Just Plane Drama

Ah flying, such an adventure.  Back in January when I flew out to visit my Knight, my flight was canceled and I got in an extra two days of visiting due to below freezing temperatures and snow storms.  This time was a little less stressful, but no less dramatic.  I'm wondering if this is going to be a recurring pattern.

Tuesday afternoon my Knight and I headed down the highway to the airport.  Traffic was a bit difficult but as we drove he received updates to his phone that my flight was being delayed.  We were happy to take advantage of this and hang out in the cell phone lot when we arrived early, and postpone saying good-bye for just a bit longer.

Then he dropped me off, drove away and it took him two hours to get home.  And my flight got delayed a little more, and the plane still didn't show up, and then finally it did show up an hour after the originally scheduled departure time.  We eventually boarded the plane, started moving down the runway, and then stopped.

Apparently Chicago decided to party it up with gigantic thunderstorms and rain and hail, and so O'Hare grounded all incoming flights.  Our pilot opted to wait out the hour of being grounded on the runway where we would be the first plane off the ground when it was lifted. Only it didn't get lifted.  The hour up, O'Hare decided that it'd be best if all incoming planes stayed away for yet another hour.

At this point we had to return to the gate, because our pilot had already extended his regulated flying time by two hours, but in forty-one minutes he was going to reach his limit and be illegal to fly the plane. Le sigh.  This meant a whole new pilot and flight crew.... so we returned to the gate, they got us all off the plane and announced that the flight would be delayed until 8:45 the following morning.

Rather than let me spend a night sleeping in an airport, my Knight drove back up to the airport in far less time than generally allowed when you ask Google Maps how long it will take you to get somewhere, rescued me and brought me back home.  And then he got up again at 5:30 in the morning and drove me back to catch my flight.

I am telling you, dear readers, my Knight is the most wonderful and amazing of all men.

Rush hour traffic was a monster returning to the airport, but with the help of St. Christopher, a conveniently timed switch to a shorter security line and a close gate, I made it onto the plane with five minutes to spare and even got upgraded from a seat in row 20 to a seat in row 7 due to half the plane not showing up for the rescheduled flights.

And so eventually, I did make it home.  It was a most interesting night, and I can't say that I minded getting to see my Knight again for a few more hours... even if for those hours we were both exhausted and a bit foggy.  'Twas quite the adventure - I am curious to see what the next time I travel will bring!