Getting Home!

SOOO....I'M HOME!!!! Some of you may have known I would be flying home for a few days while others of you may be sitting there thinking ...."WHAT." For those of you thinking "what" don't worry you are not alone there were lots of people who had no idea I was coming in. I had the pleasure of showing up at Malone Thursday night and shocking everyone on campus. There have been screams, laughs, and tears that will last a lifetime in my memories. I have especially enjoyed walking across campus and watching people lift their hands to wave hello seconds before it hits them that seeing me isn't a natural thing. It is then that the screams come and the bone crushing hugs happen. It may have taken me 2 hours to eat lunch in the cafeteria on Friday because I was interrupted so many times. However, it hasn't been all good surprises. It just may have taken me 2 full days to finally make it home. I was scheduled to fly out early afternoon on Wednesday. However, the plane that we were supposed to fly out on was an hour and a half late causing me to miss my connecting flight home. That was of course the last flight out for the night. Therefore, I had to stay overnight at a hotel in Miami until I could get on a plane to fly out the next morning. Trying to keep a good attitude about the whole situation I got some dinner, got on the shuttle and headed for my hotel. I awoke early the next morning with plenty of time to take my first bath in months and head to the airport. However, when I tried to use the shuttle to go back to the airport I found out that I was supposed to call them 24 hours in advance and so ended up having to take a taxi. (That cost me $59.60!!!) I arrived at the airport Thursday morning and headed through security to get to my gate. Upon my arrival I found that F 34 was quite empty considering the flight was supposed to be boarding in 10 minutes. Therefore, I decided to go check the board to see if my flight was late. Of course it wasn't late that had simply CANCELED IT!!! I headed for the front desk to see what was going on and was told they would put me on a later flight that would get me to New York after my connecting flight. I was once again going to be stranded in a state overnight! The lady at the counter seemed to not understand why I was having a problem with this fact. No matter how hard I prayed I couldn't seem to manage to stay completely calm as she continued to be rude. I managed to ignore most of her comments until she finally threw in the kicker of the day. Let’s just mention that I have tears in my eyes and a look of desperation on my face at this point. In an attempt to stay calm I told the lady that I was sorry and I understood that it wasn't her fault. However, after being gone for 4 months I was only supposed to be home for 14 days and now it was going to look more like 12. She looks at me and in her best patronizing voice says "well lets look at it this way ma'am. 50 years ago this didn't all exist and it would have taken you more than 14 days to travel from Honduras to Ohio. Therefore, I think you should be thankful for technology and the fact that it allows you to have the 12 days you will have at home!" After a second of prayer I ever so "kindly but firmly" said "well thankfully I'm only 21 and wasn't around 50 years ago. SOO I get to take advantage of present day technology and was giving people like her a job. Therefore, she should probably get on her computer and find me a flight into anywhere in Ohio." I was done being picky I just wanted in the state. About that time my father called to say he had found me a flight with Continental that flew out at 11:30 and went straight to Cleveland. It was better than I could have hoped for. I was told to head to the Continental desk and they would print my ticket out. However, when I got there they told me that the lady at the American Airlines desk hadn’t done something right in the computer and I had to go back to her and get her to fix it. By the time I RAN all the way across the airport, got the lady to fix the problem, and ran back to Continental’s desk I only had 22 minutes to get my ticket and get to my gate. Lets just say that I was bawling as the reality that I was going to miss the flight began to sink in. Well the 20 + people in front of me took pity on my tears and let me go ahead of them all…and you know what…I STILL MISSED THE FLIGHT. So at this point I have already cancelled the other ticket and was now holding a ticket in my hand for a flight that had just taken off. So I headed back to American to get my old ticket back. I got the old ticket and reached my gate just in time to watch the plane take off. Back to the American desk I went. By this point they were growing tired of seeing my face! They informed me that the only thing they had to offer me was a flight into NY and then a flight out of NY the next morning. I wasn’t about to stay at another hotel so my dad found me yet another flight with yet another airline. (United Airways) There was a flight leaving at 12:40. I made it to their desk, got my new ticket, and headed for the gate. There was plenty of time to get there in time ….given that I didn’t get pulled out for a random check at the security point. Oh of course yes that is what happened! I walked up and the man motions for me to follow him. He took me off to the side into a room where another man unpacked my carry on and purse. He then wiped both bags and ME down with a cloth. He waved his little wand thingy all over and asked me all kinds of questions. He then says “ok all done” as he walks away leaving all of my stuff lying out on the table for me to repack. The whole process took me 20 minutes and by the time I got done I had missed..oh yes…my 4th flight in 24 hours. I called my dad sobbing to inform him I would need just one more flight! He got me on a 1:50 flight with United Airways and guess what…I made it!!! I got my ticket and made it to the gate in time to actually board this time. I flew from there to Philadelphia and managed to make it to my next gate with plenty of time to even grab a sandwich! As I sat waiting for my next plane to board the lady came on to announce that “there would be a bit of delay as there were maintenance problems with the plane.” I called my mother to inform her that I was starting to fear for the lives of those flying with me because my luck had been “great” all day! An hour later we finally boarded and I was finally on my way home. I arrived 24 hours after I was supposed to have flown in….but I made it!