My trip home

After several hours of ice and snow, Myrtle and I made our way to the airport. My fight to Detroit was not canceled, just delayed and hour. My flight to Scranton, however, was a different story. Upon disembarking, I looked at the monitors to see about my next flight. I was disheartened to see "CANCELED" written next to it.

I trudged my way down to gate C36, the one it was suppose to leave from, which was at the other end of the terminal. The lady there told me to check at gate C27, than C2. Nothing at gate C27. C2 was back where I had started. So I trudged myself back, and my eyes fell upon a line of people that would take forever to get through. Apparently I wasn't the only one with cancellation issues. I waited a bit, than noticed I was not in line for gate C2. I made my way to the three person line at the desk of C2. When the Delta man scanned my boarding pass, 5 slips of paper spit out of a machine. They were my vouchers for a hotel, ground transportation from and back to the airport and $12.00 for food. I then went to a courtesy phone to reschedule my flight - 10:16 the following morning.

It was probably around 10:00 pm at this point. I slowly (no need to hurry anymore) made my way to the area to pick up a cab. Again, another line. I got on the transport bus with everyone else going to the Best Western. We rode for at least a half hour. At the hotel, another line.

Finally in my room with a king size bed and a Jacuzzi tub, I turned the heat and TV on, plopped on the bed, and ate my dinner, a very tasty bagel sandwich I picked up with one of my vouchers.

When finished I called the front desk to ask about transportation back to the airport in the morning. He informed me that the Metro cab company, the only one that would take my voucher, was full. He gave me the number of a different cab service. I asked for Metro anyway. When I called, they did have room for me.

Back at the airport the next morning, the security check point line was forever long. Minutes after getting in line, a lady took a group of us to another place to go through security. A much, much shorter line. Once through I saw that again, the monitors showed my fight had been canceled. I waited in yet another line to find out that I was on a flight that left at 2:40 pm, a 5 hour wait. What to do in an airport, when you have two bags to lug around. Sit and read, sit and try to sleep, go to the restroom, walk around a little, get lunch, go the restroom again, read again, watch people, organize photos on your computer. Fun, fun, fun.

Every time I looked at the monitor, it showed the flight on time. As we got closer to departure . . . the attendant at the gate desk told us the flight was overbooked and asked for four people to give up their seats. I did not move, except to lug my way to the restroom one more time and to hop on over to the line to be one of the first on that plane.

Finally, I was in Scranton. I had one more hurdle. The car I parked in short term parking. I wasn't sure what their definition of "short term" was. Would it still be there? Or would it be towed? I felt that four (turned into five) days would be short term. Happily the car was still there, I got in and left.

Almost 24 hours after leaving Myrtle's house, I was home. Josh and Ellie gave me love and hugs and were mighty glad I was home. Gary was also glad I was home but held back from jumping up and down, and hooting and hollering.

During all my travels and anywhere I went, my luggage went with me, since I decided to not check any. I had a backpack and an over-the-shoulder bag. I highly recommend at least one bag have wheels. My shoulders would have appreciated it.

I will also note that the entire time (save for a moment I was able to send Gary an email at the beginning of my trip) I was at the airport, I could not get Internet, even though it said there was free wifi.