Vacation - Travel Day(s)

In my last post I wrote about how my flights were cancelled but I was too tired to deal with that stress. The next morning I learned there was a shuttle going to the airport to help folks get rebooked on flights. I stood in line for two hours before rebooking my flight for the following day and getting a hotel voucher. Luckily, I was standing in line with a few friends. I was thankful to not be dealing with that stress alone. I was ready to be home but glad for a quiet place to hunker down while the snow melted. 

Long airport line

After an evening and morning of reading, blogging, and playing cards, a few of us who had been stranded due to the cancelled flight had made our way to the airport. Two of the friends were my roommate and my summer roommate. If you’re going to get stranded, it might as well be with good friends. We were pessimistically hopeful that the plane would actually leave. Hundreds of flights had been cancelled in and out of my layover city. One stranded friend had had 3 cancelled flights already. 

Our flight was delayed but we did eventually leave. Once we landed in my layover city, I understood the reason behind all the cancelled flights. There were piles of snow on the runway and sheets of ice as well. 

Once inside the airport, I had the privilege of waiting in the passport control line for an hour and a half wondering if they would let me in without my card and without a major hassle. A friend who had entered the country the night before had had to stand in the long line twice. It was already almost midnight and I did not want that to happen. I prayed all the way through the line. At the last minute they opened up spaces in the lines reserved for the country’s citizens. I chose a line with a woman hoping for favor. I talked with her in her language and that seemed to help. I explained that I had lost my card but I do have permission to be there. She told me to go to the Passenger Documents Check Desk and get a piece of paper from them. I asked if I had to get back in the big line. She told me I could get it and then come back to her. At the check desk, the worker used my passport to look up my number and how long I had permission to be in the country. He wrote that date on the paper with my name and sent me on my way. Five minutes later I was back with my lady friend and she stamped my passport allowing me back into her country. 

My connecting flight had been cancelled the previous evening. I didn’t worry about rebooking until I knew for sure the first leg would actually make it. After hearing horror stories of other friends waiting in five hour long lines to rebook, J and I decided to just do a bus back to our city the next morning. We knew we could make that trip in about 8 hours and were we to have a non-cancelled flight, it would still take longer than the whole bus trip. We were able to stay at my summer roommate’s house. I was thankful too because we didn’t get out of the airport until midnight and didn’t get to her house until after 1am. We hopped on the bus the next day which was sunny and clear. We made it back to our city in about 6.5 hours. I was so glad to be home and so happy to get to do laundry. It had been 17 days and I had worn my clothes multiple times. I was ready.