The saying goes “Be careful what you wish for.” Boy is that saying right! After watching films like The Notebook and You’ve Got Mail, I frequently find myself wishing that my life would play out just like the movies. Well on August 9, I got just that. As I pulled into LAX at 10 a.m., all I could think about was my 11:50 flight and the fact that in 23 hours time I would be in Mumbai, India – one of my favorite cities on the planet! Upon reaching our gate, I learned that the flight was delayed, but not by much…just a half hour. So I spent that time wandering through the bookstore and picked up a copy of “The Help” which I decided I would read on the flight. As I walked back to the gate, a red sign obnoxiously began flashing on the board, and I figured there was some bad news in store. The flight had been delayed another hour and wouldn’t take off until 1:30. So mom and I decided to move our little airport journey into the member’s lounge to wait out the rest of the time.
As we walked through the glass sliding doors into the lounge, the atmosphere completely changed. Juxtaposed against the hustle and bustle of the airport outside, the lounge had a quiet, relaxed atmosphere and was equipped with fun cappuccino and espresso machines. That, combined with free WiFi and comfy arm chairs, made me feel quite at home (I would come to regret this later!) Just as mom and I began to settle down with our snacks and drinks, we jumped up and realized that a delay from LAX would mean that we would miss our flight out of JFK for Frankfurt, Germany. (We were flying LAX to NY to Germany to India) So I ran full speed to the gate only to find that the flight had been further delayed to 2:30. There was no way I was reaching NY, let alone India, at this rate. Determined to get out of LAX asap, I marched over to the United Airlines customer service desk and began waiting in line behind 45 very unhappy campers. There were only 3 customer service representatives there to help. You can imagine how fast this line moved. Fast forward 45 minutes later and I had finally been rerouted to India on a plane from LAX to London to Mumbai. The catch? I had a 9 hour layover in London and my flight from LA wouldn’t take off until 5:55 p.m. The current time? 2:02 p.m.
I had so much time to kill that I decided to head back to the lounge. As I walked through those glass doors once again, I scrambled to find my boarding pass stashed somewhere in my purse. Fortunately the hostess at the front recognized me and waved me through with a smile. Over the next 4 hours I left the lounge multiple times (anyone who knows me well knows I can’t sit still for very long) and eventually the staff began to recognize my mom and me. Even the lady at the front, who is just supposed to greet travelers, couldn’t resist asking where I was off to. I think that was her polite way of asking what in the world I was up to. And then a few minutes later we got another announcement: Flight 934 to London has been delayed and is now departing at 6:30. My mom and I just looked at each other, each of us sporting faces that said “You have to be kidding me!” And that’s when it sunk in. My mom couldn’t have said it any better. “This is just like The Terminal!”
Granted, The Terminal isn’t exactly the movie I was hoping my life would mirror, but a wish is a wish and there is no changing that! Hahaha. So lessons learned today: make more specific wishes, don’t fly United Airlines, and orange spice white tea is not very delicious (did I mention I tried every flavor of tea in the lounge while we waited?)