Travel Woes

There are certain things in life that I look forward to: Christmas morning, my birthday, the first day of summer, and flying home to my bed. When you look forward to these things for weeks and weeks, sometimes the universe enjoys playing sick jokes on you. My flight back to New Jersey – a flight I have been impatiently awaiting for about three weeks now – was cancelled. If that wasn’t bad enough, Continental decided not to inform me of this. I woke up ready to workout, thinking I was leaving at 4:51 today, when my best friend claimed she could not find my flight. I checked myself and saw that it had been cancelled, and no e-mail accompanied this notification. You may ask, how could an airline, especially Continental, cancel your flight and not tell you? They wouldn’t leave you stranded would they? No my friends, they would not. Instead, they book you on the next flight leaving Columbus…and forget to inform you of this as well. Many phone calls on my end were made, attempting to figure out when I could get out of this place, when the automated response informed me I was on the 8pm flight. Continental’s response: “That’s odd. You should have received an e-mail.” You think?

So all is good right? I’m leaving town tonight at 8, and I’m typing this post from the terminal. Think again. My flight tonight is at the moment delayed 2 and ½ hours. My dad called me while I was eating dinner with my family, and told me the frustrating news. After ten minutes of me pleading to get into Newark in the wee hours of the morning and sleep there until it is a safe hour to take the train home, my dad convinced me to get on a flight for tomorrow. So…the story keeps getting better…I call Continental and tell them I cannot arrive in Newark at 2 in the morning. The response: “If you change your flight you will be charged a fee, because you are voluntarily changing your flight.” After a few choice phrases and the word “unacceptable” used about five times, this lovely woman decides to check to see if my flight falls under the “Storm Change” category – that means I can change without any fees. Low and behold it was! Once again…you think? There are towns under water, trees lining streets, zero power for thousands, and wind gusts. Of course my flight is under the “Storm Change” category.

So this Jersey Girl is in Columbus, Oh for one more night. I will be leaving on an 8:30 a.m. flight tomorrow morning and arriving to what they are claiming to be sun and 54 degree weather at 10 am. I even kept my 1:30 hair appointment in hopes that I’ll make it. I’m going with positive thinking all the way from now until I land in Newark. And if positive thinking fails me, at least I’ll be at the airport with 4 flights after mine if I get cancelled. Happy travels all. Hopefully I’ll be reporting from a suburb in New Jersey tomorrow evening.

<3 Peace and Love All <3