What a long strange trip it's been...
Oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm home in LA. First of all, the visit to the east coast felt like it was a million months long. Was it really less than 3 weeks? Wow...time flies, huh? Well, first of all, there was the Wallingford PL event, then a reunion, and a Borders event, then a trip to NYC and Jersey, then some more meetings and a podcast and a holiday and visiting with friends from Boston and family from Connecticut and I did take a few great classes at the New Haven Ballet with Noble Barker.
And then there was the trip home. We were supposed to leave Hartford at 6:30 and get into LA at 9:30. Delay #1: 7:50 departure. Delay #2: 10:20 departure. Delay #3: 11:20 departure. Final departure: midnight. Arrival in LA: 2:22AM. Arrival in my bed: 3:45AM.
But there was a chance we wouldn't have even arrived in LA were it not for a big State Trooper at the airport in Hartford. Apparently, the airline told the TSA security people they could leave and go home and shut down security at 9:30 even though they KNEW the flight wouldn't leave until almost midnight. So we (and a bunch of others) showed up - post 9:30 - and found NO ONE there to screen us. A cop directed us to the airline (who shall remain nameless because they were completely LAME) headquarters and we found a bunch of people up in arms because they were being told they couldn't board a plane that HADN'T EVEN ARRIVED YET.
What??????
One trooper showed up and basically backed the airline because what did he know? We thought all was lost. One woman with a box of pizza was near hysteria.
But then a big state trooper whose name I didn't get (but not because he was lame) showed up and said, "Wait a minute. This doesn't make sense. We'll get you on the plane." So he called TSA and they argued for a bit but he was BIG, BIGGER than them, and he made them work something out.
We had to be escorted to the security table and back and we weren't allowed to touch anyone after we were screened but I have to say, this was the best screening experience I have been through. All the TSA personnel were super-nice and they actually smiled and cracked jokes and we were allowed to bring our suitcases on board instead of checking them, which ultimately helped us for time back in LA.
The airline personnel on the plane were also super-amazing and kind and the flight was awesomely smooth. If only we hadn't arrived so effin' late, it would have been an okay experience.
