we reached Atlanta, our stopover to Oklahoma after an 8-hour delay. that's the good news. the bad news is because our plane had lingered in the tarmac for 40 minutes before we could embark so we missed the last flight to Oklahoma. we have been in two really long line ups since 11:30 and as we were about 12 people to the front, the staff announced their shift has ended and the next shift will arrive at 5. it's 5:10 now. hopefully we will get the first flight to Oklahoma. we do have a mind of just going back home and just write off the money we paid. this is why i don't like to travel by plane anymore. been up for more than 24 hours, and i don't feel good, i just hope it doesn't escalate to vertigo.
this is an ugly shot, better look at my striped watercolour instead.
-o0o-
my sister and i finally left Atlanta airport after lunch on saturday. we were queued up from 11:30 on friday night to 6:30 on saturday morning (we missed our connecting flight to Oklahoma as our plane left Toronto well after 9 in the evening) to have our connecting flight re-booked. as it were, we were on waiting list on the first flight to OK. i couldn't stand for too long so i had requested for a wheel chair. my sister had a grand time pushing me around. Atlanta international is so big - we walked from the B gates where we arrived, to the C gates to have our flight re-booked. the line up was 10 gates long and we had to find first something to eat. as it was after 11, the food courts were almost closing and mcdonald's was our only option for a 'decent' food. then we started to wait in that long line up. only to be told, after 1.5 hours waiting, that the counter was going to be closed so we should all proceed to the F gates. to get there though, we had to go down one floor and walk to the train that would take us to F. to get to the counter we had to take two elevators and walk another kilometre or so.
we were lined up until 5 saturday morning, and there were about 12 people ahead of us when the staff announced that their shift is over and that the next shift was going to take over in 15 minutes. two people eventually took over the counter for three long line ups that stretched and snaked through 5 gate areas.
a third person came later and it was our turn, only to be told that all flights for that day and sunday were all fully booked! there was even no way to upgrade to first class! we were put on the first available flight's waiting list, which was supposed to leave at 9:35, which was cancelled to 10:30, then to 11:00, then to 12:30. i was sitting on my wheelchair when the lady at the counter saw me and asked someone to 'park' me at the bay near the counter. it gave me an idea: i told my sister to tell the lady that she's travelling with a disabled old decrepit woman, as i thought that might give us a bit of an edge. there were of course other wheelchaired passengers but some of them turned out to be waiting for flights to other destinations.
the lady must've taken pity on poor old me as she put us on the first available seating. some passengers of course would not be make it to the flight because they were stranded somewhere else. being on a wheelchair, we were ushered in to the plane first. the flight was then revised to leave at 1:15 then after a few minutes, to 1:40. it was like a bizzare dream, almost like twilight zone, i was telling my sister. she later told me that she had been thinking that maybe we were not supposed to go at all lest something bad happened. (that is what happens when you watch too many disaster videos on youtube!)
finally, the plane left (with would you believe at least a dozen vacant seats!!!). the nieces were of course monitoring the flights out of Atlanta and knew that the first flight of the day had been cancelled so many times. i told my sister to not text her yet until we get to the airport in Oklahoma.
on a lighter note -- people's patience had worn thin after 6 hours of waiting to get to the counter. a young man ahead of us showed his first impatience when just as it was his turn, someone pushed an older man in a wheelchair past everyone to the counter. shouts and curses trickled through the line and they were booing the man. i told the young man i could forgive that if the man in wheelchair was a vet. turned out he was. turned out the young man, too, is in the army and is on leave and had to go to Cleveland to see his family.
Looks like you were part of the IT outage. I'm sorry about that. I hope the rest of your trip goes smoothly and look forward to your Oklahoma images. Stay safe. Fav.
I don’t think I read this all the way through the first time I saw it. I had no idea you had such a traumatic experience with your travel. Let’s hope the next time you go to Atlanta will be smoother.
July 25th, 2024
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