When I got home last night, it was straight to laundry and packing, in preparation for my next departure in less than twenty-four hours. Having stayed up late for that, and knowing I was entering a cold-zone, I took extra time this morning to make sure I got SOME sleep, and that I had some semi-warm gear packed. I went to work for about five hours, and then headed out to the airport.
When I got to the OKC airport, the problems cropped up immediately. The check-in line was unbearably slow, and I heard things like "missed flight" and "weather delays" said to or by other passengers. I even heard someone be told they could come back tomorrow to catch the next flight. I didn't like what I was hearing. I felt a bad omen overcast.
The wait became further agonizing when one of the two counter people disappeared for awhile, and none of this is to mention the fact that I WAS ALREADY CHECKED-IN! I checked in on the net last night and only had to check my luggage.
I noticed I was running more behind than I would have liked when I finally got my bag checked. So I rushed over to security, did the ridiculously usual disassembly/reassembly routine, and got to the gate as quickly as I could to make sure everything was in order for a timely departure.
I was immediately struck-odd as I noticed that my flight information was not listed on the gate marquee. I double checked the gate number. I knew the gate had been re-verified only minutes ago by the check-in lady, so I had to stand there in complete knowledgelessness until SOMEbody made some kind of announcement. It was probably twenty minutes before I knew anything. At all. Turns out the flight before mine, which was scheduled to depart at 3:40pm, had still not departed two hours later. Oh, and not only did that flight not get off the ground for another twenty or thirty minutes, but that whole time my flight was on the ground, waiting for the gate to become available (along with another plane that was to follow mine). Somewhere in all this I also learned that my connecting airport (Minneapolis) had been closed earlier today due to the snow, creating some nationwide delays. Ugh.
We did finally get off the ground, quite late, but in my waiting to find out details I didn't take a minute to get any dinner, not knowing how much time I had before they started boarding. If it were any indication, the scheduled arrival time in Minneapolis was 7:42pm, though it was 9pm when I stepped off the plane. While that might seem sucky enough all on its own, my scheduled departure from Minneapolis was 9:06pm, so my long layover seemed to have been nicely reduced (though in truth there was no way I could have made the connection in six minutes). That is, until I learned the plane that was to take me to my destination hadn't yet left Dallas, and that the estimated departure from Minneapolis was now midnight, three hours following my arrival, thereby extending, NOT shortening my layover.
Right about here is when I said to myself, "welcome to the suck". Perhaps it would help if I mentioned that I probably wouldn't be landing at my destination until 12:45am, that it would take time to get a car (possibly a serious issue here -- will they be open/have cars in a small regional airport?), and take time to get to my hotel in what could be poor road conditions. And lastly there's the fact that I have an 8am meeting in the morning, that I've never been to these parts, and that I have no idea where I'm going. Are you feeling the suck yet?
As though the other components of suck weren't enough, I was soon reminded that in Minneapolis it was snowy, cold, and 19 degrees (did I mention it was 85 when I landed in OKC yesterday). And it's a whole 12 degrees at my destination, Rapid City, South Dakota. I'm looking so forward to that. The first order of business upon getting my suitcase will be digging out the heavy jacket, scarf, gloves, and ear muffs.
Aside: It occurred to me that my luggage has probably been sitting in the 19-degree cold for hours now (not to mention the cold of the 2-hour preceding flight). So I'm wondering now if my shampoo will be thawed in the morning when I got to use it.
Just when I thought everything was settling down, they changed the departure gate on me.
So I'll have to let you know how the rest of this "adventure" turns out. I predict only further suckage.
UPDATE, 14 MARCH, 5am
THERE'S MORE SUCK WHERE THAT CAME FROM
So the delays continued, and it was 2:05am when I stepped off the plane in Rapid City. THE AIRPORT WAS CLOSED. Seriously, there was nothing else going on except the people getting off my plane, and a skeleton crew of airport employees. Just before I boarded the plane in Minneapolis, I called the Hertz at Rapid City and asked them to wait up for us. Fortunately they did, and I went straight to the rental car counter from the plane, figuring the luggage would take a minute, and wanting to ensure I'd get a vehicle. Fifteen minutes later, I had myself a rental car. And that was about the first right thing to happen all day.
With rental car papers in hand, I went to grab my bag and go. But when I got to the baggage area, I noticed some disarray. People were saying things like "this is the wrong luggage" and "is that all there is?" and suddenly I had the most sinking feeling. Soon, the baggage conveyor stopped and a whole bunch of people were left standing around looking at themselves as though to convey, YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FREAKIN KIDDING ME.
That's right folks, they lost the luggage. Was it the three gate changes? Was it the last minute actual airplane change that I forgot to mention above? Was it some other form of unbelievable stupidity? We'll never know. What I did know was that in mere hours I had a meeting, but I had no toiletries, and no clothes to change into. Holy crap. Suck suck suck.
Even though I had looked three times, I just kept hanging around the baggage looking for my suitcase, hoping it would just show up all the sudden. Everyone else had gone to file missing baggage claims. By 2:33am, I went to join them. And as it turns out, it was a complete failure on my part to have not booked it immediately to the claims area, because I found myself the last in a very long line of really ticked-off people. I started laughing out loud it was getting so ridiculously funny, which got me shut-the-hell-up peers from those in front of me, which was everyone.
It was 3:10am when I stepped outside toward my rental car when I realized... it's freakin cold, I'm wearing short sleeves and a light jacket, and my heavy jacket is packed in my lost luggage.
As I walked out to the rental car I started to get yet another bad feeling. The parking lot was very icy, and I started to think perhaps I should have paid the extra for the rental car liability insurance. And maybe extra for that all-wheel drive vehicle. When I got to my rental (a Camry), there was yet another problem, like I should have been surprised. The car was covered in a thick layer of frost. So I spent ten minutes in the freezing cold wearing a light jacket at three-something in the morning scraping frost off a car that wasn't mine in a city I already wasn't liking much wondering if I would ever get to bed or even make it on time at this point to my meeting.
Well, I did make it, finally, to my hotel room just before 4am. But the clock read nearly 3am. Holy crap, I'm in a different time zone! I get a whole extra hour of bad stuff happening!
Okay, well, I did have something semi-good happen. I passed an OPEN SuperWalmart just before I got to my hotel. I remembered the lost baggage claim lady telling me they'd reimburse me up to $50 if I needed to acquire items prior to them recovering my luggage, so after I got checked into my room, I headed back to the store.
So I bought myself a swell walmart outfit for my meeting in the morning, as well as underwear, socks, and toiletries, totaling $60. While they say they should be able to find and deliver my luggage tomorrow afternoon, if they don't, I'll have to be making another trip to the walmart, or maybe I'll find a mall tomorrow... ahem, later today.
Looks like I'll get a couple hours of sleep anyway. Had there not been a timezone change, I would have been staying up and getting ready for the meeting. Unfortunately I have no hope of more sleep until 8pm at the earliest. And even then, probably not.
This day is brand new, yet I'm already longing for its immediate end.
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