Sounds like the words of a sad country song. I had a great weekend visiting friends in the midwest and flew out on Monday. I was very anxious to return home to hub and kids and my familiar life at home. I guess it was my desire to be at home that made this travel day all the worse.
The initial flight was delayed over two hours. My connecting flight was in Denver. With the delays I ended up missing the flight home or maybe the flight was cancelled. I couldn't get a straight answer from the different people I talked to. Anyway, with no outgoing planes I was told I could get a "discounted" rate at a local hotel. The discounted rate was $65 for a hotel 20 minutes from the airport or $100 for a hotel 10 minutes away. I opted for the less expensive one. I thought 4-5 hours of sleep at a hotel would be worth the cost because sleeping in the airport would be the PITS! There was a time in my life when I would have thought it an adventure, but not these days.
I sat outside the airport for about one hour waiting for the shuttle to come. This is a shuttle that is supposed to stop every 20 minutes. After an hour I thought if this is how this shuttle runs I'd probably miss my flight the next morning.
So I cancelled the hotel confirmation and thus began my evening. It was about midnight and I was wandering around the airport with my large duffel bag and personal bag. I was searching out a quiet place to rest. There were many other people in the same situation so the accomodations were limited.
I started off in chairs leaning my head on my bag. This was terribly uncomfortable. Sometime around 4:00 am I got up to get my boarding pass. I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and get freshened up and headed for the ticketing counter. I was told my airlines woudn't be open until about 6:00am.
I then walked to find a floor space. I found a space with only a few other people. I noticed the most common way to sleep was to put your head under the chairs shielding your eyes from the bright flourescent lighting. When in Rome... I stuck my purse under the chair and used it as a pillow, put some socks on, covered my arms with sweat pants, covered my legs with a sweater and tried to snooze.
The concrete covered floor was very HARD and the cleaning going on was very loud. Also some of the ticketing counters were opening and there were a lot of people arriving. I imagine it was a sight to see us sleeping on the floor. I felt a bit like a homeless person.
At 6:00 am I got up again, got my boarding pass and headed to security. I was still groggy and VERY TIRED! When I got up to security I was informed that I was "Selected" for the thorough search. Grand! I was directed to the "special" line. I had to go through this machine that blows air all over you. I sure hope it wasn't one of those new x-ray vision machines. Next came the close x-ray of my bags. I was told not to touch my belongings. Then a man came and said, "Young lady this way please." Young lady?? He reaffirmed that I was not to touch my bags or belongings while he went through and swabbed just about. everything. Forget modesty and PTL that I bought new underwear before my trip! He told me he was checking for residue for explosives. What a way to wake a girl up!! I made it through the check only losing the one ounce of facial toner I had in a 4 ounce bottle. Apparently they look at bottle size rather than amount of liquid in it.
I'm happy to report I made it home safely back to my precious family and even gained another story to share.
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