"Pushing theater to the edge fearlessly, and perhaps even wantonly . . . Unlike anything else that’s playing on stage in New York at the moment"
-Martin Denton, nytheatre.com, on "Vignettes 2009".

I arrived back in NYC after spending a much needed week with the family.  Quite a trip back though…

I arrive at the airport @ terminal 2 which is specified on my flight information.  I fly out of Northwest Airlines which is nowhere to be found.  I ask an airport employee which kindly tells me that Northwest is located in terminal 1.  That’s fine.  I’m with my grandpa, uncle Billy and my mom.  We slowly make our way over to Terminal 1.  I find Northwest and proceed to check in.  They do not let me check in and direct me to Terminal 2 because apparently I am flying out on a Delta partnered flight, so it’s necessary for me to check in with Delta, though Delta is mentioned nowhere in my flight information.  Me, my mom, uncle Billy & grandpa slowly make our way back to terminal 2.  At this point, it’s a bit more walking than my grandpa is used to so he has gotten a wheelchair that my uncle Billy pushes while my mom & I treck ahead.  I attempt the check-in kiosk which then tells me there is an error & directs me to a person at the counter.  I stand in line.  Finally when it is my turn.  The nice lady behind the counter tells me my flight is cancelled due to "mechanical".  Doesn’t seem to be my lucky day, but trying to stay positive, I guess I’d rather be cancelled than fly on a "mechanically" flawed plane.  Luckily I re-book a flight leaving at the same time.  The lay over is an additional hour, but no worries.  I was going to ride the bus back being that I was arriving @ 9, but since I’d be arriving @ 11pm I figured the worst part about it would be that I’m forking over the 50 bucks for the cab. 

I say my goodbye’s and proceed towards security where I get flagged.  They give me a red bin instead of the black bin.  As I pile my stuff in my red little bin, one of the airport employees say "Oh, you don’t want to use the red bin," thinking I’ve grabbed the wrong color in error, "that means they’ll go through every bit of your things."  Another employee tells him "Nope, she was flagged."  "Ohhhh….ok…" The employee says nodding his head probably thinking the same thing I am.  Again, looking on the bright side….I’m all for people digging through everybodies things….especially everyone on my plane…so search away!  Rather the security be to tough than to lax right? 

I get on the plane with no apparent hiccups, and they make the announcements after an hour of flight that we are approximately 45 minutes from Dallas/Ft Worth. (my connection) 10 minutes later, they announce that Dallas/Ft Worth is closed for an hour due to weather conditions, our little jet does not have enough fuel to hang out in the sky so we’re making a detour to Wichita, TX.  We land and wait to refuel…we’re 5th in line.  somehow, a half hour later, according to the announcement, we are 6th in line (somehow we got bumped back one) and 1 of the 2 fuel vehicles re-fueling the plane has broke down.  An hour and a half later, we are ready to take off.  So our little 2 hour flight morphed into a 5 hour flight/park.  Coincidentally before take off, the gentleman sitting next to me had observed that there seemed to be an abnormal amount of small children on this flight.  5 hours later these small children have all now joined in a chorus of one loud constant cry/scream bubble.  This same gentleman observed while waiting for the seatbelt sign to go off that he now understood why lions eat their young.

Of course I miss my connecting and it’s late so the earliest flight out is the next day.  Originally they were not going to pay for the hotel if weather is the cause but I kindly told the nice lady behind the counter that had they not cancelled my original flight due to "mechanical" I would have been flying to bright and sunny Minneanapolis instead of Dallas/Ft Worth.  Then she told me that Delta would not pay for a hotel because I flew through Northwest.  I then told the nice lady that it was indeed a Delta flight that cancelled on me.  She looked into it and proceeded to arrange the hotel.  She told me a white van with "Clarion Hotel" on it.  I walk out the exit nearest me and wait…wait….&….wait.  No van.  Hot, muggy, and no van.  I go back to the counter….tell the nice lady there is no van.  The nice lady seems baffled, and I venture to guess that maybe I was not in the correct spot for the Clarion van to pick me up.  "Oh!  You need to go to the lower level.  Did I forget to tell you that??"  I wearily smile at the nice lady and say "no, but that’s ok" when really I’m thinking "I need a drink" which is exactly what I did once I got to the lovely Clarion Hotel.  Several in fact. 

All in all everything worked out for the best.  Honestly, it realistically turned into an extended vacation day and on the flight the next morning, I sat next to a man born & raised in NYC, currently living in Dallas going back home to see the Mets play. (a season ticket holder) Like I’ve said before, the best part of NYC is the people and sitting next to this guy on my flight back was like getting into a great conversation with a complete stranger on the subway going home, and even though it was one huge task to get back home, I felt like I was home on this particular flight. 

I had a great stay in Ely.  My parents just re-did the carpet and walls in my home town home, my sister who was terrified about her final test to become a social worker has now passed it just like I told her she would and I am SO SO proud of everything she has accomplished all while raising 2 beautiful perfect little girls.  My brother just got out of the Marine corp after serving in Iraq in Fallujah during the most turbulent of times, traveling to Kuwait, Singapore, Hawaii and countless other places.

So I’m back in NYC and everything’s as it should be.  Currently in the process of moving a new roommate in on September 3rd.  She is very cool and I do think she will mesh well with our humble abode.  I will keep you posted on all of the new developments / raised terror alerts.  🙂