Show Me the Way to Go Home

When I woke up on Thursday morning to fly home from Washington DC, I was excited actually.  I was tired out from all of the walking and learning and singing and the many other things I had done in my few days in the DC area.  It just felt like it was time to go home.

I woke up plenty early to catch my flight, took a quick shower, packed the last few items, and checked out of my hotel room.  The hotel where I stayed has a Delta e-check-in computer at the front desk, so I decided to check in and save a step at the airport.  But for some strange reason, it wouldn't let me check in.

When I got to the airport, I decided to try to save time again by checking in at the self-check-in kiosk.  I swiped my SkyMiles card and the stupid kiosk told me that it couldn't find any flights for me.  What the??

I went to the nice lady at the check-in counter and gave her my SkyMiles card.  She swiped it, and SHE couldn't check me in.  WHAT THE??

It took her about 2 minutes of trying to figure things out before she looked at the travel date on my itinerary.  It wasn't until Thursday, 6 DECEMBER.  WHAT THE????

That's when I realized that I had probably clicked the wrong thing in the online booking tool when I originally made my reservations.  I had clicked one month too low in the drop-down list box and then had simply selected the first Thursday of the month for my return flight.  I wasn't scheduled to fly home for almost a month!  BIG oops!

The extremely nice lady at the check-in counter then went to work to find a way for me to get home.  The next flight to Atlanta was full, but the flight after that would still get me home before 4:00 that afternoon.  I would have to HURRY back from the airport to teach my class at UVSC that evening, but I would still make it.  The lady was even nice enough to save me some money.  She could switch my ticket directly to the flight I wanted to be on for a change fee of over $350, since there were no "cheap" seats left on that flight.  Instead, she switched me to a later flight that still had cheap seats for a change fee of $75 and then she switched me to the earlier flight for a change fee of $50 since I had a same-day confirmed flight.  My stupidity had cost my company $125, but that's a heckuvalot cheaper than staying in hotels and paying for meals for A MONTH.

During my layover in Atlanta, they changed the gate (and concourse, might I add) of my departing flight, but I made it back to Salt Lake, and the plane even landed early!

I picked up my baggage (some of the FIRST off the plane!) and ran right out and got on a bus to the FIRST stop in long-term parking.  I breezed out of the parking lot and headed south to Utah Valley...

...

...not knowing that there was a BYU football game starting in a couple of hours at Lavell Edwards Stadium.

I ended up being a half hour late for my class because of that stoopid traffic.  I was able to call someone in the UVSC math lab who said they would tell my class that I was on my way.  Apparently, they never did, because when I showed up, there were only three students left.  Thanks a lot, Math Lab Guy.

After class, I was finally able to go HOME.  I was VERY thankful just to be home again.