When Hours feel like Days

Often enough when thinking about expecting the unexpected, some people would think about superheroes or maybe even a crystal ball. However, it is not about predicting the future when it comes to expecting the unexpected. It is simply about going with the flow and eventually getting lucky. We have all had an experience in which we thought we did something extremely cool, but in reality, it was just a coincidence and or luck. When thinking about it myself something happened that I initially thought about,  but had truly no idea if it were going to happen or not was when I was 12 years old.

It all started when my mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday that year in which I responded with “mom I would really like to go to Florida and go to the universal park” Now I knew myself that this might be a big stretch, but it never hurts to ask. Now fast forward a few months, my birthday being right around the corner and the school year coming to a close. It felt great to finally finish another year, but I also was filled with excitement on what my birthday gift could be this year. My mom had stopped asking about ideas for my birthday so deep down I thought I had a chance. Just thinking about it caused me great excitement, a euphoria almost. However, I still had a longing few weeks in which I would ask my mom daily if we were going or not just to see if I could read her facial expressions or get even the slightest hint that we may be going.

It is a couple of days before my birthday and school was officially out, which meant I was doing nothing at home. My mom just arrived home and waved me into her room because we needed to “talk about something important” I figured I just messed up or got in trouble, but alas her words to me were very little it was what she pulled out of her back pocket that truly made me expressionless. It was plane tickets that were set to leave on my birthday in which seemed like an eternity at the time, but in reality, it was only a few days. I awoke early on my birthday to the sound of my alarm ringing in my ears. Our plane was scheduled to start boarding at 6:30 in the morning. Therefore, I had already packed my suitcase prior to waking up in the morning so I could get ready fast as I did not want to be late. I eventually found myself in my parents’ car on our way to the airport and I got myself thinking about if our plane got delayed or if there was a weather problem, just the general things that could go wrong. Once we arrived at the airport we checked in and went through security which always makes me nervous even though I have nothing to worry about. I find myself following my parents as we search for the gate we need to be at, but not before stopping to get some food. We eventually get on our plane and fly to the JFK airport, which would serve as our layover. Everything was going smoothly until we got to the JFK airport and found ourselves at the gate we needed to be at. I heard my mom say an expletive, in which I looked up and saw that our plane had been delayed by 2 hours. This made me quite sorrowful, as it would mean less time in Florida.  We ended up getting a meal voucher which all and all was useless. I found myself looking up at the time over and over thinking maybe it would go faster. However, once it got to fifteen minutes before our boarding time. The delay increased another hour and a half. I found myself in a state of unease, this was not how this trip was supposed to turn out and this saddened me immeasurably. I ended up overhearing my mom say “this is like the movie The Terminal with Tom Hanks” I thought to myself for a while thinking about how our situation was, in fact, similar, but definitely not nearly as bad. It seems exaggerated as my mom was probably upset and so was I, but the movie was about a guy who got stuck in an airport for years rather than just a few hours. Therefore it did not completely correlate with the situation that was presented forth, but it did have a few small details such as us waiting in an airport.

Eventually, the plane that was supposed to be there pulled up to the gate and I continued to watch as the clock ticked down to zero. Constantly thinking about how much time had been lost, but also recognizing how much worse it could have been. I found myself getting on the plane and wondering to myself if we would actually ever take off or if this was just a way to make us feel better. Eventually, we did take off and we did make it to Florida safely. However, it was the experience, but also the memory that I got from the few hours of waiting that made me tell myself. I was going to re-watch the movie called “The Terminal” with Tom Hanks as I wanted to know how bad it can truly be to be stuck at an airport. All and all that is the overall details about my trip to Florida when I was 12 and how that one trip changed the way I think about airports, but also traveling as a whole.

Photo by Bernd Thaller on Foter.com / CC BY-NC