I personally love to fly. I pay a couple hundred dollars to have someone else take me where I want to go in MUCH less time than driving. Even though I love flying, I hate airports. Some of them are just absolutely ludicrous. Sometimes they are split up into different sections and you have to take a shuttle van to the terminal you need to be at (which can be extremely annoying if you have a connecting flight) or the airport is so big that you have to take this subway/train thing to get to your terminal. Then there are the incredible small airports where everything is conveniently close but you just do not have as many food options to choose from which can be rough if you have a really long delay between flights. Even though these various airports can be annoying I have always had a great experience with flying except for when I went to Canada last summer. The trip back was a breeze but on the way there was ridiculous.
It all started when I was leaving from the airport near my house. The flight was supposed to leave around the late afternoon but was delayed an hour due to rain which would make it tough to reach my connecting flight in time (there was only about an hour maybe an hour and 15 minutes between when my flight was supposed to land and my connecting flight was supposed to leave). Well anyways we finally took off and we were in the air. It was a pretty pleasant flight overall except for the fact I was stressing out about making my connecting flight in Chicago. After about an hour of flying we finally landed and I had maybe 10-15 minutes to get to my flight that would take me to Buffalo, New York. So I am sprinting my way to my gate, searching everywhere and asking everyone which way it is and what not. FINALLY I find it with five minutes to spare. I walk up to the gate and they had already shut it and taken off FIVE MINUTES EARLY! FLIGHTS ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO TAKE OFF FIVE MINUTES EARLY! THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE LATE! After I calmed down a bit my next instinct was to see if there were any other flights available that I can take right? Nope. There were no more flights until 8am the next day. Alright, real cool real cool. So I will just have the airline help me book a hotel and just stay there for the night right? Nope. All rooms (including the hotel rooms in the airport) are booked and none of the surrounding hotel rooms had any rooms available. Just my luck huh? So at this point I am realizing my circumstances and the fact that I was going to have to stay in the Chicago airport overnight and sleeping in a cot. I am sure that would have been a fine solution if it was not for the fact that I was A.) by myself and B.) freaked out by the people in the airport because some random guys had come up to me and were asking me where I was from and if I was from Chicago or if I was staying in the airport and just getting real weird. Thankfully I had my phone and pretend to be busy and just talking away on it (I really was, I was calling my mom freaking out trying to figure out what to do). BLESS that woman for coming in so clutch and BLESS my godparents for living near Chicago and being kind enough to drive to the airport in the middle of the night, even though it was about an hour or so away from them. I really was freaking out so I am forever grateful to them for coming to get me! So, in the end, everything worked out. I took a later flight so my godmother would not have to bring me right back to the airport so early and I eventually made it to New York and then Canada.
What I learned though is if you are going to take the Red Eye flight be prepared to be stranded in an unfamiliar airport in an unfamiliar city. If this does happen utilize your sources. Such as calling your mother because she is there when you need her and usually moms are quick thinkers in situations like this! Luckily my mom was anyways and remembered my godmother livings in Illinois. If you have a phone, use it to act like you are busy so you can avoid stranger danger. Then lastly, make sure those who help you know you are truly grateful for their kindness and their hospitality. They did not have to answer the phone and they did not have to make the drive to pick you up and they did not have to let you stay at their house but they did. So thank you to my godparents! You guys are the bomb! Finally thank you, mom, for always helping me out when I get myself into a tough spot! I do not know what I would do without you!
