And all the airports I get in my heart is pumping for … well, yesterday was a nightmare.
After my final exam in the A.P program of hospitality and tourism management, which I passed, I went home and took a 3 hour nap. I woke up around 7pm, had dinner and finished up some work as well as packing my bags for New York.
At 2.30 am, I went in the car to hit Copenhagen Airport. My flight was at 6.55 but I wanted to be there in time. I checked in two bags, and paid 75 Euro for the second bag. I had on one heavy backpack and my regular shoulder bag.
I got through security painlessly, not a lot of people in the airport that time a day.
I had breakfast and I bought a few bags of licorice since we all know that that’s one thing the Americans do not do well.
I boarded the aircraft to Paris and immediately fell a sleep. It was nice!
I had about about two hours in Charles De Gaulle before my connecting flight, but it took me an hour to get from one terminal to the next. And I’m a fast walker! The aircraft that I was going to go to Washington Dulles in, was a Airbus A380 and it was absolutely amazing! I had the window seat on the last row, on the upper deck. I loved the small compartment rooms next to the seat that allowed me to have all my junk nearby (including those licorices) The flight attendants were super nice, and once we took off, the service onboard was great!
It was annoying, we weren’t told what was really going on but we kept getting the message that we should be able to take off in 15 minutes. After what I think was 2 hours, the plane finally departed Paris. As mentioned, the service was great and the lady sitting next to me was a sweetheart.
The dinner was, compared to other meals you get served on flights, not so ‘plane’! (yes, plane – plain, get it?)
After 2 miniature bottles of Absolut Vodka, sophisticatedly mixed up with Orange juice, half a bottle of white wine and a deliciously combo of a Cognac and a benadryl I went to sleep! …. 8.5 hours later we arrived in Washington Dulles airport.
I had exactly 1 hour and 10 minutes to get off the plane, catch the weird looking trolley back to the terminal, go through customs, pick up my bags, recheck-in my bags, get to the other terminal, again through security and get on my connecting flight to JFK.
It took 40 minutes to get through customs. There was a sweet girl, that allowed me jump in front of her so that saved me another 15 minutes. There was no issues getting into America again for the 13th time.
I was waiting for my bags to appear on the belt, since I had to recheck them. While I was waiting, my name was called and I was told that one of the bags was already on a plane to JFK. Which at the time, I was grateful for. Only having to deal with one suitcase giving the fact that my back was hurting from carrying that heavy backpack.
Accidentally I went out the wrong door, because I was told to ‘go all the way to the exit and to the upper level’. There was no upper level, so I ended up in arrivals … like, landside arrivals!
I was panicking, giving the fact that I had to board my plane in 15 minutes and I had no idea where to go with my suitcase. I asked a guy, and he took action immediately, put my bags on his cart and said ‘Follow me’ … We ran, took an elevator, ran again. Hit the Delta counters, where a woman with an attitude told me it was too late to re-check the bag and ‘for the record’ it was too late for me to get on the plane’ I told her I was checked in from Denmark and I had my boarding pass already. She said my boarding pass was no good! Good thing was that another gentleman took charge and told her to back off .. off my bag went and the guy, that helped to told me to RUN to gate B78! — And so I did.
The line at the security was long, and at this point I should’ve boarded the plane 2 minutes ago. So, I did what I had to do … I skipped the whole line. I simple said ‘Excuse me, excuse me.. I had to board a plane 2 minutes ago’. Most people were super sweet, and said ‘of course, no problem’. But one business man was giving me an attitude and said ‘We all need to board planes’ … In a perfect world, I would have stopped, turned around, looked him in the eyes and told him ‘to relax and please understand that when you’ve been traveling since 2 am, been delayed by Air France and a bunch of not so nice people – you ESPECIALLY need to board a plane so that you can GO HOME before you’re going to explode and make this day for a business man, very very unpleasant!’ … But I didn’t have time for that, so instead, I continued smiling and finally got to security.
I put my stuff on the belt, and the guy working there told me to take off my shoes. And while taking off my shoes, I told him ‘I’m so tired and I just wanna go home to New York!’ And he said: ‘I know what ya talking ’bout, Im from New York! You look very beautiful though’ (Did I forget to tell you, that at this time I had been RUNNING for 25 minutes and was probably looking like a dead whale gasping for air, so yeah, he’s from New York alright!)
After security I had to catch another train to get to the gate. I then, again, ran to get to the gate on time and when I was at the counter they called my name. The lady there was so sweet, and told me to ask the flight attendants for some water. I was boiling up!
I got my window seat next to a friendly lady from Long Island and before I knew it – like literally an hour later – we were in New York!
— and one of my bags were not there! … Dealt with it like a mature woman, I did not yell at anybody. I was smiling and I got my bag. Got a cab. And went home! When I was in front of my building I started tearing up .. ‘Cause in the end, all of this madness .. it’s so worth it! For this, this is my solace!
