Timeline of Travel

Yesterday was the day I left for my conferences in Arkansas. A break from my everyday life and some professional development to make me a better teacher...bring it. However, I should have known that things would go awry. It always happens. Here is how my yesterday went:

7:20 - alarm goes off

7:30 - alarm goes off again

7:40 - alarm goes off for a third time

8:00 - alarm goes off for the fifth time and I decide to finally get up

8:02 - phone rings (my Mom making sure I got up for my flight)

8:15 - putting last few items in suitcase

8:17 - feed cats

8:19 - leave note for sister

8:20 - Write rent check because its due today

8:25 - pack car

8:30 - Drop rent check off

8:32 - Try to make a phone call, but phone is missing, search car

8:37 - Start to panic and then go through my purse, my carry on, and my luggage

8:45 - drive back to my apartment and search inside

9:00 - decide that I will have to leave without my phone

9:02 - get in the car and phone is miraculously in my purse ( I swear i checked three times)

9:25 - stop and get coffee (really needed this)

9:40- park at the airport

9:50- Checked in, bought some apple juice, waiting

10:30 - Decide to go through security because the line is short

10:45 - Still waiting in line because woman in front of me has apparently never traveled since 2001

10:47 - Woman in front of me didn't have her liquids in a bag, didn't know she had to take her shoes off, and left her laptop inside the computer case. Can people really not know the travel safety rules? Is it not on the 6:00 news nightly?

10:55 - Finally going through security scanner after woman goes through 3 times and forgot to take things off.

10:56 - Guard asks me to step to the side

10:57 - "Ma'am, I am going to have to pat you down" (Woman in front of me turns around and automatically thinks that I am the devil)

10:58 - "Ma'am, I need to check your hands for signs of explosives" ( Now the woman in front of me is freaking out and shaking her head at me)

(I am now freaking out slightly because I want to know if there was a threat by someone who is 22, blonde, and overweight flying from Gainesville to Little Rock or if it was just my lucky day)

11:03 - "Ma'am, you are free to go through"

11:05 - Back in a seat waiting, reading, minding my own business

11:07 - Oldest woman in the world decides to sit next to me and "chat"

11:12 - "We will now be boarding Flight #### to Atlanta. All passengers who spend a lot of money on our airline and who get the comfy seats please line up now. The rest of you wait your turn." (Oldest lady ever gets up)

11:15 - People start to board the plane!

11:16 - The same people are being ushered back into the terminal.

11:18 - "Excuse me travelers flying on flight ####. There has been a small mechanical issue on the plane and we will have a slight delay. We will resume boarding at 11:35)

11:35 - Nothing

11:45 - Nothing

11:53 - "We will now be boarding Flight #### to Atlanta. All passengers who spend a lot of money on our airline and who get the comfy seats please line up now. The rest of you wait your turn."

11:55 - People board

11:57- "We will now be boarding Flight #### to Atlanta. All zones."

11:59- I board

12:01- I am sitting, reading, IPOD in hand ready to tune out everything else

12:10 - "Excuse me everyone, this is Captain So-and-So, we have a slight delay in paperwork and will be taking off shortly.

12:15 - Sitting at gate

12:25 - Sitting at gate

12:35 - STILL SITTING AT GATE

12:42 - Start to back away from the gate

12:52 - Take off. "Excuse me passengers, his is Captain So-and-So, we will be arriving in Atlanta in 55 minutes."

(My connecting flight is at 1:55. This gives me 63 minutes until my flight leaves. Probably not gonna happen.)

1:51 - Land. (I have 4 minutes. Not gonna happen)

2:01 - Still on runway. Why?

2:10 - Finally unloading plane, on the tarmac, no ramp. NO RAMP in Atlanta? Isn't this one of the busiest airports? They ran out of ramps?

2:15 - Get to my connecting flight gate.

2:16 - I ask, "Has the 1:55 flight to Little Rock left?"

2:16 - Woman behind the counter says, "Yep"

2:16 - I say, "Ok, well my flight was delayed and I missed my connection"

2:17 - Woman behind the counter says, "ok" (The woman says 1 word..1 FREAKING word)

(Again I asked myself, Isn't this one of the busiest airports? Shouldn't these employees be prepared to handle situations like this?)

2:19 - After typing, she tells me to go to gate ### and ask them for a ticket.

2:26 - I get to gate ### and the woman behind this counter says, "that flight has been moved to gate ###."

2:32 - Get to gate ###. Get ticket. Sit.

3:42- Take off to Little Rock.

4:59- Land.

5:15- Wait for shuttle and get to hotel. Check in for conference and go to dinner.

Thank you Delta for making my day a fabulous experience from start to finish. I truly appreciated the invasion of privacy, the delays, and the great customer service.

Moral of the story: Bring a lot of reading material, eat breakfast, and plan to sit when traveling by plane. Or drive.