Don't let the picture fool you. I just had the most random day of non-stop traveling chaos!--so much to the point that I HAVE to share it with everyone for the sake of the memory. I used to write posts called "stuff that happens to me" This story is one of those.
Back story:About a month ago, I had a friend ask me if I would be interested in driving down to St. George with her for a race. I figured a 5K would be good for me, plus she wanted someone to go with her, so I agreed. I put it on my calendar, registered for the race, and was looking forward to it.
Two days ago, she decided her car was too old to drive that far, so she asked if I would drive my car instead. For the first time in my life, I said, "No" to something/someone. I haven't slept in days, I'm stressed to the max with work right now, I've been traveling and busy non-stop for weeks and did I mention I haven't slept in days? I already struggle with Utah drivers as it is and dealing with holiday traffic- my fatigue was unsafe. I simply didn't want to do it. I don't let others drive my car, so that wasn't an option either.
So to make a long chaotic story short, instead of driving down for the race, I suggested that we fly. After all, I get cheap plane tickets and could get one for her as well. It would cost the same as gas. It would just be a matter of playing the stand-by game. We went back & forth the past two days trying to figure things out and last night finally decided we would just rent a car from
SLC and still drive.
TODAY's Events-My uncle called this morning and told me the 3pm flight out of
SLC was pretty open. We should try that first, and then if we didn't make it on, we could just rent a car from the airport. I called the friend, left the suggestion on her voicemail and then I had to go and run an activity at work.
Let's just say the texts back & forth all morning hadn't been friendly. She was annoyed with my inability to make up my mind and I was annoyed with the plan being changed in the first place. I didn't have time to talk about it anymore, so I told her to make the decision because I was tired of thinking about it. (I'm serious when I say I haven't slept in days)
When I got back from the activity, I had a text telling me she had found someone else to take her. What the?! yeah. She figured I was going to bail on her so she made plans without me. (Obviously she
still doesn't know me well enough yet to know that when I say I'm going to do something- I'm gonna do it!). So I was pretty hurt, but luckily this is the kind of friend that I can be honest with and tell her I'm mad when I'm mad and we can still be friends (I think).
So we decided I would just finish work at Noon and then hop on the 3pm flight and meet them in St. George. She was still totally invited to join me in flight, but not wanting to deal with airport security, etc she still opted for the long route (Which, as a frequent
flyer, that made NO sense to me) but whatever. We're all different. So this is what my day looked like today:
I got off work at 12:45pm instead of Noon. I had to attend an end-of-year luncheon with the 2 teachers from work. One of them had invited the other 2 of us to her home for lunch. I had no idea her home was in South Sandy. I left work, went home and literally THREW stuff in a bag (luckily I still hadn't unpacked from my last weekend's trip to California) and headed to Sandy. I arrived at the 1pm luncheon at 1:45pm. To be honest-I never should have gone. I shoveled the food down, said thank you and left her house at 2pm. Remember, the flight left at 3pm. By some miracle, I got to the airport at 2:25pm. I don't speed, so I have no idea how that happened besides the I-215 belt route was amazingly empty. I parked my car in the economy lot and jumped on the shuttle to the terminal. I noticed that if I was parked there less than 1 hour, I wouldn't have to pay. Not a bad deal for a standby passenger. It took 10 minutes to ride the stupid bus and after asking an agent if it was too late for me to check-in (thinking of the 30 minute check-in requirement) She assured me that with just a carry on bag, I was fine. So I checked in at 2:35. There was NO ONE in the security line and I zoomed over to the E terminal for the flight to St. George. I couldn't believe I had made it with that much time to spare. Seats start to be given to standby passengers usually 10 minutes before departure. It was 2:40 when I sat down within earshot of the gate agent. People were just barely starting to board and since the plane only holds 30 people in the first place-it didn't take long to board everyone. Suddenly I could see the agent was getting kinda nervous about something. There was a man standing there with his small suitcase and the agent told him it was too late for him to board. Because the plane is so small, all luggage is checked plane-side and stored below. They stop allowing people to board 10 minutes before take off so they can
have the luggage compartment shut. (I'd never heard of this before and wondered how this would effect standby passengers). I waited patiently, as always, and then the gate agent shut the door and the "BOARDING ALL ZONES" sign changed to "CLOSED." I asked if any standbys had been assigned seats and he said, "Yes, all of them. Are you Tiffanie?"
WWHHHHHHHHAAAAAAATTTTT?! I just smiled to myself (already knowing what he was going to say next). He said he had called my name and then went ahead and gave my seat away. So pretty much in those 5 minutes between when I officially checked in, to when I got to the gate, he had called my name AND given my seat away, even though people were barely lined up to board when I got there at 2:40pm??? Whatever. I just said thank you and walked away politely-and even more exhausted. I figured I'd head back to my car and go home for a bit before trying again for the 4:55pm flight.
So I took the shuttle back to the parking lot. I got off the bus, walked over to my car excited to see I was going to beat the clock without having to pay since it was still under 60 minutes. I even had about 10 minutes to spare. That's when I reached for my keys and realized I had already taken them out of my purse and had placed them down on the bus seat next to me, as I was gathering my bags. The bus had already pulled away, but by golly I went running after it!!! No luck. It was gone. I went to the nearest stop and sat down about to cry thinking, "Seriously? Can today get any crazier?" The next bus came by, radioed the previous bus' driver and sure enough-someone had turned in my keys found on the seat. I was told she'd be circling around again so I could just wait at the stop for her. Five buses and 20 minutes later, my keys were back in my hand. But by then, I was already paying for a day's worth of long term parking, so I just got back on the bus to go back to the terminal for the 4:55 flight instead. The bus driver said, "Weren't you going to your car?" I felt so stupid when I had to say, "I WAS, but now I'm actually heading back to the terminal again." While on the bus, I went to take my parking ticket out, curious about the time and guess what... I couldn't find it. SHOCKER. I knew exactly where I had put it, because after writing the parking spot # on it, I specifically remember thinking "Don't put it there-you'll never remember it's there." But then responding with, "Yes you will." Well... it wasn't there. I just shook my head and tried to remind myself of Elder Wirthlin, "Tiff-Come what may and love it."
So I went to check in on the kiosk for a new boarding pass and it wouldn't recognize my pass #. Ummm since when? So I went to the counter to check-in and it was the same lady from before. She recognzied me right away and said, "You were able to check in last time, weren't you?" Again, I felt stupid, not knowing how to explain what had happened, because to be honest I still didn't understand it myself. She checked me in for the 4:55pm flight and said "Well it's too bad things didn't work out for you on the 3pm flight. The 4:55pm flight is oversold, but you never know so good luck." It was 3:45pm. I took a potty stop and figured I'd use my time to search my purse for my missing ticket. So there I was in a chair with ALL of the items of my purse dumped on the floor. I went through everything-twice- and it was NOT there. Whatever. I decided I'd just deal with it when it actually came time to pay. I pulled out my Delta pass card, to see if maybe the magnetic strip was getting worn and that's when I found the parking ticket-in the card section of my wallet..NOT AT ALL where I had put it. Did I mention I haven't slept much lately? I got to the gate at 4pm and called my sister-in-law, Amy, who just got back from India. It's nice to be able to just call her up again and chat! OK so again, I sat within ear shot of the gate agent and just waited. I watched and listened every time they would make an announcement. The only annoucement they ever made was for us to change boarding gates from E85 to E79. So I moved along with everyone else. It was getting closer to time, and to be honest- I had never NOT wanted to get on a flight so mch in all my life. I just wanted to go home and sleep and secretly I was hoping I could do my good deed for the day and just offer my seat to the standby passenger below me in seniority. Well, I never heard them say ANYTHING about standbys so I figured they really were oversold. The gate agent called the names of 2 people who appeared to be standbys and were traveling together. He gave them seat assignments and they went through the door. He shut the boarding door behind them, which is pretty much the signal for flight "CLOSED." He started typing on his computer and suddenly went RUSHING back out the door toward the two girls and brought them back. My first thought was, "Oh no. I bet he gave one of them my seat by mistake and now has to split them up and send me due to the seniority issue." I decided if that was the case, I would just give up my seat so they could stay together. Well, that wasn't the case. I have no idea what was going on, but the 2 girls were told they could go ahead and board after all. Ok? I still just stood there. By now it was 5:05pm. Weird. Still not a word about standbys. Hmmm? Well the agent was typing and started working on his next flight. The St. George flight was gone, so I just made my way back to my car. No major drama on the actual exit this time. I came home, actually somewhat relieved to have a weekend to rest. At 6:20pm my uncle called me and said, "Hey I just saw that you landed. I'll be there in about 5 minutes to pick you up." My response was "HUH?! Landed? I'm not on the plane." He said, "The computer says you got on. In fact it says you were sitting in seat 8A."
What in the world? So basically if anything had happened to that plane...I would have been on the dead list when in reality I was sitting at my house eating ice cream. Wow- how comforting. It's obvious that for whatever reason-I'm not supposed to be in St. George this weekend!
