The Big Surprise

So this blog entry is being done offline and will be posted once the secrecy aspect of it is no longer an issue.  On Thursday I got out of work early to assist in all that needed to be done in anticipation of my surprise flight to icy cold PA for my dad’s surprise 70th birthday party.  I got out early enough that everything I needed to get done was done.  I even found the time to go for a brief ride on my Msuper.

Thursday also was Katie’s birthday so even though we were scheduled to leave on a flight early this morning we met Katie and a number of Cindy’s family at Outback Steakhouse, a place I think I may have patronized once in my life.  After last night I may patronize it more often.  I loved that they had Miller Lite on tap and that it was served in a large GLASS frosted mug. I helped myself to three of the mugs during dinner.

Dinner was quite fun, even after the food was consumed we hung around for awhile with lots of talking and laughing.  Katie seemed to really enjoy herself which was most important of course.  Cindy drove us home and I did not waste a lot of time before I showered and crashed in bed after setting the alarm for 4:55 am.

Despite the early alarm I still woke up prior to it going off.  I shot out of bed and was off and rolling.  Cindy was out of bed as well but I could tell early on she wasn’t feeling great.  She was having a lot of anxiety about the trip.  Leaving Elsa, flying, and dealing with the forecast arctic temperatures all contributed to the stress that she was feeling.  I recognized how she was feeling and how that could pan out during the trip, making it a miserable experience for her.  I told her that she should just stay home, something we actually talked about earlier in the week..  It wasn’t worth having her be upset and/or worried the entire time.  It took me several attempts at reassuring her I understood, wasn’t mad and was ok with going on the trip solo until she accepted it as the best choice in the situation.

So our plans changed, leaving Cindy’s luggage at home and bringing Elsa along in the car to drop me off at the airport.  Cindy of course felt very badly about the situation but I again told her it was ok and to not worry. We had a teary embrace as she dropped me off and I gave Elsa one last scratch on the head.  I headed into the airport alone but determined to still have a fun trip.

It didn’t take long for the luster to come off the travel day pretty quickly.  I first did not realize the difference between a TSA pre-check line and regular line.  After waiting a while in the pre-check line a stone faced, miserable, TSA guy told me I had to go in the regular line.  Evidently there is some stuff you have to do ahead of time to qualify for the expedited pre-check line that I did not do.

The flight to Atlanta was overbooked, I was kind of glad that I had an empty seat next to me that I paid for to give me a little room.  Well shortly before the door closed a stewardess was scanning the cabin and saw my empty seat.  She asked if my name was Cassidy.  I said no that is my girlfriend but she didn’t make the flight.  The woman says “oh ok”, turns around and heads back out the front of the plane.  Within 60 seconds a passenger who I assume was on stand by came rushing in to claim that seat that I had already paid for.

Now I was conflicted.  Sure I understand wanting to help the woman out by letting her have that seat but I don’t think it should have been done without consulting me or offering me some sort of compensation for allowing that seat to be resold.  I didn’t want to make a scene with the new passenger sitting next to me as it wasn’t her fault but it still pissed me off.  It did not seem like the proper way to handle the situation.

Soon the seat caper took a back seat to a much more annoying problem, dense fog.  The fog was restricting ground visibility below the required 1600 feet requirement.  The pilot informed us that he had no choice but to stay put until visibility increased, awesome. I knew we were in trouble when the crew started handing out food and drinks while we were sitting there. It was miserable for me, the cramped leg room made my sore right knee throb pretty much non-stop.  The scheduled 8:00Am flight did not take off until 9:19 according to my watch.

So now I had a new issue, my connecting flight.  It was scheduled to leave at 10:50 AM.  We were supposed to land about 5 minutes before that time.  As we approached the flight crew asked the cabin that people that did not have a pressing connection stay put to allow people like us to get off the plane quickly to try to make our connection.  Of course people did not care and clogged the aisle, preventing the people with pressing connections from getting out.  Human beings are awesome.

So once I finally hit the concourse I started speed walking the best I could.  Carrying my laptop bag with a bad knee meant running just would not work.  When I looked at the concourse map I hoped the walk from B1 to C35 wouldn’t be too bad.  It turned out to be very long, longer than it looked.  I arrived at the gate at 10:57 and the plane was already gone. Damn it.

So I made arrangements for the next flight which takes off a little before 2PM.  I also decided I was just going to stay at Patrick’s place in Pittsburgh tonight instead of the room I reserved at the Sheraton.  Luckily Cindy was able to call them and get a refund on the room despite it supposedly being a no refund reservation.  I contacted Patrick and let him know of the changes in plans.  He was cool with it all.

So after throwing down a sort of gross tuna melt sandwich I sat down to punch this out.  Obviously this trip is going to be a lot different for me going solo instead of having Cindy by my side.  I know my family is going to be disappointed she wasn’t able to make the trip.  Man, it is going to be cold, really, really cold.