Shannon Vafiadou blog #5
3/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
March 23, 2010
You know that song, "this is the song that never ends. Yes it goes on and on my friends." Well that song pretty much sums up our trip to Arkansas.
After a disappointing meet most of us were ready to get back to Pittsburgh, but the travel gods had other plans in mind. (Mind you, our trip to Arkansas was pretty uneventful, uncharacteristic for Pitt Gymnastics so the trip back had to be a doozie and let me tell you, it was.)
We arrived at the airport about an hour and a half prior to our planned boarding time. Not an uncommon occurrence. Upon arrival the nice people at Arkansas Regional Airport told us that our flight to Chicago (we had a connection) was delayed three hours, possibly more. When hearing this news most of us were slightly upset since we could have slept a few more hours. But alas, we went through security and sat at one of the six gates in the airport.
As the time went by we amused ourselves with homework, story telling, and some of us (me) attempted to nap. Others went to wander around the one store and one food place located in the airport. We even felt like little celebrities when a fellow flyer was taking pictures of us.
After about four hours we finally boarded this teeny tiny plane. No sooner did we get on, than they were kicking people off the flight due to weight requirements. It was another hour of fussing and stewardesses running up and down the aisle before we actually took off from Arkansas (one of the flattest places I have ever been).
Our flight to O'Hare was delayed due to harsh winds in the "Windy City" - ironic huh? Our second flight from Chicago to Pittsburgh was long gone, not so good for us or for all the others chilling in O'Hare due to flights cancelled to the East Coast. Unfortunately we also had to stand on the runway in the rain waiting for our "carry on" bags. Then the rescheduling began.
We all gathered and Mike and Terry took the reins to see what could be done. The next flights to Pittsburgh were all cancelled and all the flights for the next day were already booked and full. What to do?
Terry worked some magic and we ended up in a nice hotel outside the airport. The travel plans changed about 10 times but ultimately we wouldn't have been able to get out of Chicago until Wednesday (this all happened on a Saturday). Seeing that we are all college students, missing three days of class would have been quite detrimental. Eventually it was decided we needed to bus back to Pittsburgh. So a bus had to drive from Pittsburgh out to Chicago and drive back again. This is about an eight-to-nine hour trip on a bus. The earliest a bus could leave wasn't until Sunday morning, making their arrival Sunday afternoon. And that is what happened. The bus made it to us around 3:00 p.m.
Since no one has prepared for an eight-hour ride we made the necessary stop at K-Mart to purchase snacks, movies and pillows. (Essentials for long long rides.)
On the trip we watched a record four full movies with an hour and a half of silence after. We made it back to Pitt around 2:30 a.m. with classes only a few hours away. Hopefully our trip to MSU is much less eventful!!!
Hail to Pitt!
Vaf