Stranded

Yesterday marked my first night away from Stasa. I'm traveling for work and am spending a couple of days in San Diego for meetings. I decided to fly out early on Tuesday to be here in time for a team dinner last night. Well thanks to mother nature and United, I didn't arrive until much much later.

It began with a 30 minute delay in Dulles. The United pilots told us our connecting flights would also be delayed so we shouldn't worry. I missed my connection by 10 minutes when we arrived in Chicago. I was told to go to Customer Service to get a new flight and stood in line for 30-45 minutes thanks to the very slow agents at the desk. Once at the desk I learned that I had already been rebooked on a 10:16 AM flight that had also already left. The only available flight was a 5:30 PM arriving in San Diego after 8:00 PM. Luckily as the agent was booking me, a spot opened on the 3:30 PM flight, so I was only stranded in O'Hare for 5 hours.

The flight to San Diego was PACKED and the flight attendant wouldn't let me stow my camera bag and laptop bag in the overhead compartment, so I was stuck sitting with them between my legs for the entire trip. Oh, and the lady next to me? Yeah, she decided to take the opportunity to tell me all about her cancer and how she's refusing chemo and going to San Diego for a special tonic treatment. And of course she was also a Jehovah's Witness and just happened to have a copy of the Watch Tower on her and suggested I read the "Should you always tell the truth?" and the "Till Death Do Us Part" articles. What an enjoyable flight.

So it should come as no surprise that once I arrived at the hotel, I didn't leave. I should have just ordered room service, but opted to take my book down to the restaurant, which was closed so I was stuck at the bar, next to a very chatty older man, who annoyed the hell out of me. Needless to say, I was in bed asleep by 9:00 PM PST and woke up wiiiiiiiiide awake this morning at 5:00 AM PST (8:00 AM EST).

I miss Stasa terribly and cried a few times at the airports and on the planes. It just felt weird to wake up and not see her. And a small part of me fears that she won't remember me when I get home. I hate being away from her. : (

Anyway, since I was stuck at O'Hare for what felt like for-ev-er, I got to take a few pictures. Here's part of my late morning snack.

A view of the terminal

Proof that my new flight was still on time

Annnnnnnnnd there was a DINOSAUR (well dino replica) in the terminal.