This is probably better titled Hillary's Misadventures while Traveling. It was 6:48 PM in Hawaii, 9:38 in LA, and 11:58 in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. I was sitting on my ass in the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport with no way of getting a plane to my final destination. Yes, you have heard me right I am sitting indian style right in front of Gate B35 in a cold as airport with no way out.
My adventure got off to a rough start. Packed too much then had to repack - twice to get the weight right. Just couldn't decide what clothes to take and which to leave behind. Stood my ass in a 40 person security screening line at HNL. Took Imodium cause oh hell no was I having to go number 2 on the plane. Nope wasn't happening.
Boarded my plane thinking it is a 9PM flight...I'll sleep right through it. So didn't go down like that. Seats were tiny? Or rather I was too big. Tried and tried to get some sleep but no such luck.
Hallelujah when that plane finally touched down in Los Angeles at 5:3o LA time. Then it was four boring ass hours of debating - how much water can I take in without ending up having to pee on the tiny plane toilet. What can I eat that won't cause me to have to go number 2 on the plane cause ewww...So it was a bottle of Dasani water that cost me $3.49 and it wasn't the big bottle either (as I learned during Honolulu CC's green day is nothing but filtered tap water) and $2.19 for a tiny bag of chips.
Finally we boarded our flight. I was so tired, but I was almost there so I kept pushing it.
We were sitting and sitting when the pilot after 30 minutes of sitting on the tarmac decides he needs to have the idiot light (yeah I don't know if that is how you spell it or what the heck it does but it sure sounded like he said idiot light) looked at by an expert. 15 or 20 minutes later we are being led off the damn plane and waiting for another one to become available.
An hour later we are re-boarding flight 2430 at gate 46A at LAX. This little flub pushes us back 2 and a half hours behind causing me to miss my connecting flight. La Dee Freaking Dah. My flight finally reaches DFW Intnl Arpt at 5:10 or so Dallas time. I am high tailing it from C35 on over to B39. You ain't never seen a fat girl hustle cause fuck I didn't want to miss another connecting flight. I was on a mission to get to that gate. To bad for me that this airport is gargantuan compared to what I am used to at HNL. Walking and walking quite a bit of the way, but after deciding to ask for directions I hop on the Skylink to B39. How unfortunate that the flight left early cause it was full.
So it was 2 hours before another connecting flight to Lawton, OK was due to take off. It was the 7:40 flight to Lawton for me. 10 minutes to boarding and there is a storm brewing, but they board us anyway only to 15 minutes later ask us to get off the plane as hail and heavy rain begin to fall. Okay the jokes on me but I can play so I take my ass back off the plane and a wait further instructions. Hail is hitting the airport windows and there is a storm advisory for severe weather. WTF! GTFO! Hoping and praying that the storm passes quickly and I can get the fuck out of there.
Finally, storm passes, but now they have to do an inspection of each and every plane that was out in the storm. What do you know while they are checking the plane I should be on another storm is moving in this time it is a thunder storm with heavy rain and hail the size of golf balls. How unlucky can one girl get folks? Then the gate attendant comes on and advise us that should the weather become worse and there is need to take shelter we should go into the bathrooms as they are at the inner most part of the airport. Okay. He also tells us that 11:00PM is the latest a flight can take off. So here goes the hoping and praying again. No such luck with 30 minutes to 11PM the pilots and flight attendants were sent home and I was officially stranded in an airport an ocean and half a continent away from home. I ate for the first time at the only place that was open McDonald's. Called my family to let them know about what was going on, changed out my ticket for the earliest flight I could get on 7:40am out of DFW.
So there I sat writing about my misadventures in a journal given to me by my friend...thanks friend. It was a cold night in a strange airport. No change of clothes because in my carry on are electronics, and my grandmother ashes cause she isn't going in my checked luggage. For a blanket I have a purple bath towel which quite frankly don't cover my big ass for nothing. I washed my feet in the bathroom in the same sink that I brushed my teeth in, and charged my cell phone. I have my carry on suit case for a pillow and my back pack to cuddle with. Couldn't really sleep much with the tossing and turning on the floor, but I got like 3 hours until I had a nightmare that I missed my flight and the next one wasn't until 2:30 PM. I was like oh fuck no...no more sleeping for me so I was up at 3AM Dallas time.
I finally made it on the plane and on my way to Lawton, OK. That little plane was scary as hell. You could feel all the turbulence and the landing was rough, but damn was I glad to be at my destination.
It may have been a struggle to get to my sisters place what with all the flying mishaps but it was an adventure none the less from meeting a women on my flight who was returning to Tennessee from her visit to Hawaii, to my seat mates - three girls heading back to Texas to return to school who spoke Spanish and looked to be having fun even when waiting for the plane, to the family of 4 who were on their way to Lawton, OK for a graduation, to my room mates of the night 3 older women that were heading to Monroe, Louisiana that made being stuck in an airport hilarious with stories and descriptions of New Orleans from people who actually lived there.
Life is full of adventures and misadventures, but I'm loving kind sorta...all of them.
Until next time,
illusyon
