Well, for those of you who haven't been following my Facebook status updates, you're in for a real treat with this post.It all began on Dec. 20 around 12:30 pm. I was packed and pretty much ready to go. I'd had breakfast with my roommates at this sketchy little joint around the corner on Georgia Ave. I got a phone call, an automated one, from United Airlines saying that my flight from Chicago to Portland had been cancelled. All week I was anticipating something like this because of "Snowpacolypse" in Portland. So, I get on the horn with United and tell them, I have to get home! Finally, after about an hour and a half of begging and pleading and anger, they tell me that I'm on an Alaska flight from DC to Seattle. I'll be arriving a little later than I was supposed to in Portland, that I wouldn't be able to fly to Portland because of the weather. That was fine. I was going to bus, train or drive it down. So, I'm on a 6 pm flight to Seattle.
We're en route. The flight's a little bumpy, but for the most part we're doin well. We're makin good time. About 5 hours and 45 minutes in we start flying circles over SeaTac. We're in a holding pattern, the captain tells us. "Looks like they're de-icing the runway. We've got winds at 25 knots. A little faster than I'd like them to be with ice on the runway. We're going to be in a holding pattern for another 5-10 minutes. If they don't deice the runway in time, we're going to run out of fuel and have to fly back to Spokane to refuel." I start thinking... I knew this would happen. It was supposed to be really windy in Seattle, I knew we'd get stuck in a podunk eastern Washington or Idahoan town.
So, we land in Spokane close to 930 pm. We sit on the runway for TWO hours waiting for some planes to take off so we can park at a gate. At this point I'm realizing, we're not going to refuel. We're going to park and deplane and get stuck. This sucks. So, we park, we deplane. (The photo above is my plane... not flying.) We find out SeaTac control says no more flights in or out because the weather is getting really bad. Blizzard style. Looks like we're sleeping in Terminal C of the Spokane Airport. Mind you, it's already 1130 pm and everything inside is closed, all the agents have gone home along with the TSA guys. We're hungry, we're tired, we're cranky. There are 5 jumbo jets at the Spokane Airport, at the same terminal, that aren't supposed to be there. This airport is entirely unequipped to handle this many people. Snow it can do, people it cannot. So, at about midnight, they announce over the PA that someone has run to Wal-Mart to grab some snacks. They bring us back bottles of Dasani water and special edition Chewy Granola Bars that read "Snowy Day" on the package. The irony is ridiculous.
In the meantime, we're asked to hang out, find a place to nap. They'll get us blankets and cots (which never showed up) and to wait til Alaska/Horizon decides what it wants to do. Agents were supposed to be arriving at 315 am on Sunday morning to start help rebook people on flights home.
So at 3 am I go to the counter and ask, should I go to the front and wait? And they tell me, no no, we don't know the schedule yet, it's colder out there. Just hang out in the terminal for a while. So, I go back to watching my Netflix movie, which I thankfully brought with me.
At 4 am they announce over the PA for everyone to go get their luggage from baggage claim and get in line for new tickets. Before I know it, I'm in a mile-long line and waiting and waiting... and waiting. This is the kind of line you wait in for so long that you end up making friends with the people around you. Which is exactly what happened. I was standing in line with an Italian from California, a mother and her two children from MD, a college student from Seattle and a fitness manager from California. We all exchanged pleasantries and enjoyed coffee together while standing in this miserable line. My genius self decide that while waiting in line, I'd get on the horn with Alaska and see if anything could be done faster that way. I get through, they tell me the wait is 30 minutes. Ok, I can hold out for that. 30 minutes passes... still on hold. 45 minutes passes... still on hold. I can't hang up just out of principal at this point. An hour and 45 minutes passes before anyone answers!! And, the answer I get is, well continue waiting in line. The best thing to do is talk to someone at the counter. Thanks lady, I was already doing that. So, I finally reach the counter at 915 in the morning. Yes, that's right folks. I was in line for FIVE hours!
Well, I finally get a new boarding pass. To Seattle at 1030 am. Ok, awesome. I'm finally gonna get somewhere to where I can drive home. Just kidding folks! Flight is delayed. We finally get on the plane at about 1115 am. Turns out the guy sitting next to me is the fitness manager I waited in line forever with. So, at least I had a friend. We get on the plane, we get ready to go. We have to deice. Cool. We're deiced. Just kidding. A piece of ice slid off the top of the plane and got stuck in the electrical system and broke it. We're pulling up to the gate to have them fix this quickly. Cool. We've got the electrical system fixed folks. But Seattle control tower says no one is allowed to come in or go out. We're deplaning. At this point I'd been awake for nearly 30 hours. I was not functioning properly whatsoever and fitness manager guy was getting quite a kick out of me.
We deplane. We're told our flight isn't cancelled, it's just on hold and that we'll know more at 2 pm. Ok, time to get food. Go to the sports bar with fitness manager guy. Proceed to eat and hope to get drunk. 2 pm... folks, we're informing you that we'll have more information soon. Ok. Cool. 3 pm... flight to Seattle, cancelled. Seattle has run out of deicer for the planes so no planes can take off leaving no empty gates for planes to land. So Seattle is done for on this lovely Sunday afternoon in Spokane. Somewhere in the meantime, I'd been on the phone with my Dad and he'd found me a flight from Spokane to Portland at 330 pm. It of course had also ben delayed. But, I had a second option. The problem was, I had to go back out through security to get my back from baggage claim and recheck it. This is the third time I've had to do this and the third security check I had to go through with my laptop and camera bag in hand. (Oh, and did I mention that I was randomly selected for the extra search?? How fun.)
So, now I'm waiting in the lower part of Terminal C. I hear that the flights before and after mine to Portland have been cancelled. I'm holding out hope. Maybe I will get to take off! My plane is delayed to take off at 550 pm. It's about 435 pm. I'm thinkin, they haven't cancelled it yet, how can they now? Oh no folks, they did. "Weather's lookin pretty bad in Portland. Sorry folks, your flight's been cancelled too." NOOOOOO! So yes, that's right. I was stuck in Spokane for another night. Luckily, fitness manager guy had told me about the Holiday Inn nearby where our 5 hour line group was planning on staying that night. So, I was off to the Holiday Inn.
We all meet up. Now I'm in a room with fitness manager guy, a thinktank guy from DC and two college girls from Seattle. One of the girls' dad was driving from Seattle to Spokane that night to come get her. He had 3 extra seats in the car. Everyone in the room, except me, was heading to Seattle that night. Lucky them. Well, I'd bought myself a Greyhound ticket to go back on Monday morning. I-84 had been closed at this point so driving wasn't an option. I bid my farewell to my single-serving friends and head up to my room. 36 hours had passed, I was ready for some sleep.
I wake up Monday morning. Order myself a leisurely room service breakfast. My phone stops working. What the hell! I get on the phone with Verizon. Technical support troubleshoots for about 20 minutes. Finally, it's working. In the meantime, I'm writing emails to my mother and talking to Dianne who has to call my mother to explain what's going on. Also, my friend Sean shows up on gChat. I tell him, hey, you might have to come get me. He says, what's up. He finds out for me that my Greyhound bus was also cancelled. Great. I'm in hell. The next flight out of Spokane to Portland isn't until Thursday. I can't stay here for a week!! Sean, being the hero that he is, realizes his friend Whitney is landing in Spokane today and that her father is picking her up to drive her to Missoula. He gets me on a ride with them. My two new heros: Whitney and her father.
So here I am. In Missoula since Monday. I'll be here til Friday until Sean and Ashley and I drive to Portland together. Weather permitting of course. But, so far it's lookin good. And now, by a fluke, I'm in Missoula with friends I haven't seen in over a year and I'm having a pretty damn good time.
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