We get to fly for free, right. Some of you are very jealous of this and you have every right to be. We are very grateful for this perk from Ryan's job. We have flown millions of times. Seriously so much. However, what you may not realize is the pain, suffering, disappointment, and energy that goes into flying standby.
For example, last week I had planned a trip to Utah to see my parents and my brother and sister. We had talked about it for weeks and my kids were beyond thrilled. I spent a whole day doing laundry, packing the bags, packing up snacks, loading the car and cleaning the house. Then I woke up at 4 a.m. dressed my kids, loaded them in the car and headed off for Cincinnati just to be stopped at 6 a.m. in a traffic jam 3 miles from my house. I moved 6 miles in one hour. Missed the flight and went home. Attempt #2. After a few hours at home, I loaded up the kids AGAIN and headed for Cincinnati one hour away. I parked the car, juggled 2 large duffel bags, a backpack, purse, and stroller onto a van to take me to the terminal. Then I had to juggle the same cargo off the van, and up one story to check in. Once through security, which we have down to a science, we were off to our gate. Quickly to find a full flight of people headed to L.A. that aborted take off that were now trying to get re-routed through SLC on MY flight. We were out of luck. The flights the rest of the day were oversold already plus all the passengers from the L.A. flight were added to them. We were not getting out of there. So, I threw in the towel. In so doing, I was crying as I told my mom we weren't coming, my kids were crying because they couldn't see grandma and Grandma was crying because she wasn't going to be able to see the grand kids. We were a crying mess. After I gained my composure and was assured that going home was the right choice, I then had to go retrieve my 2 large duffel bags, which come to find out had been sent to SLC without me because they were in a hurry to load the plane and just took all bags. But I waited 2 hours to find that out. So after 4 hours at the airport, driving 2 hours and being up since 4 a.m. we weren't going anywhere and my bags wouldn't be back until the next day.
So you see, it is a blessing AND a curse!
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6 comments:
Ahhh- those are the times when paying a million dollars for a ticket is worth it!! We are flying to Idaho this weekend- hopefully our flight turns out better then yours! =)
I am so sorry. It takes so much energy to get things to gether and be mentally prepared to fly. I am so sorry.
Yep, that was a HUGE bummer. We also were super disappointed that it didn't work out.
The Free part is great, yet the hastle.........not so great.
Here's hoping for NEXT time to be easier.
come for Thanksgiving at my house!!!!!!!PLEASE.
Wow, what a day.
I forgot to ask about your bags, I'm glad that you got them back. I'm so sorry that the trip didn't work out, I know how much it meant to you to go out there. I guess the good side of it is that you can fly again another weekend.
That makes me soooo sad. I'm already crying again. There is almost always a downside to a gift. You are a TROOPER to try that! Homecoming is in two weeks on the 23 & 24th. What about doing that all over again and coming for the parade and game and Gardner Village and Tai Pan Traders???
I just need my Gremmert fix!!!!!
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