It was 2:30am on Monday December 19th and our alarms went off - it was time to start our trek home for the holidays! We crawled out of bed and into our car and drove 2 hours to Syracuse airport in New York. We had been told by others not to get to the airport to early as it was a small airport with nothing to do and because we were flying within the USA, it wasn't an international flight. We got in line to check in and 20 minutes later it was our turn to check in. We went up to the desk and were then advised that we were actually in the wrong line up (apparently when you fly with Continental, you don't check in with Continental, you check in with United Air???). Now, everyone that was in the wrong line up behind us and heard us get re-directed, hopped into the correct line before us, making us now at the back of the line up! We were checked in and still had thirty minutes until our flight left, we were gonna be ok...Or so we thought! We headed towards security and saw a line up that stretched across the airport and looped around! Apparently, for the 6 flights that were all leaving between 5:40 and 6am, there was one security check point! Everyone in the line up was checking the time, calling loved ones to tell them they were likely going to miss their flight, and feeling the overall anxiety of each other! Carl and I got in line and prayed that we would make our flight! We had booked our flights online through Expedia and one of the "warnings" was that if you missed your first flight, all other flights would be cancelled as well. We heard the final boarding call for our flight just as we reached the security check point. Then as luck would have it, we both got selected for random bag checks! They took my carry on which was full of Christmas presents, one in particular that was tied in a plastic bag. The lady took her time in trying to get the knot untied to check its contents. "Just rip the bag!" I said to her "we are going to miss our flight!". She replied in a non chalant, relaxed tone "oh, it's ok, I don't like to usually rip the bags"...I gave her the Leah death glare, while trying to sound nice at the same time and said again "RIP THE BAG!". She did. Both of us now shaking with adrenaline ran to our gate to find out that we, along with 7 others had indeed, missed our flight! Luckily, there was about 7 seats available on the next flight to Chicago which we all got on (Thank you God!). They were able to get us on the next flight, change our 2nd flight and get us to our third destination in order to catch our last original flight, getting us to Bellingham as planned! To sum up our travels, we drove 2 hours to Syracuse, flew from Syracuse to Chicago, Chicago to Las Vegas and Vegas to Bellingham were my mom picked us up and drove us an hour back to m parents house! We were up for about 22hours with minimal sleep in transit! Let me just say that Carl and I cannot wait until we are real grown ups and can afford to buy direct flights! Needless to say I am dreading our "adventure" home as it will look about the same (except we'll be getting to the airport welllll in advance)!
Since arriving, I've been busy visiting with family and friends while Carl spent his first few days in town visiting several "Transit Oriented" sites for his final report for school. My brother, who moved to Smithers for work in the summer wasn't expected to come home for the holidays but he ended up cutting his knee open snowboarding! Although this was not a good thing, it did get him a week off work! He came down for a few days which was a nice surprise! |
| David and Brier |
It's now Christmas eve and we're looking forward to seeing a lot of family over the next few days!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Love Leah and Carl
