DC Trip Part 1: A Chair in the Sky

Several months back, Brian submitted an abstract/application to speak at a conference about his favorite technology, Groovy and Grails. The conference was for SpringSource, the company that develops the technology, and it was to be held in Washington DC in October. Brian's company said that if he got accepted, they would pay for him to go and speak. Long story short, Brian got accepted, and we decided that it would be fun if I tagged along. We bought tickets, arranged for lodging, and reserved a rental car. But since our trip would start a few days early due to cheaper flights, Brian wasn't sure how reimbursements would work; what we needed to pay for, what the company would pay for. Long story short, Brian came home one day and said that the company was going to pay for everything--my trip expenses as well as Brian's! We were stoked! I've never been schmoozed like this before, and it was nice. They wanted to thank us for Brian's hard work as well as try to keep us with the company. And since Brian worked so many nights and weekends in the weeks leading up to their trip, this move on their part kept me from getting too upset about the extra hours I didn't have Brian.

Finally, the time for our trip came, and we packed and headed for the airport, passing off our newly potty-trained three-year-old into the capable hands our sisters (Chelsea had him for the first half and then passed him off to Lea for the last half), we boarded our first leg of the flight and flew to Las Vegas for our two hour layover.

As soon as we landed in Vegas and turned on our phones, I got a text from Southwest saying that our plane that was originally set to take off just after 5 wouldn't be leaving until 6:40. We were disappointed, especially since with our original 5 p.m. take off time, we would be landing in Baltimore about midnight. The new delay would put us in Baltimore even later. However, making the most of things, we went to find a place to eat dinner. We ate at Chilis, which was good, but didn't sit well with me. Meanwhile, we kept getting texts from Southwest with new delay times. 

Long story short, we finally loaded our plane just before 8:30 p.m. And as we were about to push off, it started raining, lightning and thundering, and hailing. So, they stopped pushing off, and the Captain told us that it wasn't safe for his crew outside. So we waited. And the captain would periodically give us an update. The hail stopped, but they needed to have someone come and inspect the plane, making sure it was safe for our flight and didn't have any hail damage. 

Thankfully, we were on a full flight with people headed to Baltimore--and the Orioles were playing. With every announcement from the captain, someone would shout out, "It's okay, there's two more outs." Even though it was just  a few people shouting back and forth about the game, I felt this special bond with these Baltimore folks. Their good humor saved all of us. When we finally pulled away from the gate and lifted off, the whole plane erupted in cheers and clapping. I'm not sure what time it was by then, but I'm pretty sure we had been waiting for about an hour. 

We experienced some turbulence during the first stretch, and the combination of being pregnant, having an upset stomach due to dinner, being up late, and being in the air proved to be a little much. I made sure I had my barf bag ready and started working to keep my dinner down. Thankfully, I did, and I was able to sleep for most of the way. 

We finally landed in Baltimore around 5 or 5:30 a.m. local time--which was about 3-3:30 a.m. our time. I made it off the plane and started heading down the tunnel to the airport lobby/gates when that awful sensation hit. I stopped and assessed my options:  a large garbage can about 50 feet away or a bathroom around 200 feet away. I knew I wasn't going to make it to the restroom, so I headed to the trash can. And in front of all those people, I threw up in the trash can over and over. I was embarrassed, but SO glad I didn't do it on the plane. And I was also bummed since that was the first time this pregnancy that I threw up, and I have NEVER thrown up as a result of a plane ride before. 

Despite everything, I feel like we handled everything really well, thanks to the recent comments about "First World Problems" and Louis C.K.'s interview with Conan O'Brien called "Everything is Amazing and Nobody's Happy." Whenever we got a new text with the new delay information, when it started hailing and storming right as it looked like we were finally going to be on our way, and even while I was throwing up in the airport trash can, I kept thinking, "I'm sitting on a chair in the sky! How awesome is that! And we're flying to the other side of the country, and it isn't going to take four or five months. No matter what, I will be in Baltimore and then on to D.C. sometime int the next 24 hours, and that is pretty amazing."

Now, when we went to pick up our rental car and they had canceled it because we were more than three hours late and we had to re-book at double what were originally going to pay and the attendant didn't even apologize, my humor was gone. But, that was pretty understandable. After all, I'd been up all night, thrown up everything in my system, and I was pregnant. Everyone has their limits:)

We checked into our hotel at 7 a.m. Thankfully, they were nice and extended check-out until 1 for us. Actually, they were going to let us check-out the next day without charging us another night, but we didn't know that until we were leaving. Thank goodness for kind, sympathetic people. And despite it all, I still have to say, "Everything is amazing, and I'm pretty happy."