Albany

One of my favorite memories with BJ could have been a travel disaster. We had been traveling for a while and it was finally time to go home. We left Philadelphia and had a connection at Laguardia in New York.

Across the aisle a row or two in front of us was a woman flying with her young daughter. The woman had never flown before and was extremely nervous. She had a death grip on her arm rests as it was. Due to the weather, we experienced some of the worst turbulence I have ever encountered. She was completely terrified and her little girl was comforting her. We were originally supposed to connect in Laguardia. As we were descending to land, the plane suddenly changed direction and began to climb again. We were within seconds of the runway. BJ looked at me and said, "We're not landing..." Just then, the pilot made the announcement that poor visibility had caused him to abort the landing attempt. We would circle once more and try to land, but if we couldn't make a safe landing at that point, we would divert to Albany. If we had to make a third attempt and then divert, we would RUN OUT OF FUEL. The woman across the aisle snapped her head to look at me with wide eyes thanks to that revelation.

After several minutes (maybe 15 to 20?) of circling back around and waiting for our turn to land, a second attempt still proved too dangerous, so we got the word that we would divert to the nearest available runway in Albany. This landing was successful, except for the fact that we were at the wrong airport. I am not sure the success of the landing made the woman in front of us feel any better. I think she was asking about her luggage and how she was going to get where she was supposed to go. I don't remember exactly, but I vaguely remember telling her that the airline would make sure she got where she needed to go and they would get their luggage when they got there. Boy, I really hope they got their luggage...

As soon as phone use was allowed, BJ called the airline to start working out our way home. The pilot had alluded to the fact that we might take a bus to Laguardia rather than refuel and fly there, so we were all asked to deplane and told to take everything with us. During this time, BJ stepped away from the gate. I heard an announcement that our flight was cancelled. The airline was going to put everyone on a bus to Laguardia in New York City. This would be easily a four hour ride. On a bus. Full of disgruntled passengers. I thought to myself, "There is no way BJ will want to ride on a cramped bus for several hours. And If the weather is bad here, I would be furious if we rode all the way there for that flight to be cancelled too..."

When BJ returned, still on the phone, I told him what I heard, and as suspected, he was not interested in a bus ride to a flight that may not even take off.

He immediately relayed this information to the representative on the line and quickly changed our reservation to a flight leaving Albany the following morning. Later, BJ looked up the flight we were originally booked on, and guess what- all of those people took a bus to a flight that wasn't happening. Many of them probably had to sleep in the airport. We found a nearby hotel and took a shuttle or an Uber... I don't remember.

What I do remember, is that what could have been a miserable experience, ended up being a fun and impromptu excursion. We found a local pizza and wing place within walking distance and enjoyed the best mozzarella sticks I have ever had while watching some movie that I can't remember.

You really get to know someone when you travel with them. And you REALLY get to know someone when things don't go according to plan.

I think part of what strikes me so much about the other woman on the plane is that she didn't have someone to go through this with. She had to handle it by herself.

I am so lucky I got to know the best travel buddy I could ever ask for.

Here's to more adventures, planned or otherwise.