![]() I woke up early this morning and was completely unable to go back to sleep, no matter how hard I tried and how long I laid there. It was partly from nerves, partly excitement because I knew I had an adventure before me. I decided to go to the gym right away because I find if I don’t go right when I think I should, I put it off and don’t go. So I ate breakfast, read my Bible, and crossed the street to the gym. I seriously worked out hard. I wanted to make sure I burned up any extra energy that might be brewing in my system. I tend to have a lot of energy and I was getting ready to fly to California later in the day. My flight was weird, though. I was scheduled to leave Detroit at 5:35 and fly to Ft Lauderdale Florida. I know, lame. Flying to the East Coast to get to the West Coast. But the tickets were cheap. Welcome to my world. Anyway, then I was to fly out of Ft Lauderdale to Los Angeles, arriving in LA at midnight west coast time. That is 3 AM our time. I was a bit stressed about that. I was concerned I would be so wound up from sitting around on the plane and then in the airport in Florida I would be awake all night on the flight to LA. Maybe you don’t have to think about things like that, maybe I don’t have to, but I do. So I ran 2 miles in less than 18 minutes and then walked a long cool-down. I spent the rest of the day packing, shopping, and printing directions and tickets and confirmation numbers. Then as I was getting ready to leave, I remembered I needed gas so I kissed Maddy good-bye and hustled out the door to the gas station. By the time I had parked my car near the airport, shuttled to DTW and arrived at my gate I was ready to just sit and let the airline personnel direct me. I did notice a weird message on the board above the check in desk, but blew it off as I sat down and made a couple of important phone calls. I was looking around the room at 5:00 PM and thinking about how nice it was going to be on such an empty flight and trying to remember how long it had been since I had flown on a nearly empty flight. It just doesn’t happen that often anymore. Please recall my flight was scheduled for take-off at 5:35. Well my reverie was interrupted by the young man behind the counter. He announced the flight was delayed until 7:20. So that explained the weird message, which was in a comment box and said, “Now 7:20”. He then told us if we were taking the connecting flight to LA we would miss it and Spirit was going to have to book us on the next available flight which was at 7:30 AM tomorrow and we would not arrive in LA until 2:34 in the afternoon. Sometimes I get stuck in a strange mind-warp and for some reason I got it in my head they wanted to fly me to Florida today and then ship me off to Cali tomorrow morning at 7:30. The illogicality of that was driving me nuts so when they told us to get in line to discuss our options, all I could think about what how to get out of the flight to Florida. Good grief. I had myself very confused, especially when I kept hearing the employees behind the counter telling people to go get their bags and come back the next morning. Fortunately, the woman in front of me, who claimed to be a law student, spent a long while arguing with the Spirit airlines workers and while she was arguing about the fact she had to be in LA well before noon for a wedding rehearsal it occurred to me we were not leaving Detroit today! Duh. Spirit was offering to put us up in a hotel nearby so we could be at DTW early tomorrow! SO glad I had that flash of insight before I made a complete fool of myself with the Spirit counter personnel.
The arguing law student wanted to know why the flight was delayed. That was a good question, it was a gorgeous sunny day and I hadn’t even bothered to check the status of my flight before I left home. She asked if weather was the problem. The young man behind the counter said no, the problem was the flight attendants had not arrived and would not be arriving until 6:30. Of course that would happen to me. I have had flights delayed by weather for de-icing a plane or for thunderstorms, I have had them delayed for mechanical problems, but never, ever, have I EVER had one delayed because of late flight attendants. Welcome to my world. I opted for the hotel and actually was able to get on a flight later than 7 AM which would still reach LA by 2:34. The woman who changed my tickets told me to go to baggage claim number 2 to pick up the bag I had checked when I arrived at the airport two hours previously. I dutifully went downstairs and sat expectantly by belt number 2 for about 30 minutes. It finally occurred to me my luggage was not going to be on that rotary, so I went to the Spirit office and asked where I might find my bag. I didn’t think it could even have gotten on the plane so it seemed weird it would take so long to get back to me. It hadn’t. And it wasn’t coming down belt 2. The lady in the baggage office told me she had placed it on the oversize holding shelf a long time ago. I walked where she directed me, past the bar, and there it was! All alone waiting for me. So I grabbed my bag, went outside and called the shuttle for the hotel. I was told the shuttle would arrive in ten minutes or less so I should hustle to the waiting area, which I did. The young man was prompt and very helpful as he took my suitcase and stuck it in the back of the van. In the course of the three minute drive from the airport to the hotel, we were discussing crazy airport traffic when we witnessed a terrible accident as an elderly man sped through a red light and smashed into the back of a shuttle bus. it was unnerving and debris was everywhere. I did arrive safely at the hotel two minutes later. I waited for the other customer to leave the shuttle, then stepped out. The driver had yet to appear from behind the vehicle with my bag, so I just waited. When he did come around, he was carrying my bag and struggling with the handle. It was fine when I gave it to him, but apparently when he got it back out of his bus, the handle was firmly lodged inside the bag and could not be pulled out so I could roll the case. I gamely picked it up but was wondering how I was going to maneuver it through LAX tomorrow. The young man was very upset and followed me inside, then called the maintenance department to come work on it. They let me go to my room when it appeared it was going to be quite a challenge. An hour later I received a call. They were bringing the bag up and needed me to unpack all the contents, then call them and they would send someone to pick it up so it could be repaired. Within a few minutes the bag was in my room and I was unpacking the contents. Sigh. Welcome to MY world
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AuthorRhonda Callanan Archives
February 2022
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