Adventure to the Big Apple

The time had finally come for us to start our trip to New York City. I got out of school, ready to head to the airport and make our way to the Big Apple, both excited and in disbelief that it was actually happening. But little did we know that this adventure would be so grand and eventful that we would soon be on a 33 hour journey to the city.

Before even boarding our plane for LAX, we already knew that our connecting flight had been delayed for about three hours. I thought to myself, okay well that gives us more time to relax and not rush between flights. After landing at 5 AM Wednesday morning, we went to eat breakfast at one of the airport coffee shops and then returned to our terminal to wait out the next few hours. Some of us used the time to catch up on sleep while others (including myself) stayed up to catch up on social media posts and keep an eye on our belongings. Then a few hours later, we were notified that our flight would now leave a further two hours. Not really thinking much of it, we continued on with our tasks and tried to keep our spirits up as our stay at the airport seemed to be getting longer and longer.

A few moments later, something happened that we had never experienced before. I remember sitting down there, getting ready to head to the bathroom with my mom, when I was inclined to listen to the message being announced on the airport speakers. Initially, I didn't really know who the message was for, but I was intent on listening to whatever information was being passed on to us. And then I heard something along the lines of "United Airlines flight to New York that was delayed twice has been cancelled due to weather, please head to customer service for assistance." I did not know what to think.

I can't even begin to tell you how long the line and wait was just to get to a customer service representative. I wish I ran with those people because by the time we got to the front, ALL the flights were gone for the next three days. We tried finding flights to different states that we could commute from, but even those were fully booked and had us arriving on the day of the wedding. I'm not gonna lie, I did tear up a little because all the excitement I had just turned into stress and disappointment. I did not want to miss any of the special moments and occasions that this trip held for us... and at that moment, everything just seemed hopeless.

I remember going back to the gate and being focused on trying to find a flight through other airlines, quickly typing on my computer and opening up so many different tabs. But like I feared, most of the flights to the states around or near NY had also been cancelled or were full. And the flights that did have open seats available hiked up their prices (I'm not even kidding, I swear I saw one that costed thousands of dollars. THOUSANDS). At this point, the choice we had gone with was a flight to Cleveland Friday morning. And a flight to New York from there on Saturday morning.

But then a light of hope came our way as I got a call from my cousin. I was excited and thankful to hear that they were able to find a flight for us to Boston that would arrive at 12 AM Thursday and a bus ride to New York at 7 AM that same day. We were all so relieved that we wouldn't have to trade a number of days in New York for a stay at the airport. No matter what came our way, we were determined to do whatever it takes to get to NY as soon as possible make the most of our trip.

Another flight, another wait at the airport, and a long bus ride later, we found ourselves in the heart of the Big Apple. Finally. It took longer than we expected, but it only gave us more stories and memories to share of how we began our spring trip to New York City. And most importantly, we got there safe, excited, and on time for the wedding...

Long story short, our travel to New York consisted of a: 6 hour flight to LAX, 11 hour wait at LAX, 6 hour flight to BOS, 7 hour wait at BOS, 4 hour bus ride to NYC, lots of snacks, and a whole lot of positive thinking.

Stay tuned to read about and see more of the rest of our trip! (don't worry, the rest of my stories are definitely more fun and high spirited than this one)

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