Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Oslo Travel=Disaster! (So Far Anyway)... Here We Go Again

Needless to say, your boy was suppose to be on his way to Oslo as we speak, but do to some unforeseen circumstances in Newark, NJ (where my connecting flight was leaving from), I am back at home in Orlando. Here's the time frame rundown of my airport fiasco:

2pm: Leave the house for the airport, my original flight is at 3:54pm placing me in Newark at around 6:30 pm for my Oslo flight that leaves at 8:15 local time.

2:45pm: Arrive at my original gate, where it says Delayed until. I was like "Delayed Until? What the hell?" So I ask the women at the gate "How long are we delayed?, I have a short connection for an international flight." She says "Oh no problem, go down to gate 9, they are taking off at 3:30." So she places me on that flight and I head down there thinking I'm straight, so I get on the plane and start talking to a passenger and she says they have been on the plane since around 1:30, I was like 1:30! That's some straight b.s., but the pilot got on the mic and said that they are going to release us at 4pm, so I'm feeling good. Obviously that didn't happen.

3pm-7pm: We sit on the plane, half the time at the gate and the other half on the runway, and as a surprise to myself, I am actually remaining pretty calm. I guess it was reading this good book I found called "2nd Chance" by James Patterson. We taxi back off the runway to the gate and de-plane. As I'm walking to get re booked, they make an announcement saying all flight have been released, but that does me no good because there is only one flight per day leaving to Oslo from Newark, so I missed the connection anyway.

7:30pm: Got re-booked for the flight tomorrow, the woman at the gate tells me the flight to Oslo from Newark is booked full. I tell her "I run track professionally and I have a meet in Oslo and I have to be there immediately. Not making it there could cost me upwards of $16,000!" She then was like "Oh my goodness, we have to get you there!" So she upgraded me to first class for the flight tomorrow. Finally a perk from using running track! I guess all things won't end up so bad, even though I'd rather be there in the morning then on Thursday morning, but you have to play the cards you are dealt. My flight tomorrow is at 1pm, so we'll see what happens.

2 comments:

Rashad Grigsby said...

Now this is why I wanna run track professionally....not because of all that nonsense you had to deal with, but the getting bumped up to first class and getting to go to Olso...(Shoot lemme go check tha map and see exactly where its at!) GL this weekend D.O.

Jose said...

Hi david. I just wanted to say to you,that my coach invites you ti train here,in Madrid,if you are really going to come for a few days.It will be an honour and If you or your´s teammates agree It´ll be perfect.I know tiemtable,races and tour it´s a difficult deal,so whatever you choose will be ok.
I want to see you and Ron flying in few days at Nationals.Take care.