The Terminal Man

What an evening it's been.

This is the tale of my adventures in Dulles International Airport.

Well, I get off my plane, and phone home. I say hi, all that stuff, and then ask mom where im supposed to go from here. She tells me to go look for the departure boards. When I find them, they're blank.

"Okay" I think to myself, "this isnt a good sign". As i walk around, i finally find a sign that has things listed on it. But no dice. Or my flight, for that matter...

So I set off in search of someone to tell me why my plane is missing. as I ask around, I'm told that there has been a "Nationwide System Failure" which means that EVERY United terminal IN THE WORLD has gone down. At least I got the impression it was the world...

So there I am, wondering what to do. I ask people, nobody has any idea what goes where, or who says what. People are just POURING in to the terminal, and I guess it would be a normal amount on a regular day, a plane every couple of minutes bringing on a fresh wave of people isn't fun. People are EVERYWHERE. Packed like sardines, they were. It was mad! And all the while I'm unusually calm. I kept thinking how crazed I would have been if I had my family here.

So im wandering around, I find a spot to sit and use my laptop, I blog... Then I get up again and start to wander. It's not a Terribly LARGE terminal, but it is very looooong. I went form one end to the other, and still nopony knew what was going on. FINALLY, I find a place to sit down and charge up my stuff (walljacks are VERY hard to come by) and then, not seconds after i sit down, things start happening. Lots of announcements, people running to and fro, so I pack up my stuff and join the throng. As it tirns out, I should have stayed put. It was just some domestic flights were being let go, so the people who were on them were going to them.

So I go to the Help Desk, and they tell me I'm in the wrong letter terminal (D instead of C) so I work my way towards C. When I get there, there is what appears to be a feeding frenzy of pillows and blankets going on near another Help Desk. I snatch a few pillows, and a blanket, and sit down to gather my wits, which were starting to wear thin.

Not seconds after I sit down, however, the computers go back up. I get up, pack my things, and leave the pillows. I take my blue blanket with me. I think I will keep it forever.

ANYhoo... enough of the crazy talk. After i get up, i ask around to try to find out where to go. It's then that I see that my flight has been delayed unil 10am the next morning. Good new everyone!! It's not cancelled! and it will get me there that same day! So I mosey on over to the gate, set up shop (bag as pillow, blanket starring as 'blanket' and laptop serving as my window to the world.)

And here I am, waiting for the sandwich shop across from me to open to get some breakfast... It's 4:01am local time, but im running on adrenaline and pacific time, so I don't think I will get any sleep tonight. Might still be proven wrong though...

That's all for now, thanks for listening to another post...