Okay, one last post

So after my adventurous flight home I felt like I needed one more post to really wrap things up. Some of you have heard my tale, but I wanted to make sure that EVERYONE knows of my nightmare and offers the appropriate sympathy.

So, I left my hotel in Milan at 8 am, walked to the train station to catch the shuttle bus to the airport. Dad calls me to say that the airlines called him to say that my plane was delayed. Don't know why they didn't call me. So my plane was delayed 2 hours, but Alitalia was very nice and gave me a voucher for a free breakfast. And I saw this fun sight at the Milan airport--a lego Harry Potter!



I get on the plane, take off, etc. I didn't get a personal tv on this flight--and like Katie was, I was shocked. So I couldn't choose my own movies and was subjected to a really, really horrible movie with Christina Ricci, who plays a girl born with a pig nose. And then there was an even worse Italian movie about who knows what.

I arrived in New York, a little late but I had a 5 hour layover. I go through customs, immigration, etc. No problems. I find my gate but have lots of time, so I have some dinner and wander the shopping areas. I went to the Brookstone store and sat in their automatic-massage-chair for quite a while. That was nice. Then they announce my flight will be delayed, and then delayed some more. I keep wandering and go back to the massage chair. I also was amused by the numerous birds inside the terminal.
Oh, and let's not forget this sight: an iPod vending machine!!
It confused/bemused people so much that everyone stopped to look and I couldn't get a picture without some random stranger.

But back to the epic....After all the delays, they announce my flight has been CANCELLED. I go to my gate and wait in line to talk to an agent, then they send me to another gate where I wait some more. Then they tell us to use the courtesy phones to talk to an agent elsewhere, but the phones don't work. I wait in line again, and then they announce that desk is closed and I have to go somewhere else to wait in yet another line. Finally I talk to somebody and I'm rescheduled for the next morning, through Atlanta. Now, this itinerary will cause me to miss my Dallas-Austin connection, but because I booked this leg on a different airline, Delta won't help me. They absolutely refuse to even consider putting me on an Atlanta-Austin flight instead. I called American and they will only change my flight with a fee. Argh!! I argued with a few more agents to no avail.

(At this point it is about 11 pm--that would be about 5 am Italy time so I've been awake for almost 24 hours now.)

You may remember that Alitalia gave me a free meal when my flight was only slightly delayed. Delta did NOTHING for me. I begged for a hotel voucher or a discount or a meal voucher and they didn't do a thing.

I checked at a hotel services info desk if there were any places with cheap rooms, the guy laughed in my face.

So I spent the night at JFK airport. I rode the AirTrain around a lot, to find the nicest terminal to hang out in (terminal 4, if you're ever stuck there too). I was also very amused by the AirTrain because I'm 99% sure that the recorded voice doing the announcements on it is the guy who played Data on Star Trek: TNG.

I slept in a phone booth for awhile, then on the floor behind some plants, then in the food court in a booth. Then I sat in a chair next to a nice old lady who commiserated with me. There was also an arcade area where they had a couple of race-car games (the kind where you sit in the seat and pretend to actually drive) and some people were sleeping in those. (teehee)

At 4 am I couldn't sleep anymore, so I thought I'd make my way back to my terminal and check in for my flight. But, my terminal wasn't open yet. So, I got creative and took some pictures.



Ok, so I fly to Atlanta. No problems, miraculously. In Atlanta I got my boarding pass for my next flight to Dallas--they wouldn't give it to me in NY which I thought was strange. As they start to board, there's an announcement that says, 'If you're waiting on standby for this flight please check the screen to see if your name is on the clear to fly list.' I casually look up and see my name--I realized why they wouldn't give me my boarding pass in NY! Those Delta bastards only had me on standby and didn't even tell me!!! Thank god there was room on that flight, because I really would have lost it if I hadn't gotten on....

You'd think this would be disaster enough for one flying experience...but it gets worse. I'm so tired I sleep all the way through the flight to Dallas, until we land and I hear the attendant announce, "Welcome to Austin." what?!?! Apparently, there was a storm over Dallas, we couldn't land, circled the airport and then got rerouted to Austin to wait out the storm and refuel. So now I'm in Austin and Simon is in Dallas, ready to pick me up. I begged the flight attendant to let me off--and I think she saw I was about to go crazy (or already had gone) and was going to lie for me and say I was sick and let me off--but I wouldn't be able to get my luggage. I didn't want to make Simon wait in Dallas for my luggage while I was in Austin....and Delta wouldn't forward luggage if it wasn't picked up.... so I stayed on the plane.

And then, of course, my luggage wasn't even there. I hope you all appreciate the irony.

So I think door-to-door it was about 38 hours of travel with only about 5 hours total of sleep (in 1 hour spurts). Oh, and without any real meals. Just peanuts and snacks and the gross salad I had at the JFK airport (it was an avocado salad that didn't come with any avocado.)

But I'm home now. My luggage was delivered, remarkably, the next day. I went back to work today and was basically a zombie, but I don't think my boss noticed that I didn't really do anything.

Lily seemed somewhat happy to see me.

Sorry for a blog full of complaints, but I'm not quite recovered from all the trauma. That, and blogging is addicting and I needed to post just one more time....