Toward the beginning of last semester, I took my first big (mis)adventure from Plattsburgh to Ottawa (which I wrote about here, and which I recommend reading before continuing this article). At the end of that article, I mentioned that I would be traveling to Washington, D.C. in April to reunite with many of the other Killam Fellows that I met on my trip to Ottawa. Well, the time for this trip has finally arrived, and it has been just as interesting and almost as misadventurous as the first trip.

There are quite a few differences between this trip and the last one. The biggest difference is that this trip will be the first time that I am flying (which I also wrote about at length, which you can read here) instead of exclusively utilizing ground transportation, such as trains, buses, and/or automobiles. That's not to say that these traditional forms of transportation will not play a role in this trip, but they are taking a metaphorical back seat as I take to the skies for the first time.

Being of a nocturnal nature, I did not go to bed until roughly 3:00 in the morning, despite my plans to wake up at 7:30 to prepare for my big trip. There is no doubt that my nervousness about flying for the first time also played a role in staying up so late, and the fact that I kept waking up every hour or so. When it was finally time to quit my futile attempts at sleep and get going, I spent a while making sure that I had everything that I needed before heading to the dining hall, where the bus would come to pick me up and take me to Halifax. The bus ride was uneventful, apart from seeing the highway sights between Wolfville and Halifax.

After I arrived at the airport, I nervously proceeded, as I was entirely unsure of where to go next. I asked for directions in order to get my bearings, and proceeded on to the gate. Since this flight was only from Halifax to Toronto, I didn't have to deal with the fun times that come with U.S. customs (yet). As I waited, one of the flights that was supposed to leave before mine was delayed once again, so it was going to end up leaving after mine. Many people scrambled to see if they could get a seat on my flight instead, hoping that the 10 or 20 minutes they would gain would make the difference in making their connecting flights. My flight ended up getting delayed as well, but only by about half an hour. The scrambling confusion of people trying to change flights only added to my confusion at the process of flying as a whole, so I ended up in the wrong line when it was time to board. Thankfully I quickly realized my mistake and got in the appropriate line. I found my seat without too much of a problem, but in the hustle and bustle I realized that I had forgotten to ask for a seat belt extender (a must have for a decent number of people) and I ultimately waited to ask for one once everyone got settled. I had the pleasure of sitting with a kind man who not only let me sit in the window seat, but also asked the flight attendant for my seat belt extender. These relatively small gestures assured me that my very first flight was going to be a good one. And it was. The takeoff seemed to go relatively smoothly, and not long after we were in the air, I fell asleep and stayed that way for the rest of the trip.

After I woke up, I decided to look over the ticket for my next flight, to make sure that I would have enough time to make the connection. At first I thought I was going to miss the flight altogether, since my phone hadn't changed to accommodate the time zone shift. Once I made the adjustment, I was less nervous, but still worried that I might not make it. When I got off the plane, I found out that my next flight was delayed as well. This gave me hope that I might still be able to make it in time. Unfortunately, by the time that I had made it through customs and walked to what felt like the completely opposite side of the airport, my flight had left. I tried to take this in stride, so I went to the customer service desk to see if I could get my flight changed to the one that was departing later that night. Since other people had problems and complaints, I ended up standing in line for about an hour. The woman that I spoke to changed my flight and printed my new boarding pass with relative ease, and since I now had a couple of hours to kill, I decided to sit and get some work done. A short while later, an announcement came out that our flight was going to be delayed by at least an hour. I decided to order some dinner since I was getting hungry and it was starting to get late. A little while after that, another announcement came out that our flight was delayed again. Others around me started getting frustrated, since they had expected to be on their way to, or possibly in Washington, D.C. by that point. Finally, the last announcement came that said that the flight was cancelled altogether. Many people were (obviously and understandably) upset and made their way to the customer service desk to see what they should do next. We were informed that all of our flights would automatically be rebooked, and that hotel accommodations would be made for passengers on international flights. However, to do this, everyone had to go back to the entrance of the airport and go through the entire check-in process a second time.

Since I didn't have the means to find out what my new booking situation was, I sat in line on the floor to wait and see what would happen to me next. By this point, it was at least 1:00 in the morning, and I ended up sitting around waiting in line for at least two hours. At some point while I was still near the back of the line, I gave up on standing in line to wait altogether, and got a wheelchair to use for the rest of my wait. At some point after 3:00 in the morning, I was finally able to see someone, who rebooked my flight and got me on the 7:30 plane for the morning. Jubilant at my success, but still completely and utterly exhausted, I slowly made my way back through customs and to the gate where my flight would be taking off.

Ultimately, I was able to make it to Washington, D.C., but not without a great deal of frustration, turmoil, and strife. Between this trip and my last trip, I'm starting to believe that my luck with travel is rather terrible. Maybe, just maybe the return trip can go smoothly and prove me wrong, but only time will tell about that.