Virginia

Last week, I spend 4 days in Virginia.  Not the DC area of Virginia, but middle of no where, two hours to any airport, middle of no where.  The hotel/resort I stay at was very nice.  Getting to the hotel and flying into the area, not so much fun. 


Since, I travel a good amount, I am used to problems along the way.  Last week, I left on a Tuesday.  Whenever I woke up Tuesday it was raining.  Not a whole lot but it was still raining.  I grabbed my suitcase and drove the 30 minutes from my house to the airport.  At about the halfway point to the airport the rain started coming down really hard and I started to notice lightning.  I don’t mind flying when it is raining.  Rain doesn’t normally delay flights.  Lightning on the other hand delays flights.  I was a little worried because my connection was only 40 minutes.  Yikes!  But, at the airport my flight was showing on time.  I never believe this, mainly because sometimes they don’t show a delay until it is already past delayed.  Sitting in the airport, the flight next to me got canceled.  Great, I was thinking, we are next.  The gate agent told everyone the plane had be struck by lightning not once but twice while landing and now could not be used.  Awesome!  At that point I started my please don’t be delayed please don’t be canceled speech.  I was flying into an airport that has two flights a day from Chicago, and the last one arrives at midnight.  (plus two hour drive=no fun).  My flight ended up delayed, of course!!! While in the air all I could think about is how I am wet, because of the downpour in Arkansas and the three inches of water in the parking lot, and how I am going to miss my connection and be stuck in Chicago. 


If you ever fly then you know that they usually come on closer to your arrival city and tell you your connecting gate information.  Our arrival gate was G18 and my departing gate was G17.  All I could think was this is a miracle.  I literally got off my flight and walked straight into the boarding line of my next flight.  Of course, at this point, all I could think about was my luggage is not going to make this flight.  The connection is too tight.  Even though the planes were next to each other, I just knew.  So, when I landed in Charlottesville, Virginia I was was not surprised one bit to not see my luggage.  The only problem was now I have to drive to this hotel two hours away with no clothes or anything.  This was the worst trip for the airline to have delayed my bag.  The hotel I was staying at has a dress code for dinner.  Ladies in dresses or suit, and men must wear ties and jackets.  Great.  I am in jeans and tennis shoes.  When I got to the hotel I spoke with American Airlines about my lost bag, which at this point they didn’t know where it was at in Chicago.  How do you not know?  Well, I explained my situation to the nice lady and she allotted me some money to go make a few purchases.  Great new stuff.  The only problem I had with this, was that I was at least an hour from any store, Wal-mart, Target, department stores…NOTHING.  So I went to the shops in the resort, which scared me a little because I am a picky shopper.  But, they had some actually really cute clothes.  I was able to get a few items to help me survive until my bag arrive the next day.


The hotel was beautiful and the grounds of the resort were wonderful.  They had horseback riding and fishing and apparently even have a ski slope.  Michael will be going to this conference with me next year.  It snowed there the last night and I woke up to a little blanket of snow, it was more like a sheet than a blanket, but it was still nice.  I have to thank American Airlines for always taking good care of me and ensuring I have something to wear.  This is why I only fly American and no other airline.  We have a wonderful relationship!