So, my dear blog readers, today was the day. I would finally get to embark on my life changing journey to Dublin, Ireland, to experience the schooling, the culture, the lifestyle, and so much more, to find myself and discover things about myself that not even I knew, to venture down the roads-less-traveled to find what many tourists do not, and to be touched emotionally and spiritually.
After a particularly confusing night of speaking with many Indian people about some incorrect flight information, I woke up this morning, got my two big suitcases, duffel, and backpack all together, packed the car, and headed to the airport, knowing that after sorting through last night's fiasco, with my fresh new flight information, everything would go smoothly, right?
"HAHAHAHAHA!" said the universe. "Everything go smoothly? Now why would I do that!? I've already given you this much trouble, let's see how much more you can handle!"
I got through security and everything just fine, no problems. When it was time to board my flight, I noticed that everything was delayed. Not long, about twenty minutes.
But that was just the beginning.
Next thing I knew, we were on the tiny plane, sitting and waiting obediently with our seat belts buckled, our seats in the full upright position, and our tray tables folded up and locked in place, but not going anywhere. Just waiting. We finally started moving after about a half hour of just sitting there, but the captain said something about not being able to take off right away. So we just stayed parked somewhere in the middle of everything, but away from the gate, so we had to stay on the plane. Well, we stayed there for about two hours, not moving, not knowing when we would take off, before they FINALLY decided to take us back to the terminal and let us get off the plane. They said we would re-board in about fifteen minutes.
So I went to grab a snack and made sure I was back in ten. However, not long after my return, someone came on the speaker and said, "We'll have an update for anyone on the flight to JFK in about forty-five minutes."
What.
Okay, I said to myself, I have a really long layover in New York. I'll still have time.
Not ten minutes later, they came over the speaker again and said, "Flight to JFK has been canceled. We will do our best to get everyone re-booked, but there are no other flights going out to JFK today. Thank you for choosing American Airlines!" The nerve of them.
Now up to this point, I had done a pretty good job of keeping my cool. But now, I started to panic. I had no idea what to do! Per my mother's advice, I waited in line to talk to the flight attendants to try to get another flight. After all, I don't HAVE to be in Ireland until Thursday, so I had some time.
After waiting in line for another half hour at least, I got up to the desk and told the attendant I need to be in Dublin by Wednesday. I ended up having to stand there for another half hour while she tried to find me a new flight. I ended up getting one for tomorrow around 10:30, connecting in Chicago and getting to Dublin around 7am on Wednesday. I decided I was okay with this, even though I'll end up with a seven-ish hour layover in Chicago. If only I could leave the airport and go tour the city for a bit... Oh well. Hopefully I'll find something to do.
So there it is, that was my disappointing, frustrating, stagnant day. Maybe tomorrow my plane will actually leave the ground.
Until then...
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