Changing my name did not change my luck with air travel.

I've said it before and will probably say it one zillion more times before I die: I really really don't like air travel.

I have lots of wretched travel and flying stories that have made me skittish when it comes to flying. It's really not a problem with airplanes so much as airports. And all that entails.

This past weekend, Brad, Amiee, and I joined up with my parents in Florida for the wedding of a good friend of mine. After the wedding, we headed over to Orlando for a couple days at Harry Potter World (pictures of the wedding and HP World to come). Yesterday (Monday/Labor Day), we were to leave the park at 2:00 so we'd have plenty of time before our flight at 4:15. Check. Mission accomplished. We were through security and at the gate with gobs of time to spare (and guess who didn't have a book with her...that's right. Me.). As we get close to our departure time, we see that we've been delayed. That's fine. Happens a lot.

We get closer to our new departure time, and we find that we've been delayed again. They start announcing all of the connecting flights that will be missed in Atlanta, due to the new time. Those folks head over to work on new arrangements. We're still good. Just in case, though, Brad trots up to the counter and confirms. Yep. The Memphis flight is still on.

We get closer to our newest departure time, and we realize that things are about to become difficult for us. This time, the Memphis connection travelers have to go check with customer service about alternate plans. Drat.

Amiee and I sit with the stuff while Brad goes to handle the details. He comes back with the comforting assurance that we a) will definitely not arrive in Memphis at our original time of 7:15 b) we no longer have definite and secure spots on any flight, and c) they're hopeful that the three of us can fly standby on the 11:00 pm flight to Memphis.

Awesome.

We arrive in Atlanta and eat. What else to do when in need of comfort? Then, we wait. Just when we're grumpy enough, our departure time gets pushed back until 12:15 am, rather than 11:00 pm. I start making phone calls to coworkers to make sure things are in place for work in the morning (sidenote: my boss didn't read her emails from me or her text messages until 8:20 this morning. Yikes! Everything worked out in the end, but it was a little Three Stooges how everything played out).

We waited very tiredly and boredly for many hours but did eventually get on the plane. When we walked out of the airport in Memphis, we realized that the temperature had dropped DRASTICALLY, and we nearly froze to death. Then we drove back to Jackson. I think I turned my light off at 2:45.

I was not the most on-top-of-life that I've ever been while at work today. Poor students...