About 32 hours to get home

Into every road warrior's (and other travelers) life delays must come. My number came up for a monumental delay. I arrived at the Palm Springs airport at 12:30 pm on Thursday for my flight home. Thankfully, I had upgraded to first class. First my flight was delayed an hour waiting for the plane. Then once everyone was boarded, I noticed that there wasn't the usual movement of the flight attendants up and down the aisle. Instead, they were talking to the captain.

Nice man, Captain Veser, kept us informed for the next 3 hours as we sat at the gate. He let us know that there was severe weather in Dallas and did not close the cabin door and push back. Now to some who read this blog, this doesn't mean much, but for those who travel extensively, it was significant. It meant that he thought it would be a long delay and did not want us shut up getting antsy. An open door means fresh air and for those that are a little anxious in closed spaces, it means less anxiety. Finally, he told us that they were cancelling all flights to Dallas for the day.

The station manager told us to deplane, collect our bags from baggage claim and go to the ticket counter to get rebooked. Here's a tip, when they tell you to get your bags and THEN go to the ticket counter, ignore them, go to the ticket counter first. The baggage people have to unload the bags from the plane and load them on the conveyor belt ... that takes time and if you are waiting for your bags ... someone else is getting your seat. Fortunately for us, the airline decided to move our flight in toto to 8:00 am the next morning. Unfortunately, whoever put the new flight in the system neglected to put that it was already full. It just showed up as another flight. So on Friday, 50 people from San Diego who thought they had confirmed seats on the plane showed up only to be told they would have to fly standby!

Because I'm an elite member of several hotel frequent sleeper clubs, I was able to get a room without any difficulty in a hotel very near where I was staying before and very near the airport. As I walked to downtown, I remember that a local person had told me it was too bad that I wasn't going to be in town on Thursday because every Thursday they have a street fair. What luck! So my extended stay in Palm Springs was actually not so bad as people watching is a favorite pass time of mine. Jugglers, musicians, artists, and people with their dogs. Simply wonderful.

On Friday I was up at 5:30 and at the airport early because I knew there would be a long line to check bags and to get through security. I really feel for those poor TSA workers sometimes. I wonder how many times a day they have to tell people they cannot carry liquids in more than 3.4 oz through security?

On the plane. Again delays. The storms are still moving through Dallas. Finally 2 hours late, we are wheels up! About an hour out of Dallas, I notice that we have gone into a holding pattern. Subtle, but after the 3rd right turn, that's a holding pattern. We landed an hour late ... not bad.

My flight from Dallas to Austin was also delayed but DFW kept me busy by first sending me to one gate, then another, then back to gate 1, then to the gate that we finally used. Here is a photo of a really neat artsy thing in terminal C. You stand in the middle and there are instructions on how to move around the maze and then end up back in the middle and it will play a melody for you. Very cool.

Wheels up 3 hours late. Finally landing in Austin, I knew I was home when I saw the bluebonnets and other wild flowers in the green area along the runway. Palm Springs was nice, but there is no place like home.