on 23 dec, leave the house for a flight from JFK to SYR 2.25 hours early… it is raining cats and dogs and monkeys.

takes 2.5 hours to get to the airport.

miss my flight by… do the math.

desk agent says she will book me on the next flight — 7.5 hours in the future… cool, i think, i can check my bag in 2.5 hours and then go to the bar, use the free wireless hotspot, and play poker for a few hours…

get to the desk a few hours later… i’m on STANDBY and in *TENTH*

leave airport.

i have now spent $246 and am still in nyc.

book a metro north train for the next day.
miss the train.

overslept.

take the next one to poughkeepsie.

dad picks my up and we drive the 2.5 hours to clinton.

on 26 dec, i got up at 405am for a 620am flight from SYR to JFK…

got there about 1 hour ahead of the flight. sky cap’ed it. security line? out to the parking garage. made my flight by 3 minutes.

next?

arrive at JFK and try to find my bags.

nowhere.

45 minutes later? “on a different carousel”.

get into a cab to go to LGA and arrive to meet alison 1 hour before our 1000am flight to newport news.

get on the plane and taxi out. wait 2.5 hours on the tarmack.

taxi back to LGA.

there is a BLIZZARD in newport friggin’ news, VA.
VIRGINIA!

get on a 930 *PM* flight to newport news…

wait *2 hours* for bags…

20 minutes to clean off the 12 inches on the rental car….

get on the road for our 90 mile drive to the outerbanks.

get exactly 3.78 miles in 2.5 hours.

arrive in driveway at the house at 411am.

at which point i had been awake for 24 hours.

end. story.

coming back? we arrive 5 hours early at newport news. get on the earlier flight. arrive 15 minutes early off that. our bags are first out. and we are home before our “real” flight would have left.