Spoke Too Soon

Photo courtesy of lifeslittlemysteries.com

Merrily headed off the airport late this afternoon, only to discover when I got there that planes are five (5) hours (FIVE! yikes! who wants to sit an airport for an extra 5 hours? not me, if I can help it) delayed in Newark right now.  My flight leaving Toronto was going to be a couple of hours late, if it takes off at all, and I would almost certainly miss my 10 p.m. connection to Lisbon.  Apparently, they are having very bad weather on the Eastern Seaboard this afternoon, with thunderstorms grounding planes in New York City and Philadelphia as well as Newark.  According to the very nice lady at the Continental counter with whom I dealt, conditions are "code red" right now and "ground stop" in NYC and Philly, which means no planes landing or taking off, and they expect Newark is about to do the same.

I feel bad for the woman at the counter next to me, she was trying to get to a wedding in New Jersey tomorrow morning, she might be out of luck.  I was flying into Portugal a day early, so it's not a big deal for me to be delayed, especially since it means sleeping in my own bed with four purring felines around me (love that!) rather than uncomfortably perched on airport seating that isn't designed for any kind of long term comfort.

Long story short, my flights have been switched so I fly out midday tomorrow instead and will arrive in Lisbon at 6 a.m. on Sunday morning.  I'm currently booked on two different flights to Lisbon tomorrow night at the moment, all I have to do is get to Newark first.  Hopefully I can get on the 6 p.m. Lisbon flight with United but if there are any problems there, I am also booked onto the 8:20 flight that Continental is sending.  So that should be okay.  Everyone attending the workshop is gathering for the first time at 6 p.m. on Sunday, so I will arrive in plenty of time to rest and clean up and get my bearings before the fun begins.

On the plus side, I am packed and ready to go, my apartment is tidy, no chores to do so I can just relax tonight and go to bed early.  Which is just as well, since I am totally exhausted after several nights of not enough sleep and too much to do.  So I should be rested up by the time our plane goes wings up tomorrow. 

Keep your fingers crossed for me!