InsaneJournal

Travel Woes, Part n
So, who wants to hear another travel story?

I like to joke I have strong travel luck -- the two times I missed flights, I was able to travel on standby and get there only hours late. This makes up for the missed connections, and so on. I've only had to overnight once and it was paid for by the airline.

This was clearly the tail end of the distribution for my travel luck. As in, I had luck, but it was bad.

So, I got up at 6 AM in San Juan, with a headache. I decided I have enough time, so I took some Tylenol and laid down for ten minutes to wait for it to kick in. Two cups of tea later and I was checked out of the hotel and getting a taxi -- despite the fact the hotel's coffee shop was supposed to be open at 6:30, it was still dark, so I decided to take my chances at the airport.

I get to the airport, and go through security, which seemed to be unusually strict. Partly because the government has a couple of regs regarding plants and animals you aren't allowed to bring off the island. I had to go through an extra machine at the security checkpoint -- something that shot puffs of air at me. I don't know whether it was looking for contraband mangos or explosives or what.

But I get in and grab a muffin and eat. Boarding is a bit late, but such is travel. Then we sit for a while. I'm mostly asleep at this point, but the pilot does occasionally mention what's going on. Turns out there was an oxygen leak on the plane that they traced to a emergency mask in the cockpit. While the plane probably could have flown fine without it, it would really suck if there was an emergency and the pilot passed out from anoxia.

Finding and repairing this takes two hours, of which we all sat in the plane. Since my connection in Philadelphia was about an hour and a half, I'm pretty much assuming I'll have to take a later flight.

So, anyway, we land in Philadelphia, and the counter has boarding passes prepared for everyone who missed their flights. Turns out there's several people on the Syracuse flight that were coming from San Juan. One of them happens to be Sara, a Cornell student who works on Cassini stuff -- not part of my group, though*. They hand out the boarding passes, and happen to switch mine for someone else's. I do not notice this at the time.

Meanwhile, I enjoy the first nice surprise of the day -- free wireless. And surprise number 1.5 -- enough time to have lunch. Considering the prices for snacks on the flight from San Juan, all I had was that muffin at 7 AM and it's now about 2. And I realize that I never worked out how to get from Syracuse to Ithaca. I call my normal source, who tell me that because I didn't book in advance, the last van to Ithaca will leave a half-hour before I'm supposed to land, and that they won't send a van out for just me. They will send a car at three times the price. I decide to see what my options are, and debate sending out a call for assistance via the astro mailing list.

So, the flight is late coming in from Newark, so it's late boarding -- we might have got on the plane at 5 PM. We all board, and here's where it's noticed I have the wrong ticket. Seems the woman with my ticket did notice and ask for a reprint. So, we both try to sit in the same seat, eventually sort out what happened, and then I move to an empty seat on the plane, assuming it's mine.

So, about 20 minutes into the flight, the pilot gets a warning light about one of the engines. The pilot decides that not crashing is a desirable thing, and they are close enough that turning around to get to Philadelphia is better than pressing on, and that the aircraft is sufficiently stable that means we don't have to land in the nearest small airport. (Which would mean that if the aircraft was broken beyond the ability to repair quickly, we probably would not get to Syracuse that night.)

So, we land. My name is called, because US Airways figured out that there were two tickets for Woman X and none for me, so they wanted to make sure it was just a case of me having the wrong ticket, and not some third party hitching a ride to Syracuse and leaving me in a ditch or something. We get told to stay near the gate until they figure out if the plane can be repaired quickly enough to send us on. Sara and I at this point decide to band together for moral support in the light of Severely Bad Travel Luck. Plus she offers me a ride home when I mention I don't know how I'm getting back to Ithaca -- nice surprise #2, as I no longer have to pay for a ride home**. While we're waiting, I check out bus options in case we have to choose between overnighting versus pressing on via road. Turns out it would take 6 hours, and the last buses to New York (and on to Ithaca) would depend on us getting the call soon, then booking it to the Greyhound station. Plus, Sara had her car at Syracuse, so would later have to head up there to retrieve it from airport parking.

So, the flight can't be repaired tonight. Around 7PM they tell us that we'll be taking a jet out to Syracuse, but we will get there that day. They also call out names one at a time to make sure we all get our tickets, which is slightly more efficient than making 50 people stand in line. I debate wandering off to be sure I get food, but they are taking IDs, so leaving would hold up the whole process. Sara and I get our food, and have enough time to eat before changing terminals again and boarding. Surprisingly, the jet to Syracuse and the drive home are painless -- we keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.

So, I arrive home around 11 PM. I expected to be home by 4PM or so, with enough chance to get a meal and do the grocery shopping, and maybe laundry. Instead, I say hello to folks on the internet, then pass out.

This means I am karmically owed at least two uneventful trips for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Or maybe just one unexpectedly nice trip.

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* She does satellite-surface stuff, plus is one of the Mars rover staff.

** Okay, NASA has to pay for my ride home. Still, NASA only gave my advisor so much money, so being frugal is good. Especially given what I've paid to eat this past week.