* 4:30 am. Wake before alarm. Heading West for conference.
* 5:05 am. Get in car. Large fluffy flakes coating car. (Beautiful morning!)
* 6:00 am. Arrive at JFK Airport in good time. (All good)
* 6:10 am. I discover I’m at wrong terminal. (Tension building)
* 6:15 am. Check luggage. Hit with $25 bag fee. (Annoyed)
* 6:20 am. Get scolded by TSA agent for not removing my belt. (Rattled. Hope not to get frisked.)
* 6:23 am. Gather luggage. Put on shoes. Prep for long walk to right terminal. (DK is at his best when he’s in motion.)
* 6:24 am. Something is off. I turn back to empty bins. Find my driver’s license sitting all alone in bin. (Heart hammering. OMG.)
* 6:25 am. Hoofing it to other terminal. (You could have lost your license pal. Karma is at your back. It’s going to be a great day!)
* 7:20 am. Board on time. (Good omen!)
* 7:40 am. Two empty seats in my row in full flight. (Jackpot!)
* 7:45 am. Spot good friend cramped in row behind me. Invite her to my empty row. (Cheryl joins “Mr. Jackpot!”)
* 8:45 am. 45 minutes after planned departure, Captain signals a delay due to heavy snow accumulation and icy conditions. He asks us to be patient. (No prob Captaino!)
* 9:45 am. Captain indicates queue is long. He needs our continued patience.
* 10:45 am. Captain comes on intercom to say de-icing fluid leaked into cockpit and galley and needs to be cleaned up before departure. (Passengers groan)
* 11:30 am. Captain asks us to de-plane. (Madness ensues as everyone bull rushes out)
* Noon. We are asked to head to Gate B-41 to a new plane via a shuttle ride and 1 mile walk. (DK is back in motion. Stretch out the hams and butt cheeks – could those plane seats be any more comfortable!?!)
* 1:30 pm. We board another plane. (Enthusiasm rains! Westward Ho!)
* 2:30 pm. Captain explains that water lines are malfunctioning. (Like no toilet flushes on 5 hour flight).
* 3:00 pm. Catering delivers bottled water. Captain speaks: “There will be bottled water and handi-wipes to do your business.” (He did NOT just say that!)
* 3:30 pm. Stewardess calls for seat backs and table trays up.
* 3:45 pm. Our luggage is being loaded from the other plane. (Optimism re-fires again)
* 4:00 pm. We are standing in queue for de-icing. Captain announces that he’ll give this another hour and a half before he makes a final call. He says he can’t give an estimate on departure time. (Eyebrows up. Crowd is wary but still believing.)
* 4:05 pm. We sit. 8 hours and counting and still not in the air. We sit. And we wait.
Image Credit
