The Flight to Paris

We woke up around 3:45 this morning in Berkeley and left Bruce and John’s house around 4:30 for the airport. We got to the airport a little after 5 am and went to print my boarding pass and find my gate. It was a little confusing at first, but sooner or later we found my gate and waited around for a bit. Around 6 o’clock we figured it was a good idea for me to go through security, which meant I had to say good-bye to my parents and Casey. It was incredibly surreal, so I found myself in a bit of a daze, and it was very hard to say good-bye to all three of them. Quite overwhelming. Luckily I kept myself together as much as possible by focusing on getting through security and finding my gate. Security did not take as long as I was expecting, so then I played the waiting game. We boarded the plan around 6:50, because my plane was supposed to take off at 7:48. My one main fear of this whole trip was that my flight was going to be delayed, because I only had a two-hour layover in Houston. So naturally, my fear came true. We were sitting on the plane, waiting for take-off and the pilot even said that we would probably get to Houston a little earlier than expected, which made me super stoked. And THEN the pilot came over the loud speaker and said “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m afraid we have some very bad news. A major, high voltage circuit blew, so I’m afraid this plane isn’t going anywhere”. So my heart sunk and I couldn’t believe it was actually happening to me. We had to get off the plane and go back into the terminal where we were to await our fate. Luckily I befriended this lovely little Louisiana woman, who let me borrow her phone and follow her around like a little, lost puppy. It was only a short wait when the airline people said that they had already found another aircraft for us to go on. So we promptly switched to another terminal and awaited the next plane which was to depart SFO at 9:15. I was glad that they found a replacement so quickly; however, the short, 2-hour layover in Houston was looming in the back of my mind and I was dead-set on the thought that I was going to miss my flight and be stuck in Houston for the rest of my life. It took us FOREVER to finally depart, I don’t think we left until after 9:30. I befriended this wonderful older woman sitting next to me who was doing a crossword puzzle (perfect person to sit next to on a flight). The pilot announced over the loud-speaker that our flight would be getting into Houston around 3:40. My flight for Paris was intending on leaving at 3:30….wonderful. So obviously, I became my usual stress case in situations like these, and didn’t know what I was going to do. Then I realized that I was already on the plane, and there was nothing I could do about it, so I decided to relax and keep positive thoughts. I kept repeating in my mind that “I wasn’t going to miss my flight and everything was going to be fine”. And what do you know?! We ended up getting to Houston at 3:17, and the departure gate was right next to my arrival gate. THANK GOD. So the 20 of us that were going to Paris ran off the plane and right onto the other. So basically, my layover was about 3 minutes. When I sat down in my seat I just felt this HUGE weight being lifted off my shoulders and I could finally relax. I befriended this super nice guy next to me named Jimmy, who apparently is going to Paris for the weekend because his son is a pilot (um, awesome?). I can’t believe it all turned out okay! Thank goodness for positive thinking, because it is SO powerful! J