The worst is over... Hopefully

I guess at some point in every person's life there comes a time to say "that was the flight from Hell". I never thought though that such a statement would be coming from my mouth at such a young age. All started well when we left Phoenix and took off for Philadelphia. Bright, excited smiles filled the seats of the plane. I was however a little disappointed when I found that my seat was directly next to the "the lou" but nothing could get me down, or so I thought.

After four and a half hours, the pilot chimes in and begins rambling. I let my headphones continue playing as I ignorantly assumed he was announcing we would be landing soon. I did however turn it down as he continued to blab. Turned out, there was bad news. I missed the reason why, but we were unable to land in Philly, so we were circling around until we were able to land. The problem was that we did not have enough gas to circle for much longer. It was a possibility that we would have to land in Baltimore and fill up with fuel, if we couldn't land in the next 20 minutes. Well turn possibility into most definitely. Fuel ran low, so we headed to Baltimore. As we landed and sat to wait to take off, angry people walked and ran up and down the isle. Most decided to gather around the lou, which forget not, is right next to me.

Finally, after shouting a few angry words to annoying bystanders, we were filled up and ready to take off, again. We were in the air at 9:30pm for a 30 minute flight, and my next flight was scheduled to leave at 10:40pm. My anxiety was at an all time high, and most people around me knew it. However, once we landed, I ran off the plane and asked a woman working behind the counter where my gate was and how to get there. Mind you, the Philadelphia airport is ridiculously enormous. Two very large terminals away, I began my hike.

I met a girl who was on her way back home to The Netherlands and she asked that I stay with her because she had missed her flight and didn't know what to do. Maybe a couple years younger than me, she was scared to death. Me being the nice girl I am, took on the task of helping her to get on my same flight. Half way to our gate, she frantically says "I forgot I have to go to baggage claim to get my bags!" I proceeded to explain that I didn't have the time to help her with that. She begged me not to leave her, so I decided to at least take her to baggage claim. We walked down the baggage claim isle and I stopped next to a very large, very mean looking security guard and yelled out to her that I could not go on any further. She came back and asked why. I started to walk back up the hall and explained to her that I needed to get to my gate. Mr. Scary security guard did not approve this move of mine. He told me I could not go back. I explained that I had a flight to catch and specifically stopped and stood next to him so that he knew I was not going anywhere, or was not a terrorist! After 5 unsuccessful minutes of begging him to just let me walk back, he got angry and called extra security to come and get rid of me. I burst into tears and ran into baggage claim yelling "I don't even know where to go!!" I was forced to go all the way back through security. 20 minutes later, I begin to make my way back to the gate, again. If anything was learned, it was not to help random, scared people. I'm sorry, but I wont be doing it again.

As I arrive to my gate I was informed that my flight was delayed and now expected to take off after MIDNIGHT. All the stress and darting through the airport for nothing. Two very long, very emotional hours later they make the announcement that we could board.

I began to feel good that all the worries were over and that I was really on my way to England. My ticket was scanned, and the good feelings were gone. The man told me to go to a different women behind the counter to fix my ticket. Fix my ticket?!!!? Well what in the world is wrong with it? Can something else really possibly go wrong!! Yes, it can, and it did. I was informed that when I checked in online my seat did not save. Resulting in it being sold to someone else. Meaning, I'm seatless. More tears, more anger, more stress. In the end, I still got a seat, and an isle seat like I wanted. God decided to be on my side, for once. However, when I asked if there was any compensation that could be done for this, I was told "Your compensation is that we are getting you out there." You be the judge of how to react to that. Mine? I walked away.

On the bright side, my first meal of the day and some sleeping pills later, I was passed out. When I awoke, I heard the pilot announce "We are scheduled to land in approximately 20 min" Wow, this was great news!

I arrived, and my bags were of the first few to come out. I made my way out of the airport and into a new culture. I have arrived, finally.