So, yesterday afternoon my friend Jon picked me up super early to take me to the airport. My scheduled flight wasn't until six o'clock, but he had to work at 3:30 PM -- so we agreed that he would drop me off at the airport around 3:00 PM before he went in. I get to the airport, and realize as I'm checking in that I might be able to hop on an earlier flight. Indeed, there was a 4:30 PM to Atlanta that could put me on an earlier flight to San Francisco -- which meant that I would be getting into SF at 9:30 PM, rather than midnight! Perfect! I happily coughed up the $50.00 change fee, and began my arduous journey.
Well, it turns out that Mother Nature was not happy yesterday. She was sending thunderstorms up and down the Southeast corridor right between Charlotte and Atlanta -- the city I was supposed to connect in. But -- as luck would have it -- it appeared that my earlier flight was JUST barely going to miss all that madness. So we board and get on the tarmac in line behind a bunch of other planes. And of course, they shut down all departures to the North right around the time we're third or fourth in line for take-off. Fuck! The planes ahead of us were headed north, but we were headed Southwest to Atlanta. So we sit there on the tarmac for a while, until they concoct a scheme to get the planes ahead of us out of the way so we can finally take-off. And take-off we do, just barely getting out of Charlotte before the madness would hit.
So I think all is fine -- we land in Atlanta and I have time to stop at Krystal Burger (a Southern fast food chain famous for miniature burgers) for a chicken sandwich. We board a little bit late, but nothing out of the ordinary. And we get on the tarmac. We're number three for take-off. And guess what? They shut the fucking airport down. Lighting is striking. Winds are picking up. The rain is pouring. We're in airplane hell. So we sit and wait on the tarmac. And sit and wait. And sit and wait. The only consolation was the video screens built-in to the back of each seat, meaning we could watch TV while we waited. Finally, about an hour and a half later, the weather calms down, and we're cleared for take-off.
We landed in San Francisco around 10:30 PM, just over an hour late. I was initially bitter, thinking I had shelled out $50 to change my flight for nothing. But then I woke up this morning and checked the flight status for my originally schedule planes. And I found this:
Hallelujah! Had I not paid the extra money, I'd still be stuck in Charlotte. But I'm not. I'm cozied up in my new sublet, located in beautiful Hayes Valley, trying to organize a lunch date with a friend. I'm happy about that :)
