Standby certainly left me standing by…

So I have been keeping up with writing, kinda, but I haven't had internet access so I'm posting 2 in a row. Hope they aren't too long.

1-24-2010 around 2 pm CST?

When I decided to go to Florence, I knew the whole adventure would be quite pricey once said and done. SO when I was offered a standby ticket by my favorite “little” in my sorority, Annalise, I gladly accepted. The ticket, commonly referred to as a Buddy Pass, was less than half the price of a regular roundtrip ticket to Rome. SCORE! I knew that buying this ticket mean I may or may not make a flight, but for the price it was worth it. I scheduled to depart Atlanta 2 days early in case I missed a flight or they were all full, hoping I would make it to Rome by the 25th, which is check in day. However, after checking open seats I changed my flight to the 24th, the day I would leave if I had purchased a real ticket. Preparing to leave, I checked flights and all was clear—about 5 to 10 seats open on every flight to Altanta and Atlanta to Rome was wide open. So last night as I finally zip my bags around 3 am, I get in bed thinking I wo’t be able to sleep. That was wrong. I passed out, got up at 6 ready to leave by 7:15. ROME HERE I COME…so I thought. I was registered for standby on an 11:30 flight to Atlanta, but multiple Delta flights leave Memphis for ATL every day so I arrived at the airport early just in case I could make an earlier flight. Thinking I was golden, I checked in and arrived at gate B11 by 8:10 am. The 8:40 flight was full. No big deal. I had my name added to the 10:15 flight and kept my name on the 11:30 flight. WELL, here’s the catch. Delta cancelled/delayed a flight at 7:35 am due to mechanical issues, so all the people on that flight took all available seats on the later flights. At this point, the 7:35 flight was supposed to be rescheduled to leave at 10:30. I go to the gate. No plane. No staff at the gate. No crew. It’s 10:31—way to go Delta. Same thing at 11:10, 11:40 and finally at 12:30 a Delta gate lady says she has been told a plane is on the way. Skeptical, we all sit and wait. There are 26 of us now waiting to catch a plane to Atlanta without boarding passes. FINALLY at 1:25 a plane arrives. We are all cleared to board, and quickly take our seats excited to finally be leaving Memphis. Funny thing is, we didn’t get to leave. Apparently, Atlanta is having TERRIBLE weather and has delayed all flights. My mind starts racing—this could be good, maybe my flight to Rome will be delayed and I will be able to get out of Memphis in time to still catch my 3:45 pm EST flight overseas. HA. We pull away from the gate with the information that we will be departing at 2:30 pm. After a couple of rounds around the runway, we get word that we are delayed another hour and 6 minutes. Okay, I can handle this. No big deal. 1 hour later, we are delayed another 45 minutes. Eventually, we are informed that we have exceeded our time of 2.5 hours waiting on the runway and we must return to the gate. Awesome! I’m supposed to be sleeping over the Atlantic right now and I can’t even get out of Memphis. As my roommate Lauren said, “This would happen to you.” As I am typing we are returning to the gate, and I am unsure where I will end up tonight. I’d ideally like to make it to Atlanta where I can at least get an international flight, but I may be back in my cozy bed at home. Who knows….? All I know is that I am kicking myself in the butt for rescheduling my flight from Friday to today (Sunday). And I’m kicking myself in the butt for trying to fly standby out of Memphis instead of just flying with a ticket to Atlanta or even driving. This si seriously not cool, but it happens. What can I do? If I stress, it’ll only make it worse. I’ve got a whole semester ahead of me. I’ll get there. The only downside is that I will have to fly through Paris or Amsterdam, and if I get stuck there I’ll be clueless. I’ve only just prepared for Italian culture as of yet. Eek. My adventure is truly an adventure….