Day 1- 2/14/15
Happy Valentine's Day! After having an 8:00 am salon appointment, I headed to Dunkin' to grab Andrew and I some breakfast as we finished our last minute packing. Deltra Lynne and Darrell had planned on us leaving at 11:30, but they arrived a little after 11, and we were ready, so on our way we went!
The drive to Syracuse was short and sweet, and we arrived super early, which was nice because it allowed us time to grab some lunch at the Saranac Pub. When we got to the gate, the prior flight hadn't even boarded yet, so we had a bit of down time until our plane boarded. While we checked our e-mail and listened to music, Deltra Lynne and I mused about cinematic depictions of airports, and how absolutely unlikely and unrealistic it is when they show people running to catch a flight, and they make it within minutes. Umm, airport security anyone? No one can just waltz into an airport and run to catch their flight, so we laughed about how sensationalized they made the process look in movies.
We noticed that on our tickets, we all had asterisks by our seat numbers, unbeknownst to us as to why. It all started to make sense after about an hour, when we realized the plane was overbooked because of all the cancellations, as there was a winter storm coming in all over the East coast. Great. They asked for four volunteers to not board the plane, and receive a $300 reimbursement for inconvenience and new travel arrangements. Darrell and Andrew proceeded to get the 411 on our options, and they said if we volunteered, they could reimburse us for taxi fare to Buffalo or Rochester, but because of the storm there was no guarantee they would fly us that night. They also suggested Philadelphia International Airport, who was guaranteed to send us out the next morning at 7:50 am. Because of the hassle and drive, they would reimburse us $850. Apiece. We readily agreed, and were very glad that we had the wherewithal to not check our bags, and pack light so that all we had were our carry ons. To Philly we ventured!
This drive was not short, nor sweet. We were starting to see the beginnings of the storm that was screwing over all of the Northeast flights, and couldn't have been any happier that in less than 24 hours we would be in warmer conditions. The drive was about four hours, and started really poorly. We even saw a car ahead of us fishtailing, and they ended up driving off the road and flipping over into the left hand ditch. Luckily, we were able to avoid collisions on the highway, and luckily for the car the snow was high and powdery, and they were going pretty slowly. We were all a little shaken up, and called 911 to get the police to come. We definitely all said a quick prayer for the passengers, too.
Eventually, the snow let up and we were on clearer roads as we got closer to our destination. We were able to secure an affordable hotel for the night that would let us keep the vehicle there. We were actually pretty excited to order some Philly Cheesesteaks from a local eatery that delivered, so we didn't even have to leave the room (that was really nice and large and did not smell like marijuana). We did head on down to the hotel bar for some White Russians and a six pack of Miller Lite, though, to accompany our cheesesteaks while we watched The Other Woman on TV. Living the high life at the Quality Inn...
We had to hit the hay not long after, as we needed to catch the 6:00 am shuttle for the airport (which was right next door) to get to the gate for boarding by 7:20 am. At least we'll gain hours on the flight and have nearly a full day in warmer weather!
Day 2 - 2/15/15
Have I mentioned how much I hate getting up early? No? Well, I hate it. A lot. We got all of our belongings together and made it down to the lobby in time for the shuttle. Well, more than in time I guess, since it was running late. The 6:00 am shuttle was the earliest they had, so despite the fact that we were a tad uncomfortable arriving at a large airport merely an hour before boarding, we didn't really have much of a choice.
Once we arrived, everything was just a blur of chaos and anger. Delayed flights across the Northeast clearly screwed up a lot of peoples' travel plans. In attempts to speed up the process of getting on the plane, we went to a kiosk to print our boarding passes, which was a smart move. As we headed up to security, I was the last in line, which wasn't a problem since it was the same order we were in at the Syracuse airport. Unfortunately, I had neglected to realize that my boarding pass was in my married name, and that my passport was in my maiden name. My driver's license was also in my maiden name, which proved to be problematic since I seemed to have no documentation on me that verified my name was changed. Having been recently married with my maiden name on a lot of identifications, I really didn't think anything of it, but I guess I learned my lesson, as I was not allowed past security until my boarding pass had the right name on it, with some mention of advanced screening procedures.
I went back downstairs to try to get my boarding pass changed, while trying to call my husband to let him know why I went MIA. He came down to help out, and at this time, it was about 6:45 am. I went into one line that was relatively short, after having been informed to do so by an employee, to see about my boarding pass getting changed, but once I got up to the attendant, they redirected me to a different line. And of course it was longer. Eventually, one employee again redirected us to be able to get up to the desk sooner, and once we got up to the new attendant, it was right around 7:00 am. She was also unable to print me a new boarding pass, as the initial airline that issued it was United, and not U.S. Airways. Oy.
Our next move was a gamble, but we were already headed to Vegas, so what the hell. Andrew had talked to an employee who was upstairs by security waiting to help us out once we figured out a solution, so we figured we would get in line again at security and take our chances. Andrew's helper was able to bump us to the front of the line, which was undeniably helpful, since the line increased from about 18 on our first go around, to about 46 this attempt. There was a new security guard checking passports, and as he grabbed mine to inspect I thought maybe- just maybe- nope. He noticed. We explained our situation, and we did learn that if I could get my identity verified and go through advanced screening (which was what the other guy had alluded to as well) they would let me pass. FINALLY! Another wenchy lady who hated her job came out and informed me it was not likely we would make our flight by snarkily informing me that I had 13 minutes before they stopped boarding, and that there was no guarantee that this verification process would be quick. Ummm, thanks?
Miraculously, the man sent in to help verify my identity was the second (the guy that hooked us up to jump ahead in line being the other) employee that was actually helpful to us and seemed to want to help us catch our flight. This was at 7:13. He verified my identity, and informed me that they likely wouldn't close the gate as early as the last woman said they would. He even escorted Andrew and I through security ahead of everyone else, and even though I was forced to get a pat-down, I was so incredibly grateful to this man for helping us out.
Once I got the pat-down, we grabbed our stuff and RAN. Like, hauled some major ass. I would tell you what time it was, but I didn't have a spare moment to even look at my phone to tell. Luckily, the gate was only about a quarter of a mile down the corridor, so we were able to see it. Deltra Lynne and Darrell were waiting for us at the gate, with another woman who clearly loved her job (ha) who was promptly telling them how many minutes they had until they wouldn't let us board. As Andrew and I basically collapsed at the gate and nearly coughed up blood, she had informed us that if we had been even three minutes later, we would not have been able to board. Talk about the stars aligning.
So we made the flight, and Deltra and I had a hearty laugh about our conversation just a day earlier about airport running. Oh well, at least I got some cardio in.
Once we landed in Vegas, Andrew and I took some time to figure out the boarding pass situation so that our flight back didn't wreak of inconveniences like this one. We were flying home on my birthday, which was bad enough, but we didn't want the added hassle of going through more security.
We then hailed a cab to our condo, and were so impressed with what it looked like. We unloaded basic toiletries, and were really excited to take a shuttle (that departed once per hour) to Harrah's so we could walk around and explore.
Before we headed back to the condo, we caught a glimpse of the volcano fountain in front of the Mirage, which was just unreal, and really hot if you were up close. Our first day was a lot of walking (and running, in some cases) and too many awesome sights for our jet lagged brains to drink in. We were super excited to see more of the city tomorrow night, when we could actually plan out a full day.
This is awesome, Corri! I want you to come along on all our vacations so you can do these great recaps! Day 1 and 2 certainly were interesting. At least now we can laugh about it!
ReplyDeleteHaha, I would gladly tag along on all your vacations to your glorious "inventories", lol. It would probably be a lot less funny if we'd missed our flight, but lucky for us God has a sense of humor and let us catch the flight! :)
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