I was worried about making the Delta flight, so I quickly booked a standby seat on an Avianca flight to JFK, while in the Uber. I tried to do the check in, but was being thwarted by the emergency contact section. Apparently Avianca requires this, and it asks for the country code of the phone number listed, and I must’ve tried it every way I could think of, and it just wouldn’t accept it as correct. What on earth am I doing wrong? Lol. I give my phone to Dana and Hayden, the pro travelers, to see if they can troubleshoot my issue. No luck. I only had about 14 minutes to check-in, haha. So once we get dropped off, I run to a self check-in kiosk and have no trouble here. Okay, great! Now, to see if I can somehow skip ahead of this super long line. Here in Bogotá, you have to go through immigration before security, and this line was almost the entire length of the check-in area for all the airlines. Wicked long! Lol, I ask around, hoping someone will help me and a few others with tight connections, but nobody is helpful, airport employees nor passengers waiting in line. Ugghh. I’m totally gonna miss it! And, I already bought the ticket, which means I’ll have to go through the cancel and refund process.
Okay, so back to the original plan with Delta. I check in at the ticket counter and am told to come back at 7:30 to see if I can make it on the plane. They won’t give us boarding passes until then, so there is no way we can go through immigration and security and go to the lounge. Lame. So, I hang with Dana and Hayden, and we grab some breakfast, all reeling about how insane the airport was this morning.
At 7:30 exactly, we head back over to the ticket counter, and they tell us to wait another 10 minutes or so. 10 minutes comes and goes, and we’re still awaiting for the non-rev gods to decide our fate. Finally, one of the agents comes out with a handful of boarding passes! More than we were expecting, so we regain some hope here, but we know better than to get too excited, haha. The agent starts calling names, and my hope dwindles just as fast as the lucky ones snatch their passes and head over to immigration. Lady Luck must be on my side today because I was the last name to be called! OMG! Yes! Unfortunately, that meant that Dana and Hayden wouldn’t be joining me on this leg, but they know what they’ve signed up for and are game for it, lol. I still feel bad that they’re not flying with me. Sorry, friends!
We were stoked about the idea of all of us traveling standby together, but I guess that adventure will have to wait for a future date. We say a hasty goodbye, as now I have an hour to make it to the flight. I’m worried about the long immigration and security line, but all the other standbys are with me in solidarity, haha.
I make it through relatively quickly, and once at the gate, I am told to wait until the very end. Then what was the original wait for? Haha, am I still not guaranteed a seat? Since I passed through the immigration area, I’ve technically “left” Colombia, and now would I have to enter again? That just seems weird, lol. With about 20 minutes to spare, the gate agents start calling standbys over, and we wait for our names to be called. Myself and another gentleman traveling standby were told to wait a minute while the agents spoke to dispatch to verify that we’d get a seat. Omg! I’ve now made it this far, and I might not make it on? Haha It’s stressful, but laughable. That’s the way non-rev travel goes! Hehe. Within just 30 seconds or so, the agent informs us that we are able to get on the plane! Thank goodness! Hehe. We both look at each other and sigh a big sigh of relief, and scan our passes and head down the jet bridge. Ugh. They’re doing extra security screenings for everyone. A typical thing with US bound flights, but my bag is packed so perfectly, and it’s bulging at the seams. If they try to take stuff out, I worry I’ll never get it situated again in time to get on the flight, haha. Luckily, it was a quick search, and the woman didn’t go through too much, and I was able to get it zipped up with her help, though, hehe. Now the next concern: Is there space for my bag? I know I’m the last passenger, unless there are super duper last-minute people, so I decide I’ll just throw my bag up whenever I see an empty bin.
As I board the plane, much to my surprise, I see a familiar face! A flight attendant friend of mine from when we were both based in LA. Hi Pablina! How funny! Hehe. I guess you never know who you’ll run into, lol. I find a spot for my bag in the Delta One cabin and realize my seat is actually in Comfort Plus, and not as far back as I thought I was! Haha. Although, I really wanted to be in the lay-flat seats because who wouldn’t? Tee-hee! The flight to Atlanta is short, only 4.5 hours, and after the long shuttle through Central America, 4.5 feels like nothing! Haha. I’m currently on the plane and have been slowly catching up with my journaling, and I watched the new Black Panther movie, and now we’ve got just under an hour to go! And then I have to see if I can make a Boston flight today.
There was some winter weather that I’m assuming caused multiple delays and cancellations, so it might be tough to make it back home, but I’ve got some plan Bs and Cs up my sleeve. Time will tell!
Well, all the Boston flights looked terrible, so I checked out the DC route, which was my plan D or E, lol. Flights to DC looked great, and the flights to Boston the next morning also looked great. Sweet! Just a little quick visit to the capital, and I’ll be home. This is the price we pay for free flights, right? Hehe.
Got to my hotel and had a lovely night’s rest, and I woke up early to start trying my luck on the Boston flights. Missed the first one. That’s okay. The second one was looking better anyway. Missed the second one. Ugghh. Okay, so I check my options and realize that even if I connect through a different city, all the Boston legs are looking just as trash as what I’m seeing out of DC. So I’m deciding to wait until 6 pm for the last flight to Boston, and if I miss that one too, I’m going to attempt the overnight bus from DC to Boston. This is turning out to be quite the journey, haha. I’ve never, in my almost 7 years of flying, have had such trouble non-reving. What the heck?!
It is snowing here in DC, and big fluffy flakes are dancing around the airplanes parked at the gates. At least I can enjoy some wine and be cozy while I wait 7 hours for the next flight, hehe.
I ended up using my $28 coupon from Priority Pass to grab some seriously sub-par fish and chips at a restaurant in the United terminal. Well, at least I didn’t have to pay much! Lol. My flight to Boston was looking promising, but I didn’t want to get too excited, based on what I had seen the last day or so. My backup plan was the trusty rusty bus, lol.
I make it on the flight! Wooohoo! Finally, I’m getting back to Boston! And my Mom was on “standby” to come pick me up, so I let her know of my arrival plans, and it was a go! Thanks, Mom! The flight was uneventful and quick, and before I knew it, I was getting off the plane in my home airport. It’s hard to believe I was gone for nearly a month!
Mom comes and picks me up, and we head on our way to my loft. I shared stories from the travels and caught up with what I missed at home while I was away. It was a long couple of days, but I finally made it to my sanctuary. And I have bells the following day, which I couldn’t wait for, and a day to relax, and then back to work on Tuesday. Welcome back to reality, Amelia! Hehe!
Taking Off With Amelia 