I’m supposed to be in Knoxville, TN right now. Actually, I was supposed to be in Knoxville yesterday at about 11 a.m. But the Air Travel Gods do not smile on poor Roux this weekend… *sigh*
Hubby works for an airline so I can fly freebie; the only down-side to that is being “non-revenue standby”. Which basically means you ain’t goin’ nowhere if the plane is full (or weight-restricted because of inclement weather or some other not-quite-catastrophy-but-it-feels-like-one-to-you).
For at least two weeks now, bookings have looked “good” for me to get my hop to Atlanta. (Atlanta to Knoxville usually always ”looks good” so I wasn’t even worrying about that leg). Until Saturday. Friday night everything looked good. We get to the airport at 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning (which is not a civilized time, I don’t care who you are!) and everything has gone to $#!+. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING looks good. On any airline. Period.
I was willing to take my chances on a couple of no-shows, but that never happened. Three flights on two different airlines left without me, and let me tell you, people, my self-esteem was is really suffering. Too tired to put up with any more waiting and hoping, I packed it in and came home. All the agents said “If you don’t want to wait anymore today, try it again tomorrow. Everything is looking “GOOD” for tomorrow!” Trusting simpleton that I am, I beamed with hope and decided to try it again ‘tomorrow’ (which is now today).
We had drop-by guests last night and we were up waaaaaay too late to tackle a very early morning, but we dragged ourselves out of bed after just a little over 3 hours sleep and got to the airport at 3:30 a.m. — for the second consecutive day (and I am feeling so much more than wrung-out). But I was hopeful. ‘Cause yesterday everything looked “GOOD” for me to leave today. I had faith. My sunny disposition had only the smallest tiny cloud. I’m going to Knoxville TODAY! YAY!
HAH! If anything could possibly be worse than yesterday, it was today. OMG, everyone on the Gulf Coast booked out today. Me, Hubby and about a dozen airport workers have to be the only people left along the whole Mississippi Gulf Coast at this moment. Well, with the exception of the hordes arriving…
So rather than do a repeat of yesterday, I gave up before even the first flight left and I came home. To stay for a while. Knoxville is not on my itinerary for at least another month.
I can go some other time and that will be okay. There’s only one teensy problem. My luggage is in Knoxville. And has been since yesterday at about 11 a.m. I’m sure it’s having a fine time without me up there. Maybe it will take pictures. Or bring me a souvenir. Or something. I just hope it has more luck with “Looks good for you to get where you want to go” than I have had in the past few days. I’d like for it to come back home, if for no other reason than maybe it’ll take me with it next time.
Some days you’re the dog. Some days you’re the hydrant. Any doubt about my current status? I didn’t think so….
Happy Spring Break, y’all
Roux
Tags: Knoxville, the joys of freebie flying, where's my luggage?
