Airport Debacle

I'm just gonna get straight to it - I had an awful experience with the airport yesterday.  Here's how my day went:

5:00 AM (4:00 AM Dallas time): Wake up, shower, pack.

6:00 AM: Head to Boston airport.  Completely misjudge how long it will take to get there and...

6:20 AM: Arrive at Boston airport.  Check in, peruse the bookstore, pick up a new Jodi Picoult novel, head through security, and arrive at my gate to find...

7:15 AM: 7:55 AM flight to Dallas via Chicago postponed.  Twiddle my thumbs until...

7:20 AM: Pull out my work computer and sift through my emails decreasing the number of "unread" mail from 87 to 0.  Eaves drop on pretty attractive, yet extremely arrogant, guys next to me.  (I bet they didn't know their company was my company's client - their supposed insight was...interesting).

9:00 AM: Announcement is made that our flight is cancelled.

9:02 AM: Receive an automated voicemail confirming my rescheduled flight at 6:00 AM the next day.  Not gonna fly.  Annoyed, pick up my stuff and head to the back of the ticket counter line until...

10:15 AM: Rebook my flight for a 1:15 PM to Dallas with a layover in Houston through Continental instead.  Head down to the baggage claim office to grab my bag before switching terminals.

10:25 AM: Check in with baggage clerk and am assured my bag has been re-tagged and pulled onto my upcoming flight.

10:35 AM: Grab a bus over to my new terminal, go through security again, grab a disgusting Wendy's hamburger of which I ate three bites of and threw away, and read the rest of 'Blue Like Jazz.'

12:35 PM: Begin boarding my flight to Houston.  Find that I am sitting in the middle seat between two large, burly men.  Hairy guy to my left decides he'll spend this flight sans shoes.  I do my best to huddle my carry-ons together so as not to let his disgusting, probing feet touch them.  Learn that guy on my right has apparently decided to forgo any sort of teeth-brushing, mouth washing, general bad breath prevention plan.

1:45 PM: Find that bad-breath guy on my right also never learned to cover his mouth while sneezing.

4:30 PM (Now switching to Central Time): De-board plane and catch the tram to another terminal.  Grab some half-baked Schlotzsky's and arrive at my gate just in time to...

5:10 PM: Board new plane and discover Ron White wasn't telling a joke when he said they make planes as small as match boxes.

6:37 PM: Land in Dallas and jet off the plane as quickly as possible.  Meet up with my Dad and wait for the luggage carousel to start.  Discover that of the five bags unloaded from the flight, none of them are mine.

7:10 PM: Head toward the second Baggage Claim office of the day.  Learn my bag is lost.  Am told they'll call me when they locate it.  Ask if maybe they could try tracking it now.  Find that supposedly it got on a Boston-Houston flight at 4:30 PM instead and should ::hopefully:: make the 9:00 PM Houston-Dallas flight.  Am assured it will be delivered tonight by 11:30 PM.

7:45 PM: Head out of the airport sans luggage.

11:30 PM: Pace my apartment trying to stay awake and anxious to brush my teeth.  No call, no knock until...

12:00 AM: Call the "baggage assistance" number and find that my bag did, in fact, make it to Big D but that it cannot be delivered until tomorrow.  Ask if there is any chance of getting it before I go to work.  Find that my only alternative is having it delivered via the 'night shift' between 4am-5am.  Begrudgingly agree.

12:15 AM: Go to bed sans teeth brushing.  Set alarm for entirely too early.

4:00 AM: Alarm goes off so I'm awake when they call or knock on my door.  Repeatedly wake up every 9 minutes between 4am-7am.  (i.e. I never really slept).

7:30 AM: Call the "baggage assistance" number and find that my bag is, in fact, still sitting in the airport and that I had been wrongly informed a few hours earlier.  Learn they do not make night runs to residential areas and my bag will be delivered between 8am-12pm.  And no, they cannot narrow that time frame down at all.

7:45 AM: Begin the process of getting ready for work.

Getting ready for work was a bit of a...challenge, if you will.  Amidst tears and a few bouts of intense frustration, I discovered I had very limited options in every department.  Time to get creative.  I had no razor and no tights so had to wear slacks.  I only had dark colored dress shirts clean but light colored under-clothing.  I had no make-up except some old, crusted Revlon cream foundation and dried-up MAC mascara.  Both had easily been buried in the depths of my "just in case" bag since easily Junior year of High School (point for being a hoarder!).  I had no brush and, after a sad attempt at trying to get my fingers through my knots, settled for a pronged potato masher and noodle spoon, instead.  Had no toothbrush or real toothpaste so instead flossed and mouth-washed twice and found some hotel toothpaste (if it even qualifies as such) and brushed with my finger.  And so on, and so on...I think you get a pretty good idea of how my morning went.  And I even made it to work on time!  Award for most dedicated employee, anyone?!


9:30 AM: Get a call from some guy confirming he had my luggage to deliver.  Redirect him to my office address instead.  Learn he will not be there for another two hours.

11:20 AM: Get another call and happily learn that my luggage is waiting in my office lobby.  Oh, happy day!

6:10 PM: Get home from work and immediately crack open my suitcase and brush my teeth.  Twice.

So I'm obviously not too thrilled with my airline experience.  But now that I have my luggage back (and realized how big of an impact a hair brush and a razor have on my daily routine), I find my stressful and annoying day almost comical.  Still not sure I'll be booking with United again anytime soon, though...