Travel pains (long)

I had a rough trip up to New Brunswick for work in early December.  I arranged a very tight schedule so I'd just be away from Elias for one night.  Things did not go as planned.  I was snowed in overnight on my way there, lost internet connectivity on my laptop and iPod, and my cell phone and credit card stopped working.  My entire company was either traveling also or entertaining Vietnamese guests, and our wonderworking travel agent said she couldn't help me because I'd made all the arrangements online.  Was able to use the hotel's computer center to rebook everything (including an extra night for Elias w Auntie T.) but sheesh it was stressful.  Plus, when I finally got to the feedmill they wouldn't run the test I'd flown up there to oversee.  Elias was a trouper, but was soooo happy to see me (and me, him)! First he just clinged to me and tried to burrow right into me, and then became giddy, then (while I gratefully ate a burrito) ran to "his" room, put his stuff into his overnight bag, and dragged it back out to me so we could go.

Two weeks later, I set out to brave the airways again to fly home to California.  With de-icing and other onboard delays, it took about 3 times longer than usual but we were made it to Chicago just in time to board the next completely full plane to CA...where we sat and sat and sat. Finally they admitted the flight crew was stuck in Detroit (they didn't realize that??) and told everyone to deplane.  Although the weather wasn't bad there, Detroit was a mess, and they never made it. They kept delaying our 6:30pm flight until about 10:30--then cancelled it.  Of course, by the time I gathered up Elias we were at the end of the rebooking line.  Then they said they'd close the entire terminal at 1am, at which point we'd be on our own.  We stood there for about 1.5 hr (during which time it moved ahead by about 3 people) when someone said she thought one of the 2 agents helping us did families.  I checked, and yes(!) so I was next.  The only options were standby to Sacramento the next morning, booked to SF the next night (luggage would still go to Sac), or booked to our original Sac in 2 days (with no meal/hotel the 2nd night)!  They wouldn't even get us back home to abort the whole effort.  They gave meal vouchers (although everything was closed), and sent us off to find a shuttle to a hotel in Rosemont.  After a great deal of searching we found the shuttle, and found ourselves at the end of yet another long line at the hotel.  I'd guess that was another 1.5 hr, so we finally dragged ourselves into a room around 2am.  I felt sooo bad that I'd kept breaking promises to Elias, unintentionally of course (we'll be at Nanna's tonight; just a little longer; just one more line...).  Again, he was so good--no crying, little complaining--that we got lots of complements from fellow (non)-travelers.  But he did loose it once he realized we were bedding down in a strange place:  scared crying that just broke my heart.  With just a few hours of sleep we rushed downstairs the next morning to reach our standby.  I forgot his bag, so ended up missing the shuttle.  We were still able to get to the gate in time, though...where again it was delayed but we DID make it on standby, and made it "home" at last, although THAT flight took an hour longer because of strong headwinds.

SURELY the flight home would be OK, right?  Well, all up until the very end...or anticipated end.  We were on our final approach to Madison ~6:30pm when I felt the plane suddenly accelerate and vere sharply upwards.  They declared it too foggy to land.  We must've been within feet of the runway!  They circled quite a while, then abandoned Madison (and Milwaukee and Chicago) and brought us to Detroit.  Once again we sat in the airport listening to delays, then standing in another endless rebooking line, this time with even less luggage, since I'd checked both bags.  Again Elias and I were picked out from the crowd to recieve booking ahead of many, yet still it was nearing 2am when we got to the hotel.  This time Elias wasn't scared, but very VERY tired (no nap that day), and kept asking in a soft only-a-little-whiney voice "Mamma, why can't we go home?  I'm hungry."  This time, I used the meal vouchers to call for take-out.  They'd mistakenly printed out double vouchers for us so I went crazy and ordered a pizza, ribs, breadsticks, and lasagne.  Elias ate just about the whole med-sized pizza! Then we watched TV& iPod, respectively, and made sort of a party out of a bad situation. Just a couple hours later, I dressed him and carried him downstairs with him still mostly asleep, we made it as the last 2 on the shuttle, and were off to our next flight.  Security insisted on a thorough search and several different scans of our bags (I offered to leave them to be able to catch our flight, but of course you can't do that), necessitating yet more running.  Again we made it...and again it was delayed.  Still foggy in Madison.  We sat there for another 4 hours, listening to more delays every 30 min.  Everyone was pretty resigned and numb by that time.  I asked someone to use his laptop battery to recharge the iPod and plugged in his new DVD player, and just settled down to make the best of it.  They finally announced they were going to make a run for it, giving us a 50% chance of being able to land in Madison, but then if they couldn't the plane would be diverted to Minneapolis, but of course the departure gate had been changed.  So everyone packed up for the long, long trip to the new gate.  At that point poor Elias could hardly walk and was upset I packed up the DVD.  We finally arrived at the new gate, plugged back in, settled him down with his headset again...just in time to hear ANOTHER announcement to report back to the gate we'd just left for immedite departure!  That trip back was the hardest yet.  We did make it, and because we had people jump ship and I think just drive home, there were a few seats empty so that Elias was able to mostly lie down and sleep.  I overheard the flight attendents saying that ours was an exceptionally good load, considering, and that they'd be on the verge of killing someone had they been a passenger on this flight.  By the time we got to Wisconsin visibility had increased enough to let us land.  There was cheering and clapping, and I even cried a little.

I didn't really intend this to be a blow-by-blow account, but perhaps it'll be a little cathartic for me to get it all out.  Not sure yet if I'll ever step foot on another plane.