Traveling... not my strong suit

I don't know if you're familiar with the show The Amazing Race, but it basically entails eleven teams of two racing around the world for a grand prize of one million dollars. It's a pretty sweet show. My dad and I want to make an audition tape once I'm old enough to go on.

But, I don't think I'd be the best racing partner at all. A huge component of the Race is flying and I have the worst luck with flights.

Most recently (yesterday) I was sitting in Des Moines International Airport (hahaha... "International...") for my 11:35 flight to Denver. It was 10 am and I was already at my gate. I was doing some sudoku puzzles and I watched an episode of Seinfeld. Suddenly, I glanced up at the screen and couldn't help but notice that our departure time was changed to 12:10. And then it was changed to 1:30, then to 1, then to 1:30 again. We didn't get to board the plane until 2 o'clock. I was in the airport for FOUR hours.

Our plane had a small mechanical problem in Chicago. It's always Chicago's fault. At least it's always Chicago's fault when I'm waiting for a plane in Des Moines. That's our closest hub and they've always got some messed up weather or some messed up plane.

I wasn't at all surprised that my plane was delayed... why wouldn't it be delayed? It's always delayed when I'm trying to get home, but never when I'm trying to get back to Drake. I get a few hours shaved off my break each time I fly. What's up with that?

When I flew home for fall break, I had to connect in St. Louis. So, I had to take a 25-minute flight southeast just to turn around and go southwest to go to Denver. The flight to St. Louis was delayed 45 minutes. Originally I had about a two hour lay-over once I got there, so I was actually kind of happy that I had less time to kill in Missouri. As it would turn out, my flight home was delayed another 2(ish) hours so I spent almost four hours sitting in the St. Louis airport before I could get home.

My flight home for Christmas break was delayed an hour, I believe.

The only time I remember leaving Des Moines on time, I believe, was my trip home for Thanksgiving.

It never fails. Planes will be delayed. And it's always so agonizing when I'm trying to get home because I'm always so excited to be going home and I can't wait to get there. By the time I should be sitting at home with my family, I'm still in Iowa.

And everybody who is stuck at the gate of the delayed flight always forms some sort of connection, right? I mean, we're all in the same boat -- we're trying to get out of Iowa for whatever reason, and we're all frustrated with the fact that we still can't leave yet. Everybody kind of bands together and for a few excruciating hours those sixty people or so become your best and closest friends. We get a kick out of making fun of the airline people (who I really sympathize with in situations like those) and kill time reading the covers of the magazines at the newsstand. Everybody talks to everybody else about where they're trying to go and why they're trying to go there. And we always put our conversations on hold long enough to call our friends and families with the latest updates. It's kind of nice... misery loves company, eh?

Then there are the people you meet when traveling.... I have one story that stands out. But that's a whole other blog.

May your travels be safe... and may you have a little more luck than me.