What Do You Mean This is the Wrong Airport?
by Sariah S. Wilson
Something that has never happened to me before happened to me today.
I missed my flight. And I missed it in the biggest way possible - we were at the wrong airport.
In my defense, *I* didn't make the travel arrangements. My husband insisted that he wanted to do it, that he would take care of everything. I, of course, should have remembered that my husband is extremely forgetful and this morning one of the things he forgot is which airport our flight was leaving from.
We have quite a few airports that we can fly out of. Cincinnati is the closest, but the most expensive as it is a Delta hub. We can fly out of the Dayton airport (which is where we should have gone today) or the Indianapolis airport or the Louisville airport. It can get confusing. Especially with making my sister's flying arrangements, as she was coming from SLC to Cincinnati.
But regardless of whose fault it is, here we are in Cincinnati still. There wasn't a single airline who had any seats open today to get us to our destination, and we would never have been able to drive up to the Dayton airport in time for the last flight they had available that day.
We were able to catch an early flight out tomorrow, and despite going down to the airport, paying a fee for being in the long-term parking lot and driving back home, paying an additional fee to transfer our tickets to the new flight, this has turned out well. We've had a really fun day with the kids since we had no other responsibilities or obligations (as we got everything ready before our departure day), and my sister (the saint watching my kids this week) came in earlier than expected this afternoon. I went back to the airport to pick her up (she was pretty surprised to see me) and got all misty watching people reunite, and the homecoming for a solider just about made me sob. (One of the most fun airport arrivals I've ever had was coming in to the St. George "airport" (it's more like an air room) the same time as two missionaries returning home. The sound when we stepped off our pondhopper plan was deafening as all those people cheered and clapped for the return of their beloved sons)).
Although the hard part has been how the baby is handling this. She cried the entire time we were gone until she exhausted herself and fell asleep. She kept wanting to be put down and would crawl (while crying) to the baby gate and call out "Mama?" pause, call out again, "Mama?" She kept giving me kisses and hugging me after she woke up from her nap and saw that I was there. Everyone keeps telling me she'll be fine. I'm not sure I believe them. Has anyone else had a similar experience with leaving a little one? I'm freaking out even more now.
But back to the original topic, have you ever missed a flight or nearly ruined your vacation somehow?
Something that has never happened to me before happened to me today.
I missed my flight. And I missed it in the biggest way possible - we were at the wrong airport.
In my defense, *I* didn't make the travel arrangements. My husband insisted that he wanted to do it, that he would take care of everything. I, of course, should have remembered that my husband is extremely forgetful and this morning one of the things he forgot is which airport our flight was leaving from.
We have quite a few airports that we can fly out of. Cincinnati is the closest, but the most expensive as it is a Delta hub. We can fly out of the Dayton airport (which is where we should have gone today) or the Indianapolis airport or the Louisville airport. It can get confusing. Especially with making my sister's flying arrangements, as she was coming from SLC to Cincinnati.
But regardless of whose fault it is, here we are in Cincinnati still. There wasn't a single airline who had any seats open today to get us to our destination, and we would never have been able to drive up to the Dayton airport in time for the last flight they had available that day.
We were able to catch an early flight out tomorrow, and despite going down to the airport, paying a fee for being in the long-term parking lot and driving back home, paying an additional fee to transfer our tickets to the new flight, this has turned out well. We've had a really fun day with the kids since we had no other responsibilities or obligations (as we got everything ready before our departure day), and my sister (the saint watching my kids this week) came in earlier than expected this afternoon. I went back to the airport to pick her up (she was pretty surprised to see me) and got all misty watching people reunite, and the homecoming for a solider just about made me sob. (One of the most fun airport arrivals I've ever had was coming in to the St. George "airport" (it's more like an air room) the same time as two missionaries returning home. The sound when we stepped off our pondhopper plan was deafening as all those people cheered and clapped for the return of their beloved sons)).
Although the hard part has been how the baby is handling this. She cried the entire time we were gone until she exhausted herself and fell asleep. She kept wanting to be put down and would crawl (while crying) to the baby gate and call out "Mama?" pause, call out again, "Mama?" She kept giving me kisses and hugging me after she woke up from her nap and saw that I was there. Everyone keeps telling me she'll be fine. I'm not sure I believe them. Has anyone else had a similar experience with leaving a little one? I'm freaking out even more now.
But back to the original topic, have you ever missed a flight or nearly ruined your vacation somehow?
Sariah Wilson — 2/09/2008 07:12:00 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Combining our anniversary with Valentine's Day, my wife and I went on a short vacation this weekend. It was the first time we've left our kids overnight in almost two years, and the first time we've ever left them for two nights in a row.
And, of course, I woke up Friday morning with the bird flu or something. We ended up cancelling most of our plans and staying in the hotel--me wrapped in a blanket guzzling NyQuil while Erin watched TV. It was a rad vacation.
Bummer about the airport confusion! I haven't missed a flight before--but I've sure come close!
I hope you have a wonderful trip and I'm sure your baby will be fine.
Rotten timing on that illness, Rob, but at least your wife was nearby. :)
Hang in there, Sariah -- it will be hard but the baby will be all right.
Can I say, the wrong airport sorta made me snicker??
I've never gone to the wrong airport, but I have shown up 3 housr late for a flight. I could have sworn that we were booked on the later flight!
Fortunately, the airline lady took pity on us and put us on the next flight without charging us. Purely our fault!
From my experience leaving little ones, it is always harder on Mom than on the kids.
Your baby will be fine--and eventually you will come to the realization that you were fine too. Sometimes it's hard to wrap your mind around the fact that your kids really are okay without you.
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