On my own: Part Two

Waiting at the airport... waiting... and waiting

So after all that's happened between now and when I wrote my last blog, I think there's enough reason for a little update.

No sooner had I posted my optimistic blog about the future and newly discovered freedom with this trip, I began to get my latest update on my flight that was supposed to leave at 5:30 to get to my connecting flight in Denver. It was delayed a whole two hours because of a storm. This didn't bother me at first. What did I care if I had to wait a couple extra hours; I had been able to occupy myself thus far, so I would be able to find something to do with the extra time. Little did I know how much extra time I would have.

As it got closer to 7, I heard an announcement saying how if we had connecting flights that were supposed to go to San Antonio amongst some other places that we needed to see the information counter to reschedule our flight. In other words, we weren't gonna make it into Denver in time to get to our connecting flights. I still took this in stride; as long as I could reschedule another flight, shouldn't be too big a deal. So, I went up to the counter to take care of the situation. When it was my turn to ask how I could reschedule to get into San Antonio that night, the silence and worried looks I got were beginning to spell out for me that this wouldn't be an ordinary fix.

After a few minutes of the clerk looking at her computer screen, she told me that there were no other flights leaving Denver or Philadelphia that could get me back home tonight. The best she could do was reschedule a flight that would leave the following morning from Denver to Phoenix and then finally to San Antonio. In other words, I wasn't going anywhere tonight. Again, no worries, I had a new flight plan, I would just find a hotel that the airline should supply me with, spend the night, and leave in the morning. No such luck.

The way up to Denver was a four hour long flight, but it wasn't so bad. I had reading material, was able to fill up on peanuts and crackers, and talked with a very nice couple to fill the time. Normally I would rather not talk with random people sitting next to me in a contained area (if there was an awkward silence, there was no way out, you just had to sit there and endure it), but these people were very easy to talk to and even offered to stay with me in Denver until I knew what I was doing. We landed, left the plane, and walked into a terminal full of chaos.

Apparently their computers had crashed and so practically all of Denver's planes were on delay until they were able to reboot the system. Needless to say, it was a confusing scene as clerks were dashing here and there trying to fix the situation while there was a lot of people around waiting (many of them not especially happy). Thus seeing it was going to take a while, I thanked the couple and told them that I would be fine by myself, and joined in a long line of people who were waiting to be seen at the information counter. Once it was finally my turn I explained my situation and asked if they could set me up with any hotels. They asked me what the reason for delay was, and I truthfully answered that it was a storm. Wrong answer apparently (truth didn't set me free this time) as she kindly explained that since it was weather related, the airline couldn't compensate me with a complimentary hotel or even a meal ticket. That being said, she did give me a number to call to see if there were any rooms available for me to book in the area and that I should head down to ground transportation for a shuttle to pick me up.

Now the Denver International Airport is a big place. I mean, you have to take a train just to get from terminal to terminal. So I was a little concerned for myself (again, directionally challenged) when she listed off a long line of directions on how to get to ground transportation. Amazingly enough, I was able to repeat what she said and eventually find my way to the exit doors. It is important to note that I never went past the exit doors, but remained inside to make my call.

So. I made the call. Unfortunately since a lot of other planes had been delayed, this meant that while I was figuring out how to get to ground transportation, other passengers were booking their hotels. The person on the other line informed me that there weren't really any rooms available in the area. There was one, but it was 25 miles away, cost $130, and did not have a shuttle, so I would've had to obtain a taxi. This sounded like a bad expensive plan that would probably end with me sleeping in and missing my flight, so I politely declined and said that I would find another option. But that was just it, I was out of options. The only option I had left was to spend the night in the terminal.

Ok. If Tom Hanks could do it for months, I could certainly survive for one night.

So, I turned around to retrace my steps back to where I came from. I was immediately stopped by two security guards.

"Can we help you with anything ma'am?"

"Um, I'm just going back to my terminal because I wasn't able to get a room for the night, so no thanks, I should be able to find my way."

"Yeah, no, we can't allow to go back this way; you have to go back through security."

This slightly annoyed me. I looked from them to the exit sign that I clearly had not passed and then back to them. They were serious. So, I said ok, and they directed me (the wrong way I might add) to the security line. Up to this point I had been pretty cool about everything. As long as I had a plan and things were able to fixed, there was no reason to freak out. This was an adventure after all, so I had accepted it as much. However, the line to go through security was pretty extensive.

 I finally made it close to the front where the line broke off into three separate lines for security to check your ID and plane ticket. I was in one line, decided it was too long and switched at the last minute. When I realized I made a wrong decision as the line I had been in sped on forward and the one I was in was at a stand still I began to feel really distressed. My flights had been delayed, I had been walking around carrying my luggage all day (not the kind with wheels), so I was tired, I had to spend the night in the terminal, and to top it all off, I had chosen the wrong line. Keep it together, I told myself, it's not the end of the world. And it wasn't, I just needed to get to where I was going and sit down a bit.

Finally I made it to the terminal, and settled in for the long night. It was close to 11pm by then, my flight left at 7 in the morning. Since the chairs all had arm rests, I couldn't lay on the chairs, so I laid down on the ground and curled up trying to get comfortable  I managed to get a couple of restless hours, but soon woke up as the cleaning crew rumbled by on their vacuum cleaners. Everyone was gone. It was an interesting feeling being able to wander around with no one in the area. I walked around, I read, watched a movie, even did some hand stands and cart wheels (why not, right?) and was able to survive the next hours on low sleep occupying myself in various ways and texting random people to see if they were still up, until I finally made it home.

This doesn't in any way change what I said before about my being excited to be on my own. I am still looking forward to the future, for the good and bad. If anything, this whole experience has just prepared me further. Now anything will seem like a piece of cake! God was with me the entire time, friends and family were able to pass the time and were very supportive and comforting from a distance. So really, I guess what I took away from this whole debacle is that even though I am finally going to be able to go out and live my life on my own and make my own decisions, I am still glad that when difficult times come, I am never alone and will look forward sharing my life as I live it (good and bad) with those that I care about who will always be around to listen and have my back.