TRAVELING THROUGH THE ARCTIC BLAST
The last few days have been the longest of our lives. Saturday we had all intentions of flying out of Lewiston and heading to CA to spend a week with family for Christmas. Our Lewiston flight was an hour delayed which made us miss our connecting flight in Seattle by 5-10 minutes (plane was still at the gate). As most of you know the Pac Northwest was hit HARD by the snow and it started causing problems for flights. We got on standby for the 5pm flight...didn't get on. Stand by for 7pm...got on but after an hour of sitting on the plane they had us deboard and then at 10pm cancelled all flights going out of Seattle saying that no one would be going anywhere for at least 2 days. While John waited in line at Customer Service for almost 3 hours, I was on the phone with my sister trying to find a hotel...all booked. After midnight we were booked on a flight for Monday night and we were so frustrated and tired, not to mention Kelsi who was running out of food and diapers, that we just decided to drive back to Lewiston. We waited in line at the car rental until about 3am and finally got a car (I won't go on to tell you about the problems we encountered there). However, I finally had a meltdown as I strapped Kelsi into her rental car seat that I not so affectionately called "the death trap". I couldn't tighten it and it was SOOOOO old. Everything finally sunk in and I lost it in the car. The roads and freeways were SO bad (HELLO, SEATTLE, ever hear of a SNOW PLOW?), that we decided to pull off at a hotel a ways away from the airport and stay the night. Good thing we did because we found out the next morning that the passes were closed and we wouldn't have been able to drive home anyway. THE ONLY BRIGHT SPOT OF OUR SEATTLE EXPERIENCE WAS that we were able to stay the next night with Carson (John's cousin) and his family. It was so nice to wash our clothes, eat real food and enjoy good company. We wish that we lived closer so that we could spend more time with them. WELL, Monday we got to the airport over 5 hours before our flight hoping to get on standby for earlier flights. My heart dropped when I saw all the lines....I have never seen anything like it. One agent took mercy on me and my baby and helped us but told us not to tell anyone that she helped us and we made it to get on standby for a flight that we ended up not getting on, but we got on the next one! We made it to LAX 48 hours after we were originally supposed to arrive. One of our bags did not make it to the airport....BUT they called us this afternoon and it came in and we were able to pick it up. We are now enjoying hanging out with family. We missed a big fam get together and seeing the lights at the temple, but we may fit those in another time. I can't begin to describe how awful this whole experience has been. Poor little Kelsi. There is actually a lot more, but you get the point. PLEASE PRAY FOR US FOR OUR RETURN TRIP THIS WEEKEND. The weather isn't supposed to get any better and we have to go through that dreadful airport on our way back to Lewiston. Dreaming of a White Christmas??? NO THANK YOU. Ugh.
The last few days have been the longest of our lives. Saturday we had all intentions of flying out of Lewiston and heading to CA to spend a week with family for Christmas. Our Lewiston flight was an hour delayed which made us miss our connecting flight in Seattle by 5-10 minutes (plane was still at the gate). As most of you know the Pac Northwest was hit HARD by the snow and it started causing problems for flights. We got on standby for the 5pm flight...didn't get on. Stand by for 7pm...got on but after an hour of sitting on the plane they had us deboard and then at 10pm cancelled all flights going out of Seattle saying that no one would be going anywhere for at least 2 days. While John waited in line at Customer Service for almost 3 hours, I was on the phone with my sister trying to find a hotel...all booked. After midnight we were booked on a flight for Monday night and we were so frustrated and tired, not to mention Kelsi who was running out of food and diapers, that we just decided to drive back to Lewiston. We waited in line at the car rental until about 3am and finally got a car (I won't go on to tell you about the problems we encountered there). However, I finally had a meltdown as I strapped Kelsi into her rental car seat that I not so affectionately called "the death trap". I couldn't tighten it and it was SOOOOO old. Everything finally sunk in and I lost it in the car. The roads and freeways were SO bad (HELLO, SEATTLE, ever hear of a SNOW PLOW?), that we decided to pull off at a hotel a ways away from the airport and stay the night. Good thing we did because we found out the next morning that the passes were closed and we wouldn't have been able to drive home anyway. THE ONLY BRIGHT SPOT OF OUR SEATTLE EXPERIENCE WAS that we were able to stay the next night with Carson (John's cousin) and his family. It was so nice to wash our clothes, eat real food and enjoy good company. We wish that we lived closer so that we could spend more time with them. WELL, Monday we got to the airport over 5 hours before our flight hoping to get on standby for earlier flights. My heart dropped when I saw all the lines....I have never seen anything like it. One agent took mercy on me and my baby and helped us but told us not to tell anyone that she helped us and we made it to get on standby for a flight that we ended up not getting on, but we got on the next one! We made it to LAX 48 hours after we were originally supposed to arrive. One of our bags did not make it to the airport....BUT they called us this afternoon and it came in and we were able to pick it up. We are now enjoying hanging out with family. We missed a big fam get together and seeing the lights at the temple, but we may fit those in another time. I can't begin to describe how awful this whole experience has been. Poor little Kelsi. There is actually a lot more, but you get the point. PLEASE PRAY FOR US FOR OUR RETURN TRIP THIS WEEKEND. The weather isn't supposed to get any better and we have to go through that dreadful airport on our way back to Lewiston. Dreaming of a White Christmas??? NO THANK YOU. Ugh.
8 comments:
What a nightmare. I am so sorry but glad that you made it safely. At least now you have an experience that make Philadelphia not look so bad.
That is horrible. It sounds like you guys have been through alot. We will pray that you make it home with a little less stress.
Poor you! How awful! We had a rough trip too, but nowhere near that bad. The things we do to be with our wonderful families. Let's hope our return trips go more smoothly
That has to be awful. My sister went through that a few years ago when the blizzard hit colorado but she didn't have a baby. THat had to of been hard. I am glad I didn't try that with my 3 kids or I would of killed someone. Glad you made it to CA and hope you return safely with no problems. Last night I saw peopel still stranded at Sea Tac. I lived there when it snowed and everything shuts down. It's awful. Merry Christmas
Ugh! How miserable. Maybe this is a sign that you should move back to California, hmmmmmm? :o)
Hi Karina! Do you know that we live less than an hour north of Seattle? If you ever get stuck there again CALL ME! I'm so sorry you went through all of that. White Christmases are definitely over-rated, as least if you're in Seattle. I was definitely dreaming of a green one!! Hope you make it back ok!
That really does sound miserable. From my experience, it takes about 1 1/2 to 2 years to really get over that kind of experience. You may never be able to fly through Seattle again, though, without feeling a little angry.
I'm glad that you had a nice Christmas.
THAT. IS. A. NIGHTMARE! I would have been the witchiest wich on the face of the land. Glad you made it safe and sound.
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