On the road...FINALLY!

I've decided to wait until now to keep everyone abreast of my travel dilemma in getting to Birmingham today in time for my first choir rehearsal at the Cathedral. Why? Mainly because I'm ridiculously superstitious, and clearly my last post on the subject ("As long as the airport isn't still closed, I'm golden") jinxed the whole thing.

After cancelled concerts, closures of airports, MBTA and roads, and all manner of hurricane precaution, US Airways kindly rerouted me through Bradley Airport in Hartford, which is a convenient 45 minute drive from my parents' home. Awesome. Until late Monday evening (like almost midnight) when I received an automated phone call notifying me that my new sweet-chariot-coming-for-to-carry-me-home-in-the-literal-and-not-metaphorical-sense was cancelled again. Upon talking to the extremely gracious and helpful US Airways agent (no sarcasm intended, honest!), the hopes of making it to Birmingham in time for this crucial first rehearsal were quickly vanishing. What will these poor people think of me? Slacker, surely. My only hope at this point: drive to Philly and fly out of there. And with both the Garden State Parkway and the NJ Turnpike shut down, the prospect of actually making this happen was quite grim. Quite grim indeed.

Yet, while I was on the phone with the agent, she disclosed that other carriers were not canceling flights - this was a mystery to me but whatever - and that if I could find a way home on another carrier, I'd receive a refund for my ticket. Thanksbye.

90 seconds of iPhone app-ing later, I booked a Delta flight from Hartford to Detroit to Birmingham. It costed a little more than my original ticket, but at this point I just wanted to be assured of getting home. Enough is enough.

My parents very sweetly woke up with me this morning at 4:00 am and drove me to Bradley. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't reminiscent of leaving for college. One more "So long!" to the parentals - who have literally been there for me every step of the way - before taking off to begin a new chapter in the life of yours truly. I'll miss them dearly, but I'm comforted by the fact that even though I am moving farther away, I may actually get to see them more often because my schedule will hopefully not be as insane as it was in the city! Ironicallike.

I haven't been to this airport in a very long time. It seems that nothing has changed, and it's amazing how life just comes full-circle at times. In the gift shop/newsstand, I experienced another blast from the past: Hartford Whalers team wear, brand new, by a company specializing in vintage sportswear. My childhood friend and groomsman John Geigle got me into hockey in high school, and we were die-hard Whalers fans. Then in '97 Peter Karmanos (Whalers owner and all-around party pooper) moved the team to North Carolina, where in their first year there became Stanley Cup finalists. That was a rough time for the Nutmeg State. In any event, it seems that someone did not get the memo. ;-)