52 hours on the Inside

May 30th, 2012
Last week I had the priveledge of spending 52 hours on the Inside.  No not the inside of a prison cell, the inside of the terminal--which I would like to point out is a very scary thought.  I mean do they really have to call the embarking point and final destination of an airplane "terminal".  But that is a topic for another day.

My journey began 4:00 a.m. standard eastern time (SET).  I will keep the time in (SET) so that no one is confused as time was changing at every terminal.  I woke up quickly dressed and ate breakfast, threw the last of my things in my pack, grabbed a snack for my friend Barra Eduardo (who is from Brasil, but was travelling to Miami the same day), and my sister who was going to drive the car home after we left.

Finally, our journey was under way.  As we approached CLT I received a call from my EXTREMELY helpful Delta contact who so generously had allowed me to fly standby at a drastically discounted rate--thanks again Mrs. Steeb :)!  She informed me that it may be best to try to make it too Tokyo out of Detroit as opposed to NYC which had been the plan.
"When does the plane leave for Detroit?" I inquired.
"6:00, can you make it?"  came the response.
"I can try."
When we arrived it was already 5:30, the line through security was very long and getting longer by the minute, and I hadn't checked in yet.  "No problem, I thought these things have a fantastic way of working themselves out" I thought to myself in my usual care-free attitude.  Just as I was being handed my ticket, the opportunity that I had been anxiously observing for suddenly presented itself.

For some unknown reason security in the employee line stepped away from his post just before I had positioned myself in the common line, and I walked right up to the front and present my passport.  5:45a.m. (SET) boarding for Detroit had begun long ago, and unfortunately the gate was on the opposite end of the airport.  No worries I thought as I began sprinting through the airport shoes in my hands, belt in my mouth and all the other random articles that have to be removed from luggage or taken off to go through security dangling, spilling, or just bouncing along with me.

5:50 (SET) I reached the gate and presented my ticket.  They had not yet closed the door and I was allowed to board.  Everything was going to be OK...or so I thought.

7:30a.m. (SET) I arrived in Detroit, I found my gate and began to wait.  My plane would depart very soon, just a short 8 hour wait until 3:30 p.m. (SET).  Seriously, if anyone read my last post, the only reason it was written was because I was sleep deprived and had 8 hours with nothing else to do!

3:30 came but to my surprise I did not make it on the flight.  This was actually the very first time this had happened to me.  Typically, it comes right down to the wire and flight attendants are suckers for a boyish smile, curly hair, and big blue eyes.  Not today however, there were at least 7 or 8 others standing there and my name was not at the top of the list.  This would be a challenge requiring eyes much much bluer than mine.

I began the process of creating a new plan, again with the help of Mrs. Steeb and very helpful Delta employees, we decided that waiting until the next day's flight out of Detroit seemed to be the most practical option with over 20 seats currently available.  So I spent the remander of the evening in the "terminal" (seriously, doesn't that just sound like a horror film).


As the sun sank, I managed to sleep nearly six hours, and upon waking up, at 5:30 am and cleaning up as best I could, had breakfast.  While eating I decided it would be in my best interest to check on the status of my afternoon flight, so I quickly paid and returned to the Delta counter.  My flight now had only 5 remaining seats and it was only 8:15 am (SET).  After looking at all other possibilities, I was informed that a flight out of Seattle, WA had 70 available seats!
"How can I get to Seattle?" I anxiously inquired.
"Well, we have one flight to Seattle.  It's at 9:00am (SET), but there are no available seats."
"Print my ticket, if I don't make it I will come back!" I said, just moments before beginning my sprint across the Detroit airport.

I arrived at my gate in plenty of time as people were still filing onto the plane.  I waited.  The entire stanby list was one by one allowed to board.  There I was, my name was moving from standby to cleared.  I just stared at my lonely name on the board expecting it to move, but it didn't.  It was time to reach deep into my arsenal and take matters into my own hands.

I quickly put on my puppy face, practiced my smile, and strategically placed a little lock of curly brown hair in clear view.  I was going in!

"Am I going to make it?" I asked, while performing a traditional hold my breath and smile sheepishly grin. (classic).

"Let me check." was the plain professional response.  But we knew where this was going.

"I can stand in the bathroom." I smilingly suggested.

"We have available seating, but it is now a weight issue."  --Oh she was good.

"Oh!" I said almost as if she had offended me by claiming there would be a weight issue if I boarded, "I guess it's a good thing I only weigh 140." I offered confidently.

"We are going to have to weigh the airplane." Still stern.

"What if I suck it in, and hold my breath the duration of the flight" I suggested as I stood as straight and thin as I possibly could.  Now one slightly extended look with the big blues and ...wait...maybe...Yes! She couldn't resist any longer, now she was smirking.

She regained a stern look of professionalism, "Just one moment."

Then she saw my backpack--UH-OH.  This could ruin my masterpiece, she looked and me and said, "You're going to have to check that. They will take it as you board." as she sighed.

Yes! I was on my way to Seattle, slowly but surely I was making my way west toward the far east.  The rest of my flights went relatively smoothly.  In Seattle I not only was assigned a seat, I was bumped to first class.  In Tokyo, they wanted to see a departure itenerary, but my leaders worked quickly to get my return flight to my email.  I was concerned at first since I had only 1:30 until boarding, but they were very diligent and within 45 min. I had my itenerary which I was able to show them and again get upgraded to first class seating.  I finally, arrived in Taipei (a six hour bus ride away from my home) at 10:00 am standard eastern time exactly 52 hours after I had initially flown out of Charlotte.

Here it was actually 10:00 p.m. so I had to spend another night between the capital city and my home, but that was no problem.  I was just happy to finally be HOME!

Thanks again Mrs. Steeb and Delta Airlines!