Life is a Journey …
… not a destination.” (So says Mr. Emerson.)
I said this quote to myself repeatedly yesterday as we waited at the airport for our flight to take off (3 hours), sat in the plane waiting for them to load luggage, de-ice, and take off (1 hour), sat in the airport of our connecting city waiting for the next, delayed plane (4.5 hours), and waited for luggage before driving home, sans two of our bags (1.5 hours). This wonderful journey-not-destination also includes the 5.5 hours spent in the air. Grand total? 15.5 hours from arrival at the first airport to home.
I love vacation.
At the Salt Lake City airport, I was anticipating a wonky eating schedule due to travel, time zone changes, and daylight savings, so I decided to go light with fruit, yogurt, and a little granola for “lunch” (brunch? blinner? bnack?).
Now, that’s REAL fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt.
Our first flight was delayed by hours because of supposed bad weather (?) in Chicago, our connecting city. The airline kept pushing back the takeoff time until I stopped believing them. When we finally got on the plane, we were treated to a confined space for an hour while they took care of some “last minute” details.
Snow on the window:
Peter trying to kill time:
Compare the departure time on the ticket to the time on Peter’s phone right before takeoff:
At least I had plenty of time to study for Monday morning’s Medical Nutrition Therapy exam:
Needless to say, we missed our connection in Chicago. As soon as we knew we were going to miss the connection, we asked a gate agent in Salt Lake to book us on the next flight from Chicago to Hartford (the ONLY flight on the same day, in fact). He was noncommittal about whether or not he had been able to book us. Who says flyin’ ain’t fun?
When we arrived in Chicago, we asked the airline agent for confirmation that we were on the next flight and were met with only rudeness. Now, we are calm and respectful people who are very polite, so I was surprised and disappointed with this airline. Luckily, we were flying a different airline for the second half of the voyage, so we went to one of their help desks and were immediately confirmed for the flight to Hartford. Thank you, United! You saved our Saturday AND Sunday! 🙂
(I’m not saying which airline we flew for the first half of the trip from Salt Lake, but if you look at the pictures in this post you should be able to guess.)
Our second flight was delayed for hours, too, so we had plenty of time for dinner. As we wouldn’t be getting in until about 3 am, I was looking for something more substantial than salad. We stopped into the airport’s Berghoff restaurant and scoped out their take-away. Doesn’t this veggie pizza they had set out for an example look good?
Well:
At least it tasted pretty good. The pizza was not like deep-dish Chicago pizza at all – instead the crust was thin and crispy (which I like).
Yesterday was not a good day for the Chicago airport:
I usually like to walk around airports for some exercise when traveling (I’ve been known to pace back and forth in the Bradley airport, drawing more than a few odd glances). However, I stayed put for the most part this time, as I didn’t want to abandon my travel companions. Peter and I did take a walk at one point – if you’ve ever been to the Chicago airport, you’ll probably recognize this underground moving walkway with an overhead mirror:
I also worked a little on a research paper. It’s amazing how much you can get done when you have nothing else to do.
We rolled into Hartford shortly before 3 am on Sunday. Yes, that’s TODAY. When going to pick up our bags, we discovered that are skis were still somewhere in Chicago. Oh well, at least they didn’t have my Biscoff.
I woke up around 11 am and immediately consumed my “Jessie Revitalization Project” oatmeal.
Oatmeal was much needed after a long day and night.
Not much else happened during the day, except for picking up the doggles!! Imagine the Chariots of Fire theme song as Maddie and I ran toward one another, except triple the song’s speed because that puppy is pretty fast.
Otherwise, I’ve been studying up a storm for tomorrow’s MNT test. Nice “Welcome Back” after Spring Break, huh? 😉
The beginning of this upcoming week is going to be pretty crazy (another test, teaching, community, clinical, work with the dietitian), so posting might be a little spotty. I’ll try my best, but homework and work come first.
Have a wonderful Sunday evening!
Q: C’mon, I know you have at least one: what’s your crazy travel story?!
P.S. Some of your comments have been ending up in my spam box if you have special characters like ” and ( ) in your name. I don’t want to miss any of your wonderful comments, so if you could keep your name special character-free, I would be so happy!
Yikes, sounds crazy! Glad you arrived back safe and sound though.
have a good week!
Does the @ in my name make my messages end up in your spam box? If so, I’ll take it out!
Sorry your travel experience was so crazy! My only crazy experience was when I got stuck in London for an extra day…which really wasn’t so bad! 😉
The @ seems ok! 🙂
My crazy travel experience was when I traveled with a girl who ordered vegetarian pizza at a German restaurant. This after ordering salmon at the prior German restaurant she’d been to.
Har-de-har har …
Traveling back home is always the worst part of a trip for me. Haha, broccoli shortage is right, geez!! I would’ve complained for sure!! And that is too bad about Delta treating you like that. My grandfather is a retired Delta employee and he would be appalled to hear your story. Sorry to hear they were rude to you. Especially in today’s economy, they should only be super polite and helpful so that they keep as many customers as possible. I bet you’re happy to have your doggie back!! When we got back from our honeymoon, I cried when Andrew got home from picking up our dogs. Imagine how ridiculous I’ll be when we have real babies, haha! 😉 Have a good week back home!! 🙂
Hehe, I know what you mean – can’t live without them!
What a journey! I’ve got to say, that “fruit-on-the-bottom” yogurt pic made my mouth water! I’m glad to have found you through Rebecca’s “Chow & Chatter” and appreciate the kind comments on my girlfriend/banana bread guest post. Thank you!
I tried taking the parentheses out…hopefully I won’t get spammed!
I have far too many crazy travel tales to tell…haha…my most recent one to Mexico over the Christmas holidays sounds much like yours, including mega delays and with an extra bonus of waiting in a line that of about 1000 people!
Have a great Monday Jessie!
Ouch, that sounds terrible!
Too bad we didn’t know you were delayed in Chicago! Dave and I could have come out and taken you to a proper dinner 🙂
Next time…
It’s a date!
Jeez, what a scam. I hate it when their display is different from the real food they serve.
I had one crazy travel experience when I missed the flight, and basically I had an exam the next day so I HAD to make the flight but I was put in the wait list….22nd down the line! and there was only ONE flight left that day…
Guess what? I made it! I give all credit to God for working a miracle for me. 🙂
Flying during bad weather can be SO frustrating! I’ve gotten held on the runway for hours at a time. At that point, I wish they wouldn’t board the plane until they are ready to take off. It is so annoying having to sit in a 2 by nothing space for hours on end!
At least you got home safe and sound though! Good luck on your test. I’m sure you’ll ace it.
Thanks!
Flight delays are the worst! Especially on the way there when you’re all excited…
Ick, I’m so sorry to hear about the flight issues. That’s definitely not fun. At least you got a lot of work done 🙂
Having pups at home is definitely always something to look forward to, especially cute ones like yours, hehe!
I’ve had a lot going into my spam a lot, too – annoying!
I’m sorry your flights were all messed up! I was in Houston this weekend and flew okay, but I always count my lucky stars when that happens! I’ve never been delayed much though *knock on wood!!!!!!!!!*
So sorry to hear your long long long story at the airport. I have SEVERAL similar experience….that was really annoying, and you feel its out of control. So I always take some work with me to kill time. it’s not bad – we will be there sooner or later 🙂
I love being in airports. I didn’t travel on a plane until I was 16 and for some reason I love the whole atmosphere,
Annoying+Crazy travel story: I had a road test scheduled for the day after we returned from vacation, but when they asked if anyone would take a bump my parents offered. I almost came home alone, but I decided to take the bump too and miss my test. 🙁 I was so angry, but now we’re going to south Carolina for free next month so I guess it was worth it.
It must be great to be back in the comfort of home after all that airport and airplane time! What a crazy journey that turned out to be! I haven’t had anything overly stressful happen…I do remember flying from Canada to New Zealand when I was younger – it was a veeery long flight and an Indian airline so the food we had was quite spicy…and then there was the whole jet lag issue when we finally got there. It was totally worth it though – N.Z. is absolutely stunning.
I’m sure you’ll ace your test, but good luck to you all the same 🙂