I have learned one thing so far, people get way too upset about things that are not in their control. When one travels over the holiday, especally in the busiest time of the year, you MUST expect delays, cancellations and problems. It is just inevitable. I watched one man go absolule awol on a Delta agent yesterday since it was taking her so long to help the 50+ people in line trying to get home. Security was called and for one minute, I thought that he was going to be handcuffed and arrrested!
First, the Memphis airport was shut down the day before I left because of an ice storm. As a side note on that topic, it just seems like this city just waits for the ice to melt versus trying to get the proper chemicals on the roads to make the situation better. So, I was counting myself pretty lucky that this happened the day before I left and not the day of. Well, all that luck went away at 9:30 am yesterday morning.
By 9:30 am, my 8:36 flight to Cincinnatti had been delayed twice and then cancelled. After finally waiting on hold for 45 minutes with Delta, I walked back to the front of the airport where I had to pick up another telephone to get a hold of the Delta agents. Hence, we are in an age where a face to face communication is impossible. While on the phone with Delta, my second flight from Cincinnati to Dulles was also cancelled. The lady came very close to telling me that I was almost out of luck to get home for Christmas since everything was sold out until Christmas day.
But, she was able to find me a flight via Atlanta at 3:35 that would connect me to a Dulles flight at 7:30 getting me home at 9:30pm, the last flight out of Atlanta to Dulles for that day - my original arrival to Dulles was 2:30 pm. Very grateful, I took the flight and thanked her many times, knowing that many people around me were not going to get home. By the end of this call, the Cincinnati aiport was offically closed.
Well, the problems kept coming. By 1:30, I started to notice that my 3:30 flight was not appearing on ANY of the Delta monitors, and, of course, all the agents were tied up trying to get other people home. I called my work's travel desk, which told me that my flight was delayed to 5:30 because of mechanical problems, which meant that I would get to Atlanta, maybe, but I would never make it home. I quickly stood in a long line for a sold out 2:03 flight to Atlanta to see if I could fly stand by. Only by the grace of God, did I make it on this flight.
I finally made it to Atlanta, which was a complete utter mess. I thought to myself, why do we all do this to ourselves? Why don't we fly home sooner to miss this mayhem? I still have not come up with an answer.
Weary and exahausted, I was so happy to see the Dulles airport and my father waiting to pick me up. When the bags came, mine did not, which did not surprise me; they were transfered to three different flights before I left the Memphis airport. But, I was not the only person missing bags. About 1/3 of my plane did not have their bags. And almost every flight had people missing their bags. I have never seen anything like it. Delta told me that it came in on my flight; so my dad and hunted for about 1 hour before we gave up.
Today, I went back to the Dulles airport, praying that it would be there, as all my clothes, medicine and presents were in there. The number I was given was busy all day long and I could not get through, so I could not confirm if it was there or not. It was there, but it did not come via Delta. It came via American Airlines from who knows where.
All I can do at this point is just laugh about everything. B called this morning to make sure that I actually made it home and just laughed when I told her about the luggage. It is what it is! I am just happy to be in Maryland and not stuck in Memphis or an airport for Christmas. And, I am so happy to have my own clothes here.
Memphis has been pinning away for any sort of a white Christmas; their wish came true. But, it came with only a small amount of snow and a lot of ice on the road. I thought that DC/Maryland were not capable of handeling snow and ice, but Memphis in comparison is horrible.
There is barely anything on the road, or at least what I am used to from living up north, and the whole city has completely shut down. I never saw any news bulletin that salt trucks would be treating the roads, even though they knew that this was coming for a few days. I just hope that my flight is not cancelled tomorrow as I try to get to MD for the holidays.
Christmas is only a few weeks away. I can't believe it. I was able to get most of my Christmas shopping done before my surgery. I knew that I would not have any energy to do any sort of shopping after it. But, I do have one more person to buy for...........my father.
Ughh.....I have NO idea what to get him. He is really the hardest person to shop for. I hate the standard DVD's, CD's, books, liquor and clothes. I always get him that. I really love to give special gifts, something that really fits that person. Two years ago, I bought him a flyfishing rod. Last year, I was a huge book set that he really wanted. This year, I am at loss. He said, oh, I don't need anything. The standard response!!!
Does anyone have ANY good suggestions???
For those that read this for any sort of personal news on my life, my sugery went well. I was in the hospital for 3 days and came home on Friday, one day longer then expected. I have had a round of complications: reaction to one of my pre-op medicines, major swelling and brusing, bad reaction to medicines once I got home (I got sick - which is not good when all you can have is liquid and you cannot keep it down) and severe pain.
Coming out of surgery was something that I hope I never had to do again. It was such a strange experience. I remember them putting the IV in my arm and my resident surgeon telling me that all was going to be okay; the next thing I remember, it was 6 hours later and there were all these nurses screaming over me since they realized that I was having an alergic reaction to one of my meds. I could not see much and everything seemed like they were screaming in my ears. And, I was in so much pain. I thought that I was dreaming at first! It was so bizarre!
But, I made it home; finally! I have been sleeping so much; one of the great benefits of being pain meds. You really do not get much sleep in a hospital when you are connected to 5 different machines and have nurses coming in every hour to make sure that you are okay!
My face feels like a 100 pounds and that a semi ran over it. In all reality, I look like someone took a bat to my face. Being on a liquid diet is, well, just grand! I was restricted to what I could drink as some of it was upsetting my stomach with all the medicine that I had. I hope to graduate to milk shakes soon, instead of juice and chicken stock.
I have watched more day time tv then I have ever wanted to in my life. I sit here and wonder, who watches all this stuff every day to keep it going? It just puzzles me!
I am off to the hospital in about 30 minutes for my surgery. Thankfully, the surgery is only 3 hours vs. the predicted 5 hours that they thought. Hopefully, I will come home tomorrow night vs. Friday.
My pantry is packed with liquids, which will be my meal for the next few weeks. Thankfully, you get really good medicine when you have surgery. There is always a silver lining to every cloud.
It is going to be one fun ride!!!