Long Day's Journey
Dec. 25th, 2007 11:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
saavedra77After a couple of weeks working overtime, several frantic days of Christmas shopping, and over fourteen hours in transcontinental transit, I finally arrived at my niece's house heavily laden with gifts and luggage in the nearly-freezing cold of 1:00 AM on December 24th ... to find no one home.
I'd left my apartment early in the feeble hope of making better time, heading into downtown Seattle to catch a predawn airport bus. But there was no earlier flight connecting to Philadelphia, and mine was delayed by just under an hour. The plane was, of course, a sardine can. And just to make things more interesting, the weather over the middle of the country was abominable: the jet shook like a turboprop in an updraft, the seatbelt sign was on almost constantly. We ended up circling Chicago for an hour and a half. The pilot said that the temperature on the ground was 16 degrees, there were high winds. Finally, we managed a rough landing, only to be stuck in the plane for another forty minutes because other delayed flights were taking up the gates, and then because the jetway was frozen and woudn't move. I'd have missed my connecting flight if it hadn't been delayed, too. We touched down in Philly at about midnight eastern time, three hours overdue. Then all I had to do was collect my checked bags and the rental car and wend my way across the river and out into the South Jersey suburbs.
I'd been trying all day to contact my niece, April, to let her know that I'd almost certainly be late--maybe very late. But I'd had no luck connecting with a WiFi signal at SeaTac, O'Hare, or Philadelphia International, and while I'd left several voice messages, I'd gotten no reply. I was beginning to get the impression that April wasn't using that old phone number any more, but it seemed too late to call anyone else. Then again, I didn't feel like spending the night in my car.
So I busted open the laptop one more time, and voila, WiFi signal. And there was an email from April, telling me that a) she'd changed her cell phone number; b) she'd be out late at a pre-Christmas party; and c) that my great-nephew Jeremy would be home (either awake or sleeping on the couch) to let me in when I arrived. My impression? The kid must have been pretty soundly asleep. So I called April on that new cell phone number ... She'd been counting on me to read that email, since I had this fancy WiFi thing going on, now.
Anyway, long story short, I was drifting off in the guest bedroom an hour after that, and the subsequent couple of days have more than made up for my trouble. More on which later ...
I'd left my apartment early in the feeble hope of making better time, heading into downtown Seattle to catch a predawn airport bus. But there was no earlier flight connecting to Philadelphia, and mine was delayed by just under an hour. The plane was, of course, a sardine can. And just to make things more interesting, the weather over the middle of the country was abominable: the jet shook like a turboprop in an updraft, the seatbelt sign was on almost constantly. We ended up circling Chicago for an hour and a half. The pilot said that the temperature on the ground was 16 degrees, there were high winds. Finally, we managed a rough landing, only to be stuck in the plane for another forty minutes because other delayed flights were taking up the gates, and then because the jetway was frozen and woudn't move. I'd have missed my connecting flight if it hadn't been delayed, too. We touched down in Philly at about midnight eastern time, three hours overdue. Then all I had to do was collect my checked bags and the rental car and wend my way across the river and out into the South Jersey suburbs.
I'd been trying all day to contact my niece, April, to let her know that I'd almost certainly be late--maybe very late. But I'd had no luck connecting with a WiFi signal at SeaTac, O'Hare, or Philadelphia International, and while I'd left several voice messages, I'd gotten no reply. I was beginning to get the impression that April wasn't using that old phone number any more, but it seemed too late to call anyone else. Then again, I didn't feel like spending the night in my car.
So I busted open the laptop one more time, and voila, WiFi signal. And there was an email from April, telling me that a) she'd changed her cell phone number; b) she'd be out late at a pre-Christmas party; and c) that my great-nephew Jeremy would be home (either awake or sleeping on the couch) to let me in when I arrived. My impression? The kid must have been pretty soundly asleep. So I called April on that new cell phone number ... She'd been counting on me to read that email, since I had this fancy WiFi thing going on, now.
Anyway, long story short, I was drifting off in the guest bedroom an hour after that, and the subsequent couple of days have more than made up for my trouble. More on which later ...
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no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 06:22 pm (UTC)I'm originally from Long Island, although not much of my family remains there. I have an uncle in Brick and some cousins not too far from there.
I like visiting the East Coast, but I prefer living out here.
Got your address, thanks!