I had been worried about all the layover times in each airport. They were very short times and I just knew we'd miss a flight.
We flew home Iberia from Venice to Madrid. Then Madrid to Dallas. Our flight from Venice was 45 minutes late. We only had 1.5 hours in Madrid to change planes. I thought we might JUST make it. We were seated to the front of the plane so at least we had that going for us.
We landed in Madrid and we booked it to get to our next flight. We had to change terminals and we had no idea how long that would take. I thought, briefly, we just might make it.
Then we turned the corner to passport control. Damn. Now we weren't going to make it.
As luck would have it, a passport agent opened a small line and we got to pass through. YaY. Maybe we'd make it.
Then we started the trek to the next terminal. EASILY a mile and half. I told Janet to just go. Get to the gate and see if they'll hold the plane. She was reluctant to leave me, but she did it anyhow.
Y'all... I am not a runner. I don't walk fast anymore and certainly don't job. But I did my BEST jogging/walking effort I could and was breathing heavy and almost ready to pass out by the time I turned the corner to our gate.
There was Janet jumping up and down when she saw me saying, "She made it!"
We made it.
We got on the flight and the flight attendants handed us water as we headed to our seats. One flight attendant stopped by my seat with some napkins to mop up the sweat dripping off my body.
Turns out the flight had heard of our late plane and held it for about 20 passengers that needed to get there. And we weren't even the last ones to make it.
But this, now put us late to get into Dallas. I guess if I was going to miss a flight I would rather it be in the US.
We landed in Dallas and I turned on my phone. I read my email and saw that our flight from Dallas had been cancelled.
Fuck! Fuckity! Fuck. I just want to be home.
BUT, American Airlines had booked us on another flight first thing the next morning. That means we're staying the night in the airport.
We got our luggage and got in this massive line to drop off our luggage and confirm the flight we had. FOUR hours we stood in this line. Truth be told I had to go find a place to sit a couple of times because my back was aching.
We finally got to the front of the line. Got our boarding pass and off we went to find a place to sleep. Our gate said it was in the A terminal so we found a shuttle outside the terminal to take us to Terminal A.
In terminal A we had to wait until security opened up at 3:30 in the morning. By now it was almost midnight. So we found some very uncomfortable chairs and attempted to get some rest.
We got through security without any lines because, well no one was there. We got to our gate and sat and rested. Nothing was open so we just sat there.
For some reason Janet checked her phone and we found our gate had been moved to Terminal D. WTF? So we gathered our items and took the link train inside the airport BACK to terminal D. As we came down the stairs from the link train, our gate was RIGHT there.
We sat for a couple of hours until the stores started opening. Janet took off to get some Starbucks. I was waiting for McDonalds to open. I wanted a sausage McMuffin and hash browns.
We both got our breakfast and was sitting waiting for our flight. I overheard these teachers who were there with a ton of students headed to Costa Rica, tell all their students to be back at the gate by 9am. That seemed odd to me since our flight to Seattle was leaving at 8:30.
It was then I looked at the flight app and SHOCKING, they moved our gate to Terminal B. Good Lord!
Back to the link train and off we went to the B Terminal.
We got there and had about an hour to spare.
We had center seats on the flight which was sad because I had upgraded us to First Class for our other flight that was cancelled.
My seat was in the last row of the plane. I sat myself down, buckled myself in and I was out. I don't even remember taking off. I slept for a good three hours on the flight.
But, alas, we made it! Sherrie picked us up at the airport and listened to me grumble about the chaos in getting home.
I also brought home a nice cold with me. Good times. Now I just want to rest and hug my cat.
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