Well, ARCTIC BLAST 2008, today I stared directly into your stone cold eyes and roundhouse-kicked you in the face! I give you some credit, you didn't make it easy. I woke up in the AM to watch the channel 8 news and was saddened to find out that Alaska/Horizon had "suspended" all of their flights. I decided to still attempt to catch the bus to the airport to wait it out. I walked a mile in the snow dragging my suit case as I saw bus after bus stuck in the snow. I attempted to call a cab service and only received busy signals. In frustration I lifted my suitcase over my head and marched up hill to the bus stop on 39th St, only to sit there for an hour. After I got tired of not feeling my finger tips or legs and listening to the girl talk about how much she wanted Kool-Aid and how Kook-Aid would make everything better. I thought to myself, "NO! KOOL-AID is NOT going to make EVERYTHING BETTER! A FREAKING PITCHER 0F JUICE WHO WEARS TIGHTS! SERIOUSLY?! HOW IS THAT GOING TO MAKE THIS ARCTIC BLAST 2008 SHOW MERCY? PSSH!".
After I gather myself I gathered my belongings and slid downhill back toward Reed and made my way into the Spanish House to defrost. I received a call from Skye who was with Devin at PDX and I was advised to go to the airport no matter what or I would be stuck in Portland for Christmas. Devin told me that he had hitchhiked to the airport twice that morning. I also learned that there were lots of Reedies at the airport. I figured that if I did miss my flight I would be in good company. I gathered by belonging and once again marched up the hill in the snow toward 39th St. I went back to this bus stop but this time I crafted and held up a sign that read, "Portland Airport or Hollywood transit?" I held the sign up and within 10 minutes, a car stopped and a woman named Tina who was on her way to Providence Milwaukie offered me a ride. It wan nearly 1pm and it didn't look like I was going to make my 2:30 flight to Seattle in route to Burbank. I thanked Tina for the ride, as dropped me off to the shuttle at the hospital which takes people directly to the MAX station. I got on the shuttle which took me to the MAX station. The red line (which goes directly to PDX) was down because the rails were iced over! I was now in the company of others in route to PDX. I chatted away with people and learned their stories and where they were traveling to. We had to take the blue line toward Gresham and we greeted by a bus. There were nearly a 100 of us that crowded the bus, which took us directly to the airport!
I looked up at the arrivals and departures screen and saw that my Seattle flight was delayed until 4:30. It was currently 3:45. I was golden but was worried because my flight from Seattle to Burbank was supposed to leave at 4:30. I got through security as fast as I could and ran down the hall to gate A3. It was about 4:10. The Seattle flight was boarding and then I heard a last call for Burbank. I went over to the counter to speak with the Burbank man who I gave puppy dog eyes to, and asked him if there was any way that I would get on the Burbank flight rather than going to Seattle where I would likely be stuck for a couple of days. He said the flight was sold out but there were a few people that never showed up for the flight (shows how much hitchhiking paid off). He got me on the flight. I ran through the gate and starting at me was a giant Beaver. It was The Oregon St. University Horizon plane. I got on the plane. We de-iced. Were towed through the snow toward the runway. The sun started to come out for the first time in days. As the sun blinded ARCTIC BLAST 2008 we escaped! I was on this plane with people who slept in the airport for 3 days just to make this flight. We landed safely in Burbank and people cheered! I exited the plane and left the terminal. When I looked up I saw none other than David Hasselhoff, at that point I knew I was home...
On a side note, please pray or send get well wishes to all those injured in Alaska Airlines flight 528 that was leaving Seattle in route to Burbank.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/12/24/holiday.travel/index.html
No comments:
Post a Comment