Ugh! - Finally Made It Home!!!!

Well, this week has been a whirlwind for me. It's felt like a week in one day...

Unfortunately, I had to leave Denver on Tuesday and had to say goodbye to my sister, Bob and little Jack. That was one of the hardest things to do. I wish them all the best as I know it'll be a struggle once Bob's mom leaves and all the holiday activities calm down as they settle into their new life as a family without all the extra help. Hopefully they'll both be able to get some sleep throughout the day/night.

My sister took me to the airport on Tuesday just before 10am CO time and we made one quick stop at a butcher's to pick up some meat and treats. We saw a sign for 1hr of free parking in the garage so my sister decided she could park and come in with me for a minute rather than dropping me off at the departure entrance. Thankfully, she was able to do this as it turned out my flight had been delayed by an hr (at that point) from 12:43pm to 2:00pm. So, I got checked in and we decided to get some lunch before she headed out. After eating and saying a sad goodbye, we parted and I proceeded to go thru security and head to my gate. As I walked to the gate, I checked the departure screen and it looked like my flight was delayed again for a 3:00pm departure rather than the 2:00pm departure. I sat down and started reading and tried not to worry about trying to make my connection in Chicago. After a while, I had overheard someone say it was delayed again until 3:30 so I got up and checked out the departure screen and sure enough. I started wondering how I was going to get my next flight if we were going to be delayed almost 3 hrs and I had a 2hr layover, but figured it was Chicago and flights are always delayed somewhat. Before long, a some people showed up at the counter and announced that Chicago was having weather trouble and that was our hold-up. We had to wait until we got the ok to land before we could take off. They then delayed our flight until 4:30pm so I knew I was going to be in trouble and a line started to build at the counter. I quick called my sister and Jeremy to let them know this was going to be a slow trip, but I was going to see what could be done. Maybe I could stay an extra day or so - that wouldn't bother me...

Turned out the attendant suggested I stick with my flight that day and was able to reschedule me on the last seat on the flight out of Chicago to Ottawa on the 9:09pm flight rather than my original 6:15pm flight (Chicago time). This would give me just under an hr in Chicago as the Denver - Chicago flight was about 2 hrs. Little did I know...

We finally boarded and got airborne around 5pm CO time and got into Chicago just after 8pm IL time. Whew, one part was done. I scurried to my gate and got into line at the counter since I didn't yet have a seat assignment. On my way, I noticed the departure screen said this flight was delayed until 10:30pm. After I got to the counter, the attendant told us he had to leave to work another flight and someone else would be coming shortly. About 45 min later, someone finally showed up. As we were waiting in line, we watched as the standby list grew and grew and the seats remaining shrunk. Thankfully, I did have a seat and I got my boarding pass. I ran off to see if something was open for food and grabbed a quick cookie as it was 9:45pm (IL time) by now. I got back to the gate and sat down and soon enough saw that they delayed this flight another 15 min. I made some more calls and let Jeremy know I wouldn't be in until really late and called back a little later to tell him to just go to bed. Turned out each 20 minutes or so, they delayed my flight by another 5-15 min. This went on and on and on....until 12:30am!

As several flights sat around waiting in our gated area, we exchanged stories and commented on how ridiculous this was. Sounded like there were too many planes. Every gate was blocked by a plane so no new ones could get in. First of all, these planes didn't have flight crews or pilots, then they couldn't take off because they needed de-icing, which took 1-1/2 hrs for the crew to get to. Then they needed to load luggage, but then there was no grounds crew to back them out.... on and on. So in the meantime, the new planes couldn't get in which had the flight crews that needed to get to the planes at the gate before they could take off. What a mess!!!

Finally at 12:30am, the plane at the gate had managed to leave so my plane could get in and we managed to have a flight crew so we got to go ahead to board. Once boarded, we had to wait to get de-iced. Thankfully, that didn't take too long, maybe 1/2 hr. As we were getting de-iced, the guy loading the luggage disappeared so someone else had to be tracked down. Finally after 45 min someone else came to load luggage. Once that was loaded, we were good to go, BUT, there was no crew to back us out. Another 1/2 hr later, we got a crew and were able to back out and finally head to the run way. We finally got in the air at 2:25am IL time. Another 2 hr flight and we were headed to Ottawa.

We landed at 4:45am Ottawa time (3:45 IL time and 2:45 CO time). Whew! It was snowing in Ottawa pretty good now too. I got off the plane and headed to customs. Thankfully, we were the only flight in at this time that need to get thru customs so that went pretty quickly. My next thought was luggage. I doubted it would come after all this, but remained a little hopeful. Sure enough, once the luggage started coming, I only saw 2-3 people grab something and the rest of us were out of luck! I did notice all the unclaimed luggage stashed in the corner of the baggage claim area already. So, all of us had to fill out a missing luggage claim report and by then it was 6:30am Ottawa time. In the meantime, I had called Jeremy to let him know I had landed and could be picked up at anytime, but he was pretty sleepy and had trouble getting out of bed. He finally managed to leave the house around 7:30am and was on his way to get me.

He arrived around 9:45am and we were off headed back to Petawawa! I couldn't have been more relieved. Just about a 2 hour drive and I'd be home. Thankfully, the snow had stopped and the roads were clear. We finally arrived at home just before 12:00pm our time (10am CO time) - exactly 24 hours since my sister and I had left for the airport the day before!!!!! I was exhausted and just wanted to lie down and sleep a little - and eat!! I hadn't eaten a meal since lunch the day before! Just a cookie in Chicago and a muffin in Ottawa. There wasn't much available...

Soon after getting home, Lee stopped over asking if we were going to go with him to Kharren's parents for x-mas. I didn't really care at this point, so I took a quick shower, grabbed what few clean clothes I had in my closet and dumped them into my carry-on and we were off - an hr after getting home. Turned out to be a 3hr drive!

But, all in all, I had an excellent time visiting my sister and seeing my new little adorable nephew and Jeremy and I were able to spend x-mas with our friends and their family, rather than hanging out at home like any other weekend. I did finally manage to get some sleep, but am looking forward to my own bed tonight! AND, my luggage did get dropped off while we were gone. It was left outside next to the garbage cans in the back of the house. Unfortunately, it rained and snowed the last couple of days, but everything looks ok. As I finish this up and notice it's 11pm, I must sign off and say good night and hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! (Hopefully, travel wasn't as drawn out for anyone else.)