Muffins with Mom – Planes, Trains, and Automobiles – Travel Plans Gone Haywire

“Ma, wake up, our flight was changed to 6:30am,” my son shouted into my dark bedroom. My hand lazily reached for the cell phone on my nightstand. A squeeze of the button on the side of the phone and a blinding light revelated that it was 3:35am. Meditation did not make it onto my morning routine that day.

My son roughly secured our luggage in the trunk of the car, and I hopped in the driver’s seat. Porch lights were still on, but the moon was beginning to fade away. My son’s stayed awake most of the night in their man cave. Their rationale was to have fun, then sleep on the plane. Isn’t there a saying about the best laid plans?

We arrived at the airport with just enough time to park in the most expensive long-term parking garage. It would have cost us precious minutes to drive to the lot for which I had a coupon. So, we settled on the $26/day lot, pulled into a space, and dashed to the nearest kiosk to retrieve our boarding pass. And that was our first roadblock.

Our boarding passes would not print. My sons and I were directed to a line where we stood with others who were having problems. The attendant asked to see confirmation of our flight. My son opened an email on his phone. The attendant leaned in to read the details, and said, “This flight has been cancelled.”

Little did I know that my sons and I were entering an experience like the classis 1980’s movie, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. We moved aside so the next person waiting anxiously in line could have their problem solved. We sat down…for the next two hours trying to find a flight to our destination. It was Friday morning and we needed to be at a wedding the next day.

One son positioned himself on a row of seats and went to sleep, sitting up, with his head back and mouth open. The other son was on the phone with the credit card company trying to determine what happened. We had a round-trip ticket but  decided to purchase a one-way ticket on the first flight and airline we could get.

Finally, we found a flight leaving in four hours. The catch was that we would have a five-hour layover, then fly one hour, rent a car, and drive three hours to our final destination. We got our car out of long-term parking, went home to rest, and wrap our mind around the next phase of our adventure.

Our round-trip consisted of three airports, two rental cars, and very nice hotel accommodations. This was our version of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, but it was worth it to attend a beautiful wedding.

The beautiful bride and groom

Have you ever had travel plans go haywire?