Thursday morning I got up bright and early ready to leave the house by 8, my flight out of Salt Lake was at 11:15. While I was in the shower my mom called so I called her back only to have her tell me about a volcano that had erupted in Iceland that is disrupting flights in the UK and Scandinavian countries. I thought, why are you telling me this right now and I wasn't going that far north so what did I really have to worry about. My mom took me down to the airport, I got there in plenty of time and sat at the gate waiting for my flight. The flat screen flashed news of the volcano but with everyone around me clearly not going over seas I had no one to share in my worries. Then I heard a couple sitting next to me start talking about Amsterdam and I asked them if they were on their way there which they were. We talked for the rest of the wait before our flight left, the volcano more of a concern for them since they were on their way to Amsterdam through London which had definitely been affected by the volcano.
The flight to Chicago was uneventful, I did start reading a really good series called The Hunger Games, highly recommended. When we landed in Chicago I turned my phone on and had a voice mail waiting for me. My heart sunk a little even before I knew it was from American Airlines confirming my fears, my flight to Paris had been canceled and I was to contact them to make further accommodations. I immediately got on the phone with one of their agents who found a flight to Frankfurt that night so I booked it and waited. It was about an hour before that flight was supposed to depart when we heard the inevitable, "Ladies and Gentleman flight number XXXX to Frankfurt has been canceled, please contact American Airlines at blah blah blah." With no chance of getting another flight to Europe until the next week and that was if the air cleared, I decided to cut my losses and head back home. By this time it was about 7:00 PM in Chicago, the next flight to Salt Lake was the next morning at 8:30. The airlines gave us a hotel voucher for the night and so I didn't feel completely exhausted the next day, I took it, got a hot shower and about 4 hours of sleep.
Getting out of Chicago the next morning was another struggle. We were supposed to begin boarding about 8:00 and at 8:15 they got on the intercom and told us they were doing some maintenance checks on the plane, not exactly what you wanted to hear, and that they would have more updates at 8:55. At 8:55 they got on and changed our gate/airplane with a new departure time of 9:20. By the time we got all boarded and the luggage situated we didn't get in the air until about 10:00, only an hour and a half behind schedule. My mom made the trip again down to pick me up and in an effort to make up for the missed trip, took me to Spaghetti Factory for lunch, which I love, but sadly not an alternative to where I should have been at the time. Planning right now to rebook for the end of June, should be a good birthday present, and if that one doesn't work out it's just not meant to be.
Getting out of Chicago the next morning was another struggle. We were supposed to begin boarding about 8:00 and at 8:15 they got on the intercom and told us they were doing some maintenance checks on the plane, not exactly what you wanted to hear, and that they would have more updates at 8:55. At 8:55 they got on and changed our gate/airplane with a new departure time of 9:20. By the time we got all boarded and the luggage situated we didn't get in the air until about 10:00, only an hour and a half behind schedule. My mom made the trip again down to pick me up and in an effort to make up for the missed trip, took me to Spaghetti Factory for lunch, which I love, but sadly not an alternative to where I should have been at the time. Planning right now to rebook for the end of June, should be a good birthday present, and if that one doesn't work out it's just not meant to be.
