F in Geography

As a homeschooler, I am failing in geography. How was I supposed to know that to go from Dallas to Birmingham you had to go through Houston and Nashville. (Yes, this is a very long post but well worth reading.)

I have only flown once in my entire life and used to be scared to death of flying alone. But despite all that, I flew to Dallas last week to visit the Bruces and go to there church’s dedication meeting. I left at nine o’clock on Wednesday morning, went through Houston because I was flying southwest, and landed in Dallas at one o’clock, right on time. Everything went like clock work. I had no problems and every plane was on time or even early. I stayed at the Bruces through Monday. On Monday they dropped me off at the airport at twelve o’clock, I checked my bags, went through security, and found my gate. My plane was scheduled to leave at one o’clock, I checked the monitors and it was on time. At exactly one they came over the loud speaker announcing that flight 27, my flight, had been delayed for an hour. Well, I had a flight leaving Houston at two-thirty, I didn’t have time. So I went up to the desk and explained my situation, after what seemed like a half an hour but was probably more like five or ten minutes he very rudely pointed me to a different gate. I went and got in line and waited for about ten minutes at one-thirty the plane left. The flight from Dallas to Houston is supposed to be an hour, at two-thirty the pilot came over the speaker and said the plane should land in about fifty minutes. I will remind you that I had a flight leaving Houston at two forty-five! But I wasn’t worried, the flight attendants were counting how many people were going to miss a connecting flight and I was sure they would just put me on the next flight or my other flight would be delayed. We arrived in Houston around four, I immediately went to the monitors and when I didn’t see my flight number I got in line at the nearest desk. When I finally got up to the desk I gave my boarding pass to the man, told him what happened and asked where I needed to go, he Gate fifty-one and you need to hurry, was my replay. So I quickly headed in the direction the man pointed, down a long hallway and around a huge curve and there… was security, I had to stand in a long line and go through security again. Well I finally arrived at gate fifty-one, there was nobody at the desk and the sign said Baltimore. I hurried over to the nearest desk and once again got in line. The woman in front of me got up to desk and was told that they didn’t have a flight leaving until the next day and they would have to put her up in a hotel room, and for the first time that day I began to get very worried. When I got up to the desk the woman said I had missed that plane (no! really) and they would have to put me somewhere else, so she types around on her computer forever wrote on my old boarding pass gate twenty-three and told me I was going to Nashville and then on to Birmingham and when I got to Nashville I, without any information, could figure out where I needed to go. I hurried over to gate twenty-three and got in line hoping for some more information. Now at this point I was at the point of absolutely sobbing and to make it worse I was trying to talk to mom and she kept asking me how I was and if I was calm. I barely got out yes I am fine, I really wanted to cry and say no! I am not fine, I am all alone and I don’t know where I am going and I want to be home!! But I just kept praying please dear God give me control over my emotions. So I told her I would handle it and call her back as soon as I knew where I was going. After waiting, literally forever this time, the man at the desk gave me two boarding passes one for a flight to Nashville and another one from Nashville to Birmingham so I got on the plane. At this point it was all I could do to keep from absolutely sobbing. I called momma told her everything and said I would call her when I got to Nashville. By the time I got off the phone with momma a stray tear or two had strayed across my cheek. Both the women I was sitting by enquired if I was ok which only made me want to cry harder but I managed to say that I was fine , just frustrated. At five o’clock PM the plane took off for Nashville, I was supposed to be home at four-thirty. So I leaned back and closed my eyed and tried to go to sleep. When I woke up I was feeling much more calm and ready to handle anything. The plane landed in Nashville at six-thirty. I got off the plane found my gate, called home, and went on search of something to eat. As I sat in the airport eating really bad chicken fingers I realized that I was supposed to call Aunt Lynn when I got home at four-thirty and it was now after six-thirty. So I called Aunt Lynn and said, guess where I am? Needless to say she was very surprised, but I explained the situation to her I even almost thought it was funny. After eating I bought magazine and settled down to wait because my flight did not leave until eight-forty, I had to wait for two hours! But the time did pass and I got on the plane finally headed for Birmingham. The plane landed on time and I rushed out of the plane, luckily I was the first one off. Daddy was going to pick me so I headed to the baggage claim and called him. He met me there, we got my bag, and headed home. I arrived at home at ten o’clock PM, four hours after I should have arrived. I took me ten and half hours to get from Dallas to Birmingham; I could have just about driven it in that time. And so, I survived my first flying trip alone, but only barely.