Taking advantage of the long holiday weekend, I flew up to VA last Friday (of course with some delays and flight changes because apparently it wouldn't be a trip home for me without something happening...more on that later in this post). There was no particular agenda or schedule, just time spent with family and a fair amount of relaxing.
During my nearly four days in Lexington I was able to see all 3 grandparents,, most aunts and uncles and a cousin thrown in there for good measure. Not a lot of brother time...he's the busiest kid I know. Certainly not saying he is perfect, but if the rest of the people his age had his work ethic our country would be in a much better position.
Though my visits home are never long enough, I take what I can get and try to enjoy everything/everyone as much as possible. Despite the headaches that come with traveling, I feel re-charged and ready to tackle the next few months at work (that I know promise to be hectic and stressful).
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Travel woes: I have been known to miss early AM fights in the past, but I like to think I have learned my lesson and have made strides to ensure I am at the airport on time (this includes my mom calling me extremely early to make sure I am up). This last trip was no exception, I arrived, parked, checked in, passed through security and was ready to roll when my zone was called to board. Everyone was seated and anxious to take off when the announcement came that the pilot's gauge indicating the amount of water on board for the sinks and toilets was incorrect and that the maintenance team would need to come out and fill it up. So we sat there and we sat there and as the minutes ticked away I knew that I was going to miss my connecting flight in Philadelphia. After about 20 minutes we finally had the green light. Sure enough, when we landed it was about thirty minutes after my connecting flight was to take off. Luckily (?) I was able to get a seat on the next metal bird heading to Charlottesville. So I let mom know that I would be later getting in. I made it to VA about 2 hours after I was originally scheduled to arrive.
The whole time I was at home I kept saying that I typically don't have issues flying back to NOLA, that the troubles tend to occur on my northern flights. Well, I must have jinxed myself because I had said my goodbyes and boarded the plane to head back south when the pilot came out and informed the cabin that the baggage door was off its tracks and they would need to call a mechanic to fix it, though, being Labor Day, that may take a while. So off the plane we went. Being a tiny airport, this was the last flight out so I quickly called my parents to turn around and come back to get me. While they were driving back I waited in line with the 30+ other passengers who were trying to re-book. When it was finally my turn to deal with the less than friendly US Air representative I requested a flight out of Roanoke for the next day. Once he had clicked and clacked on his computer for a minute I was set to leave the next morning. Thankfully my Roanoke flight took off without a hitch and I went back through Philly yet again before arriving in the Big Easy around 1:00pm. From there it was straight to work to try to make up for lost time that morning.
It is becoming predictable that US Air will have some sort of delay, cancellation, or issue causing my original plans to be altered. This was my fourth trip home in a row where something came up. I suppose there isn't much one can do to prevent these things, but it sure does make for a true test of my patience.
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