Here's how it happened... Part 2

The Story of our Engagement – Part 2

We board our 4:30pm plane on time and head off for Dallas, not knowing of what travel situations we would find ourselves in once we landed. Our plan was once we got to the Dallas airport we would try and catch a flight on standby to New Orleans that night. The flight was uneventful and boring so I found myself daydreaming about the moment Jason would ask me to marry him. I had it all planned out in my head. We would be walking down the Mississippi River and he would get down on one knee and pull out the ring. I also practiced in my head my reaction and what I would say. Yep I had it all planned out.

Once we landed and got to the airport we saw the last flight leaving for New Orleans at 9:45. We had 15 minutes so we ran to the gate and tried to get on standby but they already had too many people and wouldn’t take us. By now the airport is pretty much closing down and there aren’t too many employees around. We tried to talk to a few different people at the ticket counter about our situation but they could care less and didn’t offer any advice. Stress and frustration were settling in and we were getting crankier by the moment. At least they could put us up for the night! After all they had put us through. Jason is really getting cranky because he was starving and I’m just irritated that no one at the airport was trying to help us.

We finally track down a manager and he explained to us that because of all the cancellations there at the airport all the hotels in the area were also booked up. Jason and I look at each other and I say “No, way I’m not staying the night here at the airport.” The manager said “hold on”… and luckily he was able to find a place in Arlington, about 20 minutes from the airport. Phew! Plus he was able to have a shuttle come pick us up!

Feeling a little more optimistic we wait outside. We wait and wait and wait… about an hour goes by and no shuttle. During this time Jason is going on and on about how he’s hungry, how he’s upset about the traveling, how he’s NEVER going to go to New Orleans during Jazz Fest again. I’m trying my best to be supportive and thinking that we are going to be engaged soon I’m trying to be on my best behavior but I eventually snapped. I turned towards him and said sternly “I can’t stand the complaining, do not talk to me until we get to our room.”

We stood there for about 45 seconds and he turned to me and said “Well I’m bored now, can I talk to you again?” We both started laughing and I apologized for yelling, but he understood he was being a pain in the ass. (And seriously that was the only time there was ever a moment like that throughout our whole trip.)

Obviously the shuttle wasn’t coming get us so we called a cab and drove out to our hotel. By this time it’s almost midnight and we ask our cab driver about places to go eat but no such luck because all the restaurants are closed. We do see a Valero Gas Station Quickie Mart near our hotel. It doesn’t get much better than walking a mile down the street in the middle of the night for gas station food in Arlington.

Jason got a sandwich, I got some generic chips (they didn’t even have Doritos!) and some sodas. We walk back to the hotel, eat and try and sleep for a little bit. Our scheduled flight to Jackson, MI was at 10:30am but we knew there were earlier flights to New Orleans that we wanted to try and get on so we wanted to get to the airport first thing in the morning.

We took the shuttle back to the airport at 7am and faced the horror of going through security again. I wasn’t sure if we were pulled over in SFO randomly or because of our names, etc. But we were prepared to have the same problem we had the day before. Sure enough we are pulled aside for the extra security check! We then found why we kept being pulled aside. It was because we had made last minute changes to our flight and when you do that, no matter what the circumstances are (such as the airline canceling our flight!) they will pull you aside for an extra security check. The TSA employees at Dallas are much more professional and stay with us and our luggage the whole time. I of course am watching Jason closely to see how he acts going through security with his bags. He goes ahead of me through the “puffer” machine and heads over to have his bag checked. I’m next, I walk into the machine (a professional by now) and as I’m being “puffed” I can see through the glass and I can see Jason talking to the TSA girl and motioning his hands over his bag. “Hmm”… I think, I’m pretty sure he’s telling her that he has a ring in there for me and for her not to blow it like the other TSA lady.

As I leave the “puffer” I hear the TSA girl say “Where is she?” as she turns around and which then she sees me and then turns back to Jason. Well now I’m 94% sure that it is a ring and I’m so excited! We finish getting checked out and once again we are clear to fly! No explosives on us or our luggage, imagine that.

We go up to the first ticket counter we see and ask about the 9:30 flight to New Orleans. We carefully explain our situation about how we are desperately trying to get to New Orleans. The lady at the counter was very sweet and put us on “High Priority” Standby. The tricky thing though was that our scheduled flight to Jackson was on the OTHER side of the airport, so if we didn’t make the New Orleans flight we’d have to book it back to the Jackson gate.

We thought for sure we’ll make it, we’ve come this far we have to have a little luck coming our way. Once we got to the New Orleans gate we see that we are 10 and 11 on the standby list. Very depressing. We wait as they board all the passengers and listen for the standby calls. The first 3 people on standby are called but never come up to the counter. We are now 7 and 8 on the list. They call more standbys and board them. Then they call Jason but not me. He went up to the counter and they told him they had a seat for him but not for me, could we split up? He told them, no, never. I go up there to see what was going on and the two airline employees are working furiously at the computer trying to get us both on the plane. They said there was an extra seat but the computer was telling them differently and they couldn’t print out the right ticket. The plane was waiting to leave so they just handed me the ticket they had and sent us into the plane. (I later find out that the boarding pass they handed me was under someone else’s name, nice security eh?)

YES! We made it! We had the last two seats in the very last row of the plane but I could care less, I was ready to sit on the flight attendant’s lap to get to New Orleans. We were so thrilled and excited and landed about an hour later.

To be continued…