Traveling home and thinking back...

Deb and I fell asleep before we packed a thing. We woke up bright and early at 4am to accomplish the task. We fit everything in our suitcase, but were a little concerned about the weight factor. We left our hotel at 5am to venture to the metro station. We had three connections that were actually perfect timing for us before we caught a shuttle to the airport, arriving in plenty of time for our plane and right after Jenny landed back in Maryland. We were able to explore the terminal a bit before our flight and do some last minute souvenir shopping before we sat down at our gate.

Our plane was to board at 9am and right at the time we got the news that our flight was canceled. Now I had promised Deb to be calmer for this pre-flight journey (I stress over bags, checking in, security, etc.) But at this news I could not remain calm. We quickly got in line at the counter and Deb called a number they gave us to try to rebook a flight very soon. She got through and found a flight that landed at 12:50am the next day, but I heard 12:50pm and was very firm on that not being sufficient as I had class the next day at 11am and 2:10pm, neither of which I would be able to make with a flight at that time. She finally got me to understand the time so she booked it, but we stayed in line as people seemed to be booking earlier flights as they got to the front of the counter. When we were the next ones in line the staff informed us that they had to move to the next flight coming into that gate and we needed to relocate to a different area for information. Deb and I booked it to that place and waited in line to find they were booking most people on a flight that departed at 1pm and arrived in Dulles at 8:50pm. While not ideal it was good enough. We were switching airlines to United so we were directed to baggage claim; in less than an hour our bags would be there. That proved to be completely inaccurate.

Regrettably we learned we would have to go through security and check-in all over again so we had to throw away some of the food and beverages we bought, but we waited patiently at the baggage claim. For one hour, then two, and in the end over three. They placed our flights bags back with the mainstream ones and were now trying to locate them. It seemed completely disorganized to me and ridiculous as we neared closer and closer to our new flight's departure time. We got our bags finally, after all their promises that they would be a few minutes for hours a little before 12:30pm for our 1:05am flight. There were some other students coming from New Zealand that were having our same issue so at least we weren't alone. We were at terminal 3 for our bags and our flight took off from terminal 7. We ran, with all of our bags, from one to the other (no short distance let me tell you), my legs were about ready to fall off when we rode the escalator up to check-in. We were met with a line at United and only one worker. (At baggage claim we were asking the staff if they could call over to our check-in and security and see if there was anyway for them to speed us through since our bags were not coming very quickly, but they simply told us they could not guarantee anything). A couple was at the counter for over 15 minutes, we have no idea what was taking them so long. Thankfully we learned our flight was delayed thirty minutes giving us a slightly larger window and one of the members of the other group was able to check in slightly earlier (his bag came before the rest of us) and he went to find assistance from United who helped us all cut the line and check in. We had to pay for our bags all over again, which American promised us we wouldn't, but time was running out so we did that before rushing over to security. Taking off your shoes, belt, coat, removing your liquids and computer from your bag all for the second time was very annoying when we were under such a time crunch, but we made it through and hurried to the gate. No one was even boarding yet and the time of the plane's take-off was getting delayed, leaving me wondering if our flight at 3:15 which had a layover in Dallas and had us landing at 12:50pm but was at least with American (so we wouldn't have had to check our bags all over again and such or run from terminals) would have been the same landing time at this point. We did board an hour late and Deb and I were not seated next to each other because of our late booking of the flight. She did get a seat with more leg room, which was good for her, and I was in an aisle seat. The stewardesses rushed to get us airborne as many of the people on the plane had connecting flights to make.

The overall plane ride was pretty boring and I was not able to sleep for very much at all. We landed after 10pm and it took a while for our bags to come through (not over three hours, but still a while), but our bags did make it YAY! While we arrived much later than we anticipated, but it did mean we did not have to deal with the rush hour traffic of DC. When we got home I literally grabbed clothes and shoved them in a bag and we were off to school. I did say hello to my brother before we departed and apologized to my dad for our very quick departure. We were on the road by 11:30pm. We stopped at a McDonald's in Clarksville for our first "meal" of the day (having had a small breakfast before our original plane was to take off. I guess you need to be flying for at least 6 hours to get a meal because for 5 hours you don't even get peanuts or a bag of pretzels). It was below freezing on our drive and it did begin to rain/sleet, but we did make it safely to school around 1:30am. I took minimal items into my dorm because it was so late and so cold. I ended up simply taking a shower, throwing some blankets on my bed and going to sleep at around 3am. I was pretty tired as I had gotten around 2 hours of sleep the night before and had been up for almost 24 hours that day, with a full day of classes awaiting me when I woke up.


Looking back, I am very glad I went on the trip, but it did not leave me wanting to move to LA and become involved in the film industry. First of all the traffic is absolutely horrible out there. Secondly, the experience did not leave me with a positive outlook on making it into the movie industry; you basically need to know someone who knows someone and not have a fall back plan or you will never make it in the industry because there are no openings out there. Even though the weather was nice and warm, it became too warm by the end of the trip (partly because we were not expecting it to be quite that warm so we did not have the appropriate attire) and we were ready to go home. When we got back Deb and I had so much fun just blowing in the air and seeing our breath. The snow seemed out of place on our drive back to school. After walking to class and back in the morning and at night though I wish it was a little bit warmer over here sometimes, but I couldn't trade the snow.