There is nothing like the feeling of finally arriving at your destination and setting you bags down and falling into bed. I hope for all of the college students returning back to school after break that traveling was easy and as quick as it could be. In reality, my hope for you all is that you didn’t have a travel experience like the one I did. Being from West Texas and going to school in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. means I have an entire day of flights to look forward to plus a two-hour train ride. On good days, this isn’t a problem, if anything its nice to have so much time to myself. But this past weekend I experienced one of the worst days of traveling in my 18 years of life.
Time: 6:22pm
With Winter Storm Jonas on everyone’s mind, I was fearful for delayed flights and missed connections, but I could never imagine what would happen. After successfully arriving at LaGuardia airport with no mishaps, I was met with the disaster that was leaving the airport. Sometime before my plane had arrived, there was an accident near the airport, making it almost impossible for traffic to leave or enter the pick up areas. This meant that the shuttle I was originally going to take to Grand Central Station was no longer selling tickets.
Time: 7:30pm
So like anyone who doesn’t know what to do next, I called my mother and explained the situation. Her solution: Get in line for a taxi. Now, this wouldn’t have been an issue if the taxi line wasn’t wrapped around the outside, with over a hundred people waiting. Gathering the last of my patience, I found the end, and planted my rather large suitcase down and called my friend who I was supposed to meet at the station to take the train up with, and explained that I would probably be an hour or two late.
Time: 8:45pm
Luckily, the taxi line was moving fairly quickly, even though I couldn’t actually see where it started or how much longer I needed. With 15 minutes to spare, my friend bought me a soup at the station to have ready when I arrived and asked for an update. My mother was watching the news and the man behind me had offered to share a car to save money.
Time: 9:30pm
We were beginning to discuss the possibility that we would not make it to Poughkeepsie that night and began to plan to stay the night and leave in the morning. I could see the end of line; I needed at least another two hours.
Time: 10:50pm
My parents were now worried about what time I would actually get a taxi and get to my friend’s apartment. Because there was a bowl of soup waiting for me, I hadn’t eaten since the morning and my hands were beginning to ache from the cold. My feet hurt from standing for so long and there had only been about four taxis in the past half hour.
Time: 11:25pm
My parents called me to tell me to get out of line because they had booked me a room across the street from the airport for the night. When they first told me this, I was more than a little against the idea of stepping out of the line I had been in for the past four hours. My mother had been following the story of a lady in a taxi, trying to leave the airport, and her fare was well beyond what anyone should pay for a ride. Accepting defeat, I began to walk to the hotel.
Time: 12:00am
If anyone has tried to leave La Guardia by walking, then you know it is no easy task, especially when you are from Texas and you haven’t eaten in twelve hours. Im sure the hotel was annoyed by how many times I had called for directions and my parents were getting angry that I wasn’t safely inside yet.
Time: 12:30am
With thirty minutes to spare, I ordered food from the hotel kitchen and checked into my room for the night. After spending five hours in the cold, lugging around my 43lb suitcase, I was frozen and my arms ached, but I was in a heated room with soft sheets.
Going back to college is usually difficult because you don’t want to leave your friends or family or because the semester will be more stressful. Going back to college is hardly ever difficult because you were stranded at the airport, with little to no knowledge of the area and a dying phone battery. I hope everyone had safe returns, and if there was any difficulty, I hope you took a deep breath and called home.
