The 41 minute flight.

Oh my goodness, so this trip is not starting off so well! A nightmare, really! I started the day by going to work to finish up a couple things, I triple checked everything, etc etc and was at the point of washed out my refrigerator shelves and baskets, trying to find something to do since I didn't know what to do with myself! I realized at some point that a pen had exploded in the pocket of my favorite jeans, so as I was trying to get that massive ink stain out and off my leg, I decided get dressed for my flight and also wash my sheets so they would be nice and clean when I got back! Somewhere about 23 minutes into the wash cycle I got a call. I was hoping it was my brother. Instead, it was American Airlines informing me my flight had been cancelled. Yes, the flight in 3 hours was cancelled! They informed me that I had been rebooked for a flight the next day, and oh yes, there was an airport change. This was after they already cancelled the early morning flight that I booked initially, requiring me to take an additional day off of work and go up a day before! Grr, I digress! I quickly hopped online while I waited for an agent to pick up. I saw there was one flight leaving at 5:20 PM direct to JFK. I had to get here so I would not miss my very important 10AM flight to Hong Kong! I was able to get the agent to rebook me on that flight and flew around the house, throwing clothes on, finishing up whatever else I was doing. Honestly I can't remember what I left on the counter or if I took the garbage out or anything. Odds are good I did that because it's crossed off my checklist. All I knew was I was uber thankful I had already packed and triple checked everything! I called for an Uber, begged my very sweet concierge Rosa to move my sheets to the dryer and run it so they won't mold in my absence, and I headed out the door with a dangerously high heart rate! Naturally we encountered traffic and narrowly missed a couple accidents, but the driver got me there in record time. I dropped off my checked bag, zoomed through security, ran to the bathroom, and got to the gate just as they were announcing a delay! Ok, 5:44 wasn't bad...I guess I didn't need to rush at that point and I ran to grab some food. 5:44 turned into 6:30, and as we were all lined up to board, there was a "ground stop" in NY....another 2 hour delay. At this point I could have stayed home and finished my laundry! (Yes, that was the thought going through my head) When we finally boarded at 9PM, the captain then informed us that the luggage was not loaded on the plane during the delay, so we had to wait for that. He mentioned something about if we didn't get out by a certain time the crews would be grounded. I was chewing my nails and inside my cheek and just dying, this is bringing back so many a bad memories of my South Africa flight when my silly little Yakima to Seattle flight was delayed by 5 hours and couldn't land and derailed my 36 hours of travel! Aaaaargh! So frustrating! Once they got the luggage on, just in the nick of time I imagine, the lady in front of me decided she wanted to get off. She had missed her connection to South America so she wanted to get off, get her luggage, and try tomorrow. The flight attendant tried to talk her out of it and explain that she wouldn't likely get a flight tomorrow. Thankfully, as the flight attendant walked away to ask if it was possible, we started pulling away from the gate!! Whew! I was near my wits end! Anyhow, we are now 10 minutes from landing in New York and hopefully the rest of this adventure is uneventful! Thank goodness I had this extra wiggle room built in! Now debating whether to stay up and pretend it is daytime since I will be 12 hours off from my time zone, or just sleep and let my body figure it out later. All this drama for a 41 minute flight! Janell @ American Airlines flight 104 somewhere really near NYC.