So, while running through the Washington, DC airport trying to catch my connection to Madrid, I was thinking about speedwork, and how what no one tells you about speedwork, is that even Usain Bolt cannot make it from Terminal A to Gate D5 in under 20 minutes. Even Usain Bolt will miss that flight.
Missing my flight (my flight from Cincinnati landed 15 minutes after my flight for Spain left due to weather delays in DC, so we took off at 4:30pm instead of 2:30pm) led to a slew of fun, new adventures and experiences. Having never flown completely by myself, and never missing a connection, I called my sister panicking-I missed my flight to Spain, my phone was dying, and there was no one working at the counter to send me in the right direction. I wandered around the airport and finally found someone to direct me to where I needed to go...the (deceptive) Customer Service Line. This is where things got interesting.
The original line I was in to find out where to go, lasted about 45 minutes. This new Customer Service line was about twice as long, so I got ready for about a 2 hour wait. Little did I know, this line would take 5 hours. Yes, that i meant to write FIVE.
Two hours in to this wait, I befriended the group of girls in front of me, who were also headed to Madrid, they were going to be doing the Camino Pilgrimage and traveling around Spain. Also, they had befriended a Spaniard from Madrid. The five of us became a nice, little family in line. I am incredibly lucky to have met these people, I learned a lot about Spain while standing in line, and it made the line seem not nearly as bad. A potentially horrible experience turned into an incredible adventure, full of fun stories about traveling abroad, lots of questioning and answering about each other's lives, and good feelings.
After waiting 5 hours, and finally getting to the counter, I ended up on another flight (which I am now waiting for), a hotel for the night, and a free can of Diet Coke, care of United Airlines.
As I am leaving the counter, I see the rest of my "airport family" standing off to the side. They had been waiting for me to finish at the counter to make sure I was going to make a flight and had somewhere to go. We all left the airport together to head to our (unfortunately different) hotels. So, after a FULL 12 hours of travel I had made it!.....from Cincinnati to Washington, DC.
Hopefully, my flight this evening stays on schedule and I can make it to Spain for tomorrow, I am very excited and cannot wait to meet all of the people in my program!
¡Hasta luego!
