Laura Vegas

as promised. the rest of my story on how i got home from st louis CKC. first the layout.

 

this layout wasn't planned. it just sort of happened. i'm taking kelly purkey's sketchbook 3 class. and i also have some studio calico kits laying around, that i havn't used yet. i thought it would be fun to use the two things together. i was building this layout, without any idea of what i would do with it, or what photos would go on it. sort of like backwards scrapping. lol! the basic grey pattern paper with the buildings is so cool, but i had no clue what i would put on it. it sort of reminded me of a big city feel, and then i thought of st louis, which felt "big city" to me. then it came to me. i would make a photo-less layout about how i missed my flight home.

onto the story. a long story. sorry, but i'm a lengthly story-teller 😉

as soon as i was done teaching, i was going to head to the airport, to catch my 7:25pm flight home to sacramento. carla was going to be driving home to chicago, after she dropped me off at the airport. we left the convention center almost two hours early, knowing the airport was only about 20 minutes away.

but as soon as we got onto the highway, we hit stop and go traffic. we were inching along, not knowing what was going on up ahead of us. after a while, we realized we were going from three lanes, down to two lanes. then a while later, we went from two lanes, down to one lane. turns out, a semi truck was stalled on the highway, putting traffic at a standstill. even after passing the semi, traffic was still stop and go.  

so carla got off the highway at the next exit, and started following her GPS to get us going on the backstreets. honestly, i was not very confident that we were going anywhere near the right way. then again, i had no clue where we were, so i kept quiet, and let her drive. we knew we were going towards the famous arch landmark, and we knew we had to cross the bridge over the mississippi river. we finally came to a street that headed towards a bridge. but it was stop and go. one lane, over the bridge. there must have been other bridges, because this one was moving slower than a snail.

 

we were watching the time, and i knew we would be cutting it super close, to get to the airport in time. i knew it was a smaller airport, so i thought maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to get there closer to take off time. but i was still feeling really nervous cutting it so close. the rest of our drive was pretty quiet. carla was making some nervous chatter, and was apologizing over and over. and i was just quiet, because inside i was worried about what would happen to me. i knew there were no later flights out. i am not a big travel person, and had no idea what they do with people when they miss their flights. i was tired and wanted to be on my way home. but i didn’t get upset, since i knew it was out of our hands. traffic is traffic, and there’s no way around it.

we finally got over the bridge, and onto a real highway, that was moving at normal speed limits. we still had about 10 miles to go. and about 35 minutes to spare. i had my papers out, my drivers license out, and was all ready to make a dash for it. we pulled up to the terminal, and it was 7:05. i had 20 minutes, and i was convinced i could make it. i was all disoriented when i ran inside. trying to figure out what gate i was at, what my flight number was, trying to check the board. the airport was deserted too. no one around, except workers closing up and a few stragglers. that might have been my first clue, looking back at it now. lol!

i found out that i had to go downstairs, to get to my gate. so i got on the escalator. but i was trying to rush. so i decided i didn't have time to casually go down the escalator, and that i should walk down it in a rushed manner. i was carrying my laptop bag, a hoodie, and i went to pick up my carry on suitcase. which was super heavy. and i had on my big boots. add all those things up, and a moving escalator, and you know what happened next, right? if you guessed that i ate it on the escalator, you'd be right. lol! yep, i fell. and not gracefully, considering everything i had in my hands. lol! and even though the airport was deserted, there did just happen to be an older couple sitting on a bench at the end of the escalator. honestly, it had to be the funniest thing to watch. the lady kept saying "are you ok, dear? are you ok?". and i jumped right back up, and picked up all my stuff, and kept saying "i'm fine. i'm fine. i'm so late". they must have thought i was crazy.

 

i get downstairs, and end up at security. not a single person around. yet there were about 12 security workers. that's not intimidating, right? lol! i was so frazzled at this point, that i had no clue what i was even doing. and i guess because there wasn't anyone around, i actually believed that the security guy would let me thru without all the normal hassles. but no. i had to take off my shoes, unpack my laptop, take off my belt, unpack my cell phone, ipod, take out my quart sized bag of toiletries. and then wait, as 12 security guards watched my stuff go thru. i got everything gathered up and started running.

i headed to my gate, which of course, was ALL the way at the end of the terminal. figures. everything was shutting down around me. workers were leaving. there wasn't another passenger in sight. i kept doing the half walk, half sprint, to my gate. remember, i had just been on my feet, teaching classes for 7 hours. i was already tired. i get to the gate, and my plane is right there. i can see it. but there's no representative at the gate. no one around. i start walking back, thinking i could find someone to help. finally, the lady came out from behind the door. and the first thing she said to me was "you missed it". ugh. i honestly believe that if i had been there 5 minutes earlier, i would have made it.

right away, she goes to book me a new flight. i was so worried about what would happen to me, and it was actually really simple to take care of. i didn't even have to pay anything extra. i said i needed to go to sacramento. so she asks if i can fly to LAX. "ummm. NO". i don't live anywhere close to los angeles. she asked if someone could pick me up at LAX. "ummm. NO". that's no where near me, i tell her. soooo. she gets me on a flight out the next morning, at 8:00am. a flight from st louis to chicago. and then a flight from chicago, back home. i'm doing some quick thinking in my head. i'd need a hotel room, which costs money. i would need a way back to the airport. which costs money. BUT. carla was driving back to chicago that evening. the same place my first flight would take me in the morning. so i made a quick decision, and asked the lady it i found my way to chicago, could i just fly home from there. then i called carla, and told her to get her tush back to the airport to pick me back up. 

 

i actually thought it was pretty funny. that i was making a 4 hour drive with carla, to chicago, just to save myself a plane ride to the same place. i also thought it was funny, because when i originally made my travel plans to go to CKC, carla had asked me if i would stay until sunday. but i didn't want to spend my entire day traveling, and would rather fly home in the evening. which is why i was going home saturday night. she also asked me at one point, if i would consider flying into chicago, so that i could meet her family. and then driving to CKC with her. but the thought of a 4 hour drive made no sense to me.

and yet, this is exactly what ended up happening. lol! i wasn't even upset at that point. i thought it was funny. i told her my entire airport story, about the running and the falling, and all that crazy stuff. i told her a few times that "this is going to make a great blog post". i even talked about how it would be funnier, if i did it in a video. i should have. but i write a long enough story. imagine how long it would be if i talked about it. i know carla enjoyed having me along for the ride. a 4 hour drive by yourself, isn't as fun as it sounds. we chatted the entire way, and pulled into chicago at about 1:00am.  

 

we went in her house, and her dog went crazy. she's huge, and was all over me. i'm a dog person, but she's huge. it was a little overwhelming for 1:00am. her barking woke up carla's daughter, kendall. so i got to meet her. i have talked to her on the phone a few times, and she's super sweet. we peeked in on her son aiden, and he gave me the biggest smile, even though he was half asleep. she showed me around the house, and i got to see her scraproom in person. which was pretty cool. i've seen pictures of it, but it was totally different then i expected, seeing it in person. and it's kind of cool now, because when she talks about things in her room, i know exactly what she's talking about. then her hubby woke up, and i got to meet him. they set me up on the couch in the living room, and i think we went to bed around 2:30am. i was awake at 7:15am, since we had to be out the door at 8:00am. the dog was waiting for me when i got up. i think she might have missed me most of all, after i left. lol!

i was flying out of ohare airport, which i found out is HUGE. bigger than denver. so we made sure to get me there two hours early. it was 45 minutes from carla's house too. i ended up doing a lot more car time then i planned on. i made it thru security in about 10 minutes, picked up some starbucks, and found my gate. found out my plane was delayed 30 minutes. so i sat down and settled in for a long wait. i called a friend, and we chatted for about an hour to pass the time. and then i people watched. finally got on my plane.

when the lady had re-booked me for this flight, she asked if i could do the emergency door. i didn't care, as long as i made it home. i was right smack next to that door, and i made sure to read the directions for how to open the door if needed. i figured my luck wasn't going that great at this point, so i better be sure. i had the window seat (a must for me), and no one ended up sitting in the middle seat. we had TONS of leg room. i joked to the other dude that having a little responsibility (the exit door), was a small price to pay for the extra leg room. i had a 4.5 hour flight home. which actually went by pretty fast. luckily, i was on united, which plays shows and movies without charging you. "the big bang theory" and "hawaii 5-0" must be big on these planes, since that's the second flight i've been on that i've watched those shows. and i watched half of "tron", before i was totally lost on what was going on. my ipod kept me busy the rest of the time, along with a magazine i read front to back, and a few snoozes here and there.

i arrived safely back on home turf, 30 minutes early. so i got there on time, with our 30 minute delay. found my car with no problems, and was on the road for my hour drive back home. i spent 9 hours that day traveling and in airports. but with the 2 hour difference, i actually got home at 3:00pm. not too bad. i totally zoned out the rest of the day, i was so tired.