We had a very easy flight to Mexico and immigration and boarder control in the tourist region of the Yucatan and the ease of which it operates is academic. Our return home however, would be much different. We flew to Mexico on Jet blue and it was comfortable and prompt and it lulled me into a sense of comfort that I should have known my old nemesis Spirit Airlines would destroy. We were to leave Cancun International at 4 p.m. on Spirit Airlines Flight 710 for Ft. Lauderdale and everything up until then was going smoothly. We headed out early, had one last breakfast on the island before boarding our boat for the mainland. A quiet shuttle ride to the airport and we were through security and sitting at the gate in ample time. Our flight was to begin boarding at 3:24 and that very specific time came and then went. As the minutes ticked by, our hour and 45 minute layover started to seem like a tight window. 4 o’clock came and went and the boards continued to read that the flight was on time. At around 4:09 they finally began the boarding process and it was almost 40 minutes after the scheduled flight time before we finally took off.
So far this scenario of events was very manageable as an e-mail had come threw that our connection flight home was also delayed by at one point an hour and a half. All was good the universe in balance. As we landed back in the U.S. and the plane taxied up the runway. The pilot must have really pushed it as he trimmed our delay down to 17 minutes in flight. The storm however, was again growing in strength. An announcement was made over the com that immigration was extremely behind and customs was holding the doors of our gate shut until further notice. 20 minutes was the estimate and the lines after we departed the plane was estimated at two hours. I still felt ok at this point as I had mobile passport and knew we could shave some time with a shorter line. As phone service was restored two notifications from Spirit came threw my email and I knew our connection flight to Atlanta had been delayed again. As I opened the email my worst fears were realized. Spirit flight 676 to Atlanta had been moved to a different plane and was back on its original time of 8:35. I was hopeful it would work out but I knew in my heart the truth, we were going to miss our flight.
We finally made it off the plane and even with mobile passport it still took an hour and a half to get through customs. We ran as fast as we could, had to go back threw security after customs and ran the entire length of the airport only to discover they changed the gate. We had run past the plane bearing our seats. The lady at the gate looked it up and told us it had just pulled away from a different gate and was taxiing for takeoff. Deflated and soaking wet from running, we walked to Spirit’s ticket booths to see our options.
What ensued was an absolute catastrophe. We sat behind almost everyone on our flight an many on others who missed their connections due to customs and delays. Many ahead were sent off to hotels only to return later because the hotel was fully booked. The line moved at a snails pace and it took us until around 12:45 a.m., our plane landed at 7:30, until we reached the ticketing agent. Attrition had emptied much of the line as many had given up to go find a place to lay down and try their luck in the morning. The very tired and obviously verbally beaten lady behind the counter looked deflated and I showed her some compassion and simply thanked her with a smile for her help. We received two tickets on a Delta flight at 8:30 in the morning as well as a room at the Double Tree, $42 in food vouchers in the airport and taxi transfer vouchers to and from the hotel. The closest hotel with an available room by the time we arrived at the counter was all the way down in North Miami. The vouchers were useless as by the time we received them the restaurants in the Airport were closed save for one lowly coffee shop, but everyone before us had pilfered it down to a few bags of chips and a couple of “protein packs” that contained some cheese, grapes, apples, a small ramekin of both hummus and peanut butter, it would have to do. We arrived at the hotel around 1:30 a.m. and he’d to leave to go back to the airport in about 4 hours. I ordered a pizza and took a shower. I woke Maggie up to eat when the pizza arrived and she would quickly be back asleep. Fearful that my exhaustion may cause me to sleep through an alarm, I sat up in the bed flipping through the T.V. and did a little blog work.
The wake-up call came at 5 as requested and it was the final scenes of the Zohan. The day fell into a haze. I remember the important things like, where’s Maggie and which gate. It was a very comfortably timed, no need to rush kind of leg. Naps at the gate and further naps on the plane. I vaguely remember my phone hitting the floor beneath my seat on the flight out as it slid from my sleeping hands. With Maggie tucked between me and the window and Delta in charge of the details, I for the first time in what felt like days let go. I fell into one of those deep, dark hopeless sleeps. You know you will Be needed soon for further adulthood, but the exhaustion sucks away at life itself and dreaming seems impossible. The dream space becomes the plane ride itself and you sink into the seat no matter what its ability or inability is to lean back….the universe becomes one.
