so what did we learn from this?

let me first start off by saying that my thanksgiving break was incredible :) after almost crying with stress from school for the past few weeks, it felt amazing to hop on a plane to melbourne, fl to spend the holiday with my family and my boyfriend, who came along for the ride :D it was everything a thanksgiving should be - perfect weather, good food, fun people, relaxation - well, while i was there anyway. coming back turned out to be quite a different story, and when i think about it now, i almost can't even believe that all of it happened in one day.

the weekend after thanksgiving is one of the busiest air travel days of the year. the airport had been pretty empty on the way down to florida, so we were all pretty confident that we'd get on our 8:30am plane and be back in atlanta by 10am, giving everyone time to get together everything they had to do for the week ahead. well.

8:30am
the 8:30 flight time was quickly pushed back to 9:30, after which we took off and it felt so good to be in the air (i hate spending a lot of time in airports doing nothing). something had sounded a little funny during takeoff, but once we were airborne it didn't seem to be a problem, so everyone started settling in for a short nap and cuddling up with their books and magazines. then, one of the weirdest annoncements i've ever heard on a plane, "well, it looks like we sucked a bird through our left engine, so we're going to have to make an emergency landing back in orlando." what????? how often does that happen? so back we go. the flight is cancelled and we're shortly booked on a another flight leaving at 2:30 (well, juan and me anyway) while my parents are booked on a flight for 2:45. ok, not too bad.

2:30pm
well, both of these departure times, due to the weather, are pushed back an hour each, and after arriving on the plane, mine and juan's plane is then delayed another 2 hours due to brake problems to leave at 6:30pm. we exit the plane, running to the gate with my parents' plane to try to get on (even though the doors are closed at this point), and discover upon arriving there (thankfully at the front of the line), that our flight had just been cancelled. great. now my parents' plane is only accepting people with international connections. makes sense, though by now everyone has missed their connections anywhere they were trying to go.

5:30pm
finally, we're all allowed on the plane. we taxi to the runway. by now it's about 6:30 anyway, ha ha :) we stop for an atlanta ground stop for 20 minutes. by 7, we're finally in the air. thank god.

8:00pm
we arrive in atlanta by 8, sit on the runway for another 15 minutes, get to the terminal, then wait on our bags for 30 minutes. after talking to the delta rep. at the desk, turns out our bags got to atl before we did and have been sitting in a storage closet for 2 hrs. glad they're here, but wish they would've told us. with bag in tow, juan and i say goodbye to my family and make a run for marta. it's time to go home.

10:00pm
arrive at the midtown marta station, where a good friend picks me up to take me to my car on the other side of campus. pick up some wingnuts on the way for dinner. eek.

11:00pm
arrive at juan's place to share the food. neither of us has eaten anything real in hours, and incessant disappointment and frustration makes for a grouchy mood. food always helps.

so, we actually made it home 12 hrs after we were supposed to. we were not the only people in this situation, definitely not. weather, random birds, and mechanical problems are no one's fault, though you'd never know by the way people start treating each other in the airport when these things happen. and what can you learn from this?

well, to start off, we made it home safely. everyone arrived in one piece, alive, and well (and maybe just a little hungry, ha ha). we got to come back together, all 6 of us. we had an adventure, which now makes a great story though it sucked at the time. and when things are beyond your control, as they were in this situation, you kind of just have to be patient, be rational, and not lose yourself to the moment. and yeah, that person you might have been yelling at in line? they could end up right next to you on the plane. we're all in it together, and there's no excuse for lashing out at people for something they can't control.

it is, after all, the holiday season.