Well, the first day of my month long vacation didn't exactly go as planned. Here is a recap:
1) Flight was delayed in Minneapolis due to high winds in my connecting city of Philadelphia
2) Boarded flight after a two hour delay, taxied out to the runway then flight was delayed again due to a computer glitch in the FAA scheduling system. Returned to the terminal.
3) The subsequent delay caused me to miss my connection from Philadelphia to Rome.
4) The only available flight from Philly to Rome was the same flight on the following day, so I rebooked all my airfare with a slight twist. The Minneapolis to Philadelphia leg of the trip was booked solid the following day, so I had to take the 5:30 a.m. flight to Philadelphia.
5) The U.S. Airways customer service representative (who were all complete ass holes about the situation) then informed that that I would have to wait for an hour and a half before I could get my checked bag off the plane.
6) Finally got my bag back then took the Light Rail back from the Airport to Downtown. Half way there at Lake Street the conductor informed us that a women was hit by the light rail and the tracks ahead were closed. So we had to leave the train and board a bus that would drop us off at the Metrodome. This added an extra hour to the trip from the airport to downtown. Instead of walking from the Metrodome to my apartment with all my gear, I hailed a cab and got a ride across town.
7) Finally made it back to my apartment in Minneapolis for the night. Decided to make the most of it and met up with some people downtown to do some drinking in an effort to try and forget the many many unfortunate events that transpired today.
8) Decided not to go to bed because my flight to Philadelphia was so early. So I flew to Philadelphia at 5:30 a.m this morning (only available flight through U.S. Airways). Now I'm waiting in the International terminal for my flight to Rome which doesn't leave for another 8 hours.
After typing that all up, it almost feels like I'm writing a fictional story. I guess the good thing is that I am actually laughing as I sit here and write the details about all the unfortunate events that have transpired over the last day and a half.
I figure there is no real point in getting frustrated or mad because all of these things are completely out of my control.
I'm going to miss one day in Rome with our tour, but with any luck, I'll hopefully be able to meet up with them when I get into Rome at 8:40 a.m. tomorrow. So this is not exactly the way I wanted to start this trip. But I'm trying to take it in stride.
I can only hope that the trip from here on out will be a lot smoother.
