Back to Work!

It has been a glorious seven days off! Woo hoo!

On Monday, Jen and I met at Washington Reagan Airport (DCA) where my sister, Diane, picked us up and drove us to her home in Leonardtown, MD. We spent the next couple of days eating, visiting, playing cards, eating, relaxing, and did I mention eating? It was a nice visit with Mom, Diane, Mark, Matthew and Natalie (and all the animals EXCEPT Caicos the crazy conure who tried to murder me in warm blood).

On Wednesday, Diane drove us back to Arlington, VA and dropped us off at Greg's parents' home. While there, we went to the mall, spent a bit of money, went out to eat, relaxed and talked. On Thursday morning, Greg's Dad drove us back to (DCA) where we hopped on a US Airways flight to NYC. Jen was happy to be back with her fiance.

We spent the next few days hanging out at Jen's apartment - the weather in NYC was cold and rainy...so I was happy to stay indoors.

I had planned on leaving sometime on Saturday, but both Frontier flights were not looking good - just a few seats and LOTS of non-revs. Instead, I decided to take the JetBlue 9PM flight out of JFK which would get me to DEN at around midnight. After spending the first half of Saturday relaxing, watching tv and doing laundry, this is how the rest of my day progressed:

1. Said goodbye to Jen and James at 6PM and headed to the E Train Subway at Port Authority.
2. Stood on the subway platform until 6:45PM waiting for a train to show up when I heard an announcement that the E train is delayed in both directions.
3. Decided not to risk it, and went back aboveground and caught a taxi to JFK for the set fee of $45 plus $5 for tolls. After the Midtown Tunnel, traffic slowed considerably. The cabbie asked if I had checked the status of my flight, so I texted Jen.
4. Jen called and told me that my JetBlue flight was CANCELLED. So I told the cabbie to turn around and take me back to Manhattan's Penn Station, and I had Jen purchase a train ticket for me to get to Washington DC's Union Station - the first Frontier flight out of DCA on Sunday morning had 22 open seats.
5. When we arrived at Penn Station, the cabbie used my extra bag strap to lift my bag out of the trunk, and broke the latch.
6. The cabbie and I negotiated a fee for the failed round-trip to JFK - $60 plus $10 tolls. OUCH.
7. I go to the self-serve machine and print out my train ticket. Then I notice there are tons of people standing around. I hear an announcement that all New Jersey Transit trains are indefinitely delayed due to a weather-related power-outage. The 7:55PM train to DC arrives and departs on time, as far as I can tell - but my ticket was for the 9PM train.
8. As the 9PM train approaches the station, an announcement is made that ALL TRAINS heading west out of NYC have been "indefinitely delayed" due to the power outage.
9. I head back to Jen's apartment by foot - it's pouring rain and I walk the 6 blocks or so and am soaking wet when I arrive (even though I had an umbrella). I change into my jammies, pull out my laptop from my bag, and see water dripping from it. It is then that I realize that both my suitcase and carry-on are drenched, and that they are not waterproof. With fingers crossed, I turn on my computer...the power turns on, but the screen doesn't. Oh, oh.
10. After feeling intensely sorry for myself, I go to bed. I had a difficult time sleeping and got up very early to take a taxi to LGA to try and get on the Frontier flight that was showing it was oversold by 1 and had 5 standbys (I was #3). I was betting that some of these travelers might have forgotten to set their clocks ahead.
11. I GOT ON! I even had three seats to myself (until a woman decided to invade my space)! Uneventful flight home, drove home in fog/snow flurries the entire way, but arrived home safe and sound.

Whew! I get a feeling that someone or something did not want me coming home on Saturday. I'm not sure why. But no matter what I tried, I failed. But I finally made it. Now I look forward to visiting my computer guru tomorrow to see if he can revive my poor little laptop.