I can't believe it. It almost happened again.
The last time our family left for a major vacation, our Mediterranean cruise, we had big problems getting to the airport. It wasn't our fault, but still, we were panicked, fearful we'd miss our flight.
This time, leaving for a week in Hawaii, it might have been our fault. Who bothers to listen to a traffic report at 6 a.m.? I-95, the primary way to get to the Philly airport, was closed. And we were already on it.
Lucky for us we'd allowed an extra half hour to get there. We sat still for about fifteen minutes, but then were able to crawl our way to the next exit. Of course when we got off the lights were backed up and backed up. Everyone was trying to get to the airport.
Also lucky for us, Molly was driving. And one more lucky for us, she was driving my old piece-of-shit Camry. After whipping through a gas station and bulling our way into traffic, we finally made it through the last lights. We got through security and arrived at our gate just as they were starting to board.
But that's not the end of the story. It gets better... or worse, if you're us.
We got onto the plane and taxied out onto the runway, and then stopped. And the engines went off.
"Well, folks," the pilot's voice came over the intercom, "we've got a 55-minute delay due to the weather in Chicago." And we only had an hour layover to make our connection.
We sat... and sat... and finally, almost an hour later, took off.
Here's where we finally got lucky. As we approached Chicago, the cabin staff read off the connecting gates and gave detailed instructions on how to take the shuttle from one terminal to another. Oh, great, we thought, there's no chance we're going to make our next flight. Then there was the good news: we were arriving at Gate C-59. Our next flight was leaving from Gate C-56.
They were already boarding when we got there, but we made it! Whew!
It was smooth sailing, er, I mean flying, after that, and we arrived in Lihue eighteen hours after that I-95 closure, exhausted but happy.
Next time I promise I'll listen to the traffic report. :)
