Blog #118: A Day's Journey (And Then Some)

I've taken a decent amount of flights in the year 2019 (I think 14 if I've counted correctly) and until today, all have gone fairly smoothly. Other than a few delays here and there (and, quite honestly, I never really expected a flight in India to be on time), my travel has been fairly smooth and operated as expected. Until today (or yesterday? time is fake). After taking my time in the Frankfurt airport this morning and having a nice airport-quality breakfast, I arrived at my departure gate about thirty minutes before boarding was to begin. Twenty minutes later, it was announced that the plane for our flight had been struck by lightning on its way in, and therefore our flight was cancelled. Chaos ensued, as literally hundreds of people crowded to the information desk to try to rebook their flight. As more and more people kept coming, I decided I needed to stand in line too. So I stood in line, and I waited. And I waited. Then I waited some more. And then when I thought I was done waiting... I kept waiting. I must reiterate that it was chaos, with hundreds of impatient people swarming a mere two employees who were tasked with rebooking all of us. We were transferred to a different gate, back to the original one, back to another one, then another, and finally another. Having a "spot" in line was pointless, as the constant shifting ensured different people were in the front every time. In the end, I stood and waited for five hours to get my flight rebooked, which was over half the time my flight should have taken. BUT, that said, I'm happy that my flight was able to rebooked for the same day, as many others had to wait overnight for another one. Still, my rebooked flight was no joy ride, as I arrived in Chicago with one hour to get through US customs, transfer my baggage, shuttle to another terminal, get through security again, and find my gate. With only a small amount of tears, and a large amount of sweat from literally sprinting through the airport, I arrived at my gate with minutes to spare. From beginning to end, it was probably my worst airport/flight experience ever, but I know all the frustration will be worth it when I'm HOME in a few hours. Who knew I'd ever be so anxious to get back to Kansas?