What a Day!

I'm sitting home this evening. I got up at 3 am today to take Mr. W and myself to the Denver airport, expecting to catch a flight to South Carolina to meet up with family. We went through security quickly, got to the gate, and got on the plane smoothly. Then we waited. Fifteen minutes. 30 minutes. Then the captain gets on and tells us we'll have to deplane because there something wrong with one of the engines.

So we get off, and I know that we are now going to miss our connection in Atlanta. Since I'm in the back of the plane, it takes forever to get off, and we find ourselves toward the back of the long line that has formed at the ticket counter, with a measly 2 agents rebooking people. I get about halfway through that line (in 1.5 hours) and then they need to use the gate for another flight, so they tell us to go over to the customer assistance desk, which is close by, but I can't hear anything, because I'm at the back of the line. So I end up toward the end of that line, and wait another 2 hours to get a flight, not to Charleston, but to Columbia, where I can then rent a car and drive the 95 miles. Mr W is a mess at this point, he's still fighting a cold, so he's coughing, and tired, and cranky. He couldn't seem to get past the fact that we did our end of the deal, we showed up on time and got on that plane.

So I've arranged to have us fly to Columbia. Then they delay the initial flight one more time, and that idea is gone. I go back and wait another 20 minutes and they say they can fly us to Atlanta tonight, put us up at their expense, and get us on a plane to Columbia tomorrow morning. That was just too many concessions on my part, I thought, so they ended up rebooking us for Wednesday. I was stymied: there is no way I can get to my destination, despite having paid $960 for two tickets and being at the airport at 5:30 this morning.

I need to look at the tickets again, I have a feeling we have a long layover in Atlanta, but oh well. By the time I've waited in line that long, my brain was all mushy and I just wanted for it to end. We left the airport about 9 hours after we got there, and immediately took a nap when we got home. I couldn't stop saying, "unbelievable!", although in my mind it was "un-f*ing-believable!!!!". Mr W's still sleeping, and I thought I'd get up so I could sleep tonight. I suspect he'll be able to sleep through.

This has been the wackiest family visit effort ever. Both of my sisters in law have injured one of their knees in the last week and are on crutches. My dad was going to come down on his way to Florida, but erred on the side of caution and is taking another route, so we won't see him. I will say this much: it makes me appreciate when things run as they should, and I won't take those times for granted. I was actually thinking after Thanksgiving that my travel had been surprisingly smooth for a long time. It was bound to happen.

So, the dog's in the kennel, we'll figure out something to do tomorrow, and we'll give it another go on Wednesday.