I was just interviewed for Channel 6 news. They wanted a first-hand account of travel misery and I have been stranded in Moline for 2 days. When I was approached, it was 12:30, my second flight had just been canceled, I had not yet had coffee or food, and I had been standing in line for 3 hours. I must have looked particularly haggard. Or perhaps they just couldn’t resist my enormous hoop earrings. For two days, all the TVs in the airport have been tuned to OMG WEATHER CANCELS CHRISTMAS OVERTURNED TRUCK AMBULANCE BODIES PILING UP!!!
1.) I did not want to be part of the circus. What’s one circle deeper than being stranded in an airport that does not serve coffee post-security? Being forced to watch dramatically narrated footage of other people stranded in airports. One circle deeper than that is watching awkward footage of yourself being stranded in an airport while stranded in an airport.
And 2.) I thought, if Heidi ever sees this footage I will never live it down.
So while too polite to say no, I tried to be as uninteresting as possible, neither pissed off nor distraught, and with any luck I will not make the cut.
And actually I’m not really suffering. Yesterday all flights to Chicago were canceled early in the day, so I checked into a hotel and wandered around the local mall. I bought a smoothie. And actual presents for my family, rather than what I had been planning to give them, which were my best intentions to craft them something but probably not before Christmas morning. It was a nice day.
Today has been less pleasant. They officially closed the airport for a while because a plane skidded off the runway. The kind Midwestern airport employees are getting a little punchy. In a few hours I might fly to Chicago where I will probably spend the night. I don’t really care, as long as no one tries to turn the experience into a sitcom in which a Christmas tree is constructed out of styrfoam cups, spontaneous caroling ensues, and we all discover the true meaning of Christmas.
12/24/08 at 5:39 pm |
Bummer. I hope you get home soon and have a good Christmas wherever you are!
12/25/08 at 11:03 am |
I hope that, in your travels, you found genuine Mid-west hospitality. I can picture your interview; “I’m just trying to get home to Buffalo to see my family, its really frustrating being in the airport but everyone here is so nice.”
12/25/08 at 11:06 am |
You should have just sung “WE NEED A LITTLE CHRISTMAS. RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE” for Channel 6.
Hope you make it home. Or at least that the smoothies are good in Chicago too.
12/26/08 at 1:38 am |
I probably said “everyone’s been so nice” a couple of times. The Moline airport has been so good to me over the years. But oh, if only I’d thought to burst out in that song.
12/26/08 at 6:01 pm |
JOBONGA! I told you text me if you were still in Moline–hello Jansen Family Christmas Eve bash is what you could have been singing! although, Southpark Mall does have its charms…