April 29, 2013

Interrupted Travel Plans: A story told through Gifs

A couple weeks ago, I had a plane booked to Virginia for a quick trip home to see my friend in a play and visit my family for the weekend. I was leaving around lunch time on Thursday. My plane was set to leave at 1:45pm on a Thursday and arrive at 4:50pm Virginia time. I focused on finishing up my work and tying off any loose ends before I left for few days. As I was finishing up work, I get an unexpected call from the airline - "This is American Airlines with a flight update. Flight *** to Virginia has been cancelled -"

WHAT! Cancelled!? I was in a state of shock, similar to this: 

It turns out about 500 flights from O'Hare had been cancelled that day due to torrential downpours that were sweeping from West to East. I frantically called the Airline's help line to see if I could get re-booked on a later flight that day or even Friday morning. After calling several times and not going through. I finally found my way to the place where they could put me on hold. There is this new-fangled thing where they can put you in line to talk to a service rep, but you don't have to actually  be on hold for 50 minutes. So, I wait and commence to have a minor major freakout while I eat lunch with my housemates.
Finally when I talk to this very nice rep, she finds the only flight that I can be booked onto is on Saturday. SATURDAY. I am supposed to be there TODAY - Thursday! 
I cringe and say sure and she takes some time to see if the flight is still available. Meanwhile, I am searching Amtrak for the next train to Virginia. It leaves in 3 hours. While she's checking into the flight, I BOOK THE TRAIN TICKET. The train is scheduled to arrive in Virginia at 1:35pm on Friday. "Still earlier than any plane would have gotten me there!" Then the rep comes back on the phone - I tell her "Thank you, but no." Peace. Then I just sit there - " I just booked a train that is leaving in 3 hours."
I yell to my housemates across the office that I need to get to the Metra line so I can be on the commuter train for an hour to catch my 5:45pm train to Virginia. 
Then we book it out the door: 
We make it to the Metra on time and I wave goodbye to my dear, dear housemates. 


Part II: The Train Ride 




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