Thunder Snow

So if things had gone according to plan, I would already be in Granada, Spain right now, a day early for orientation, catching up on sleep or hanging out with the two other girls scheduled to arrive early. Of course that would be too easy. Instead this happened:

Thunder Snow Yahoo News Article

Here's how the day went. My mom rushes in at 9:30am and wakes me up. I wasn't planning to get up until 10 because my flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 3:50. I thought I had plenty of time. Turns out I was wrong, my flight had been canceled due to bad weather conditions in Philadelphia. Because of the previous blog post, I was luckily already completely packed and ready to go, all I had to do was get dressed, which I did in like 5 seconds and then got on the phone with US Airways to schedule a new flight while simultaneously searching for one on their website. After searching online and being on hold I found a flight that was supposed to leave at 11:30 that had not yet been canceled. I was still on hold however, so my parents and I decided to just drive to the airport and talk to the US Airways people there. I was still on hold 45 minutes later when the guy at the desk switched my ticket. The 11:30 flight was scheduled to leave at 2:00pm...no that is not a typo. This would give me plenty of time to get to Philadelphia and make my connecting flight to Madrid. Ha

My parents and I went and got lunch at Bob Evans and then headed back to the airport. Said my goodbyes, took some pictures. Security was a breeze because I had everything ready. The woman in front of me did throw a fit about having to throw out her yogurt because it was over 3 ounces but that didn't hold things up too much. So I get to my gate and wait. and wait. and wait. My 11:30/2:00pm flight has been delayed further. But the 8am flight was getting ready to go. So at about 3, I was switched to the 8am flight and got right on to fly to Philly. There was maybe 10 people on this plane, I had my own little 2 seat section, it was very nice. 

Once in Philly, I think ok everything is smooth sailing from here. My Madrid flight is still listed as on time. We board at 5:30, set to go at 6:35. And then the plane never leaves boarding area. It starts to rain. The rain becomes ice. The pilot announces we have to wait for the plane to be de-iced. After an hour, he comes back on and says that the runways are slippery and the plane still needs to be de-iced. After 2 and 1/2 hours, he announces that the flight has been canceled and we have to get off. All flights out of Philly had been canceled. The US Airways woman told us that unfortunately we were one of the last planes to be deboarded and so all the hotels and motels in the area were already full.. We were allowed to keep our pillows and blankets from the plain though. They aren't much, but they were much better than nothing. We all had to call a special US Airways service line to get booked on the next flight to Madrid which isn't until 6pm today. I talked to Debbie from US Airways and she was extremely helpful. Not only did she book my US Airways flight to Madrid, she also called Iberia, the airline I was flying from Madrid to Granada and explained the whole situation and had them switch my flight as well. She was on and off the phone with them for about 30 minutes because they weren't very understanding. I am very grateful to Debbie because if they wouldn't cooperate with her, they sure weren't gonna listen to me. 

So here's the fun part. We all got to sleep in the airport. People were everywhere, it looked like a homeless shelter. The benches were not ideal for sleeping because of the arm rests, but people got pretty creative. 

using lugage as a leg prop

sleeping near the wall

some people got the heat blankets, I dunno what's better
the blue blankets were not very warm but they were soft
These are warm but plasticy and crinkly.

I am not very good at sleeping in public places. I started out here:

 

After about an hour of sitting on top with the uncomfortable arm rests, I moved to underneath the bench. This was alot better, it was darker and more secluded. I slept from 1am to about 2am under the bench. I was wide awake when I woke up at 2 so I packed up my stuff and wandered around a bit. I ended up like 20 gates down and I had seen a few people push two benches together and sleep on them that way. I managed to sleep like that from 4:30 to 6:30. After that I just went and got coffee. Everyone looked like zombies in the morning. People were just walking around with this dazed look like they didn't know where to go or what to do. Everyone was tired and looked like they had spent the night outside or something. 

There is not all that much to do in an airport. I've been wandering around, reading, doing puzzles in an activity book and facebooking all day and I am bored out of my mind. I have 2 and 1/2 hours left until I board my plane to Madrid. I have discovered some interesting things about the airport though. There is a lego replica of the Liberty Bell. There are 10 different Brookstone stores. There are very nice rocking chairs in wing B. I've spent quite a bit of time on one today. 

This is where I watched the sunrise.
Was not on my list of things to do, but since I was up I figured I might as well. 

I also found a fun little gift shop where I got Jerrie the coolest thing ever! 

Its a voodoo doll. There was like 50 different ones, it took me forever to choose which one I was gonna get. I absolutely love it. And no Jerrie, I will not be posting all your presents on here, just this one cuz its so awesome. :)

That's pretty much it. Hopefully the rest of the day goes smoothly and I'm in Granada by tomorrow afternoon. 

P.S. Some of you have been asking about leaving comments. If you click on the title of the post, it opens a new window that contains the post and at the very bottom a comment box :)