How I got Home During the day after Christmas Blizzard of 2010 – delayed by only 11 hours.
Monday, January 3, 2011
I was in Galveston Texas. I went there to meet my son’s future mother-in-law. He and his Fiancée live in Washington DC and were visiting her Mother over Christmas and I was invited there also. I had a wonderful time and I was scheduled to leave for New York on the afternoon of December 27. The weather report had the storm, which was tracking for New York, scheduled to start early on December 26 ending early December 27. Surely the planes would be flying the afternoon of December 27. I tried calling Delta but the call centers were closed and the message advised callers to get the latest flight information on the web, which we did and the two flights I had to take, one from Houston to Atlanta, and then Atlanta to Newark, were on time.
Since my flight to Atlanta was scheduled to leave at 12:50, I arrived at the airport in Houston at 12. The ticket agent checked the status of my flights and both flights 3706 from Houston to Atlanta and 2142 from Atlanta to Newark were on time. I checked my bag and told my son that if the Atlanta to Newark flight was cancelled before I took off in Houston, that I would call him and we would head back to Galveston. I kept checking the monitors as well as the Delta website with my cell phone and the Atlanta to Newark flight was still on time. Flew out of Houston on time and landed in Atlanta at 3:50 pm. When I turned my phone on, I had a voicemail from my son informing me that flight 2142 from Atlanta to Newark was cancelled. I called him and told him that I’d get back to him once I had rebooked my flight to New York.
After I exited to Airport Terminal B, I saw a line of people snaking around waiting to talk to a ticket agent. At the end of the line was a Delta representative who told us that if we did not want to talk to a ticket agent in person, we could use one of the ten black phones lining the perimeter of the Delta counter in Terminal B. There was no one waiting to use a black phone, so this was a no-brainer…wait on a line for hours or see if someone will answer the phone. After waiting for less than 10 minutes, I was connected to an agent who could book me on the next available flight to Newark (Great!) on Friday December 31 at 8:30 am. But this is only December 27, I told her. As we were bickering about the date, that seat was taken, so I ended up reserving a seat to the White Plains Airport for Friday, December 31 at 9:30 am, four days away. I called my son at 4:22 and gave him the news.
I looked at the monitors and saw that there were flights to the White Plains Airport leaving that night from Terminal E. I decided to go over to Terminal E to see if I could get on one of the White Plains flights as a standby passenger. I took the tram to Terminal E and when I got to the Delta area there were hordes of dazed people just walking around trying to figure out how to get home. I found the gate for the White Plains flight and realized that I needed to be listed as a standby passenger, so I walked over to the Delta information desk. Again there was a line of people snaking around waiting to talk to an agent in person, but the black phones lining the perimeter of the Delta information area were once again empty. I picked up a phone and within 10 minutes was added to the standby list for the next flight to White Plains. I walked over to the ticket counter for that flight and was told by the agent that I was number 35 on the standby list. I told him that Delta needed to fly two planes to White Plains at the same time to clear out this standby list. Instead of responding to me, he told to return to the gate at 5:30 to see if I could get on the plane.
I went out to the center of the terminal, grabbed a bite to eat and started to watch the monitors with the flight departure and arrival times and realized that there were three flights to the Washington DC airports every half hour. I decided to try and get to DC and take Amtrak home if I could not get to White Plains as a standby that night. While I was waiting I also decided to make some phone calls. I called my son to find out what airport was closest to the Amtrak station in DC and he said to try to fly into Regan.
I went to gate E29 at 5:30 to see if I could get on the plane to White Plains. Unfortunately, there were only 10 available seats and as number 35 I did not get on the plane. So what to do now...I went back to the Delta information desk. Again there was a line of people snaking around waiting to talk to an agent in person (never did figure out why they were waiting on line), but the black phones lining the perimeter of the Delta information area were once again empty. I picked up a phone and within a few minutes I was talking to my new BFF. I told l her that I wanted to change my destination to Washington DC. She put me on hold for a few minutes (seemed like forever, but it was really only about five minutes) and was able to book me onto flight 1638 leaving at 7:20 pm that evening for Washington DC in terminal A. Hurray I was leaving Atlanta! I took the airport tram over to terminal A and checked in for the flight. After I was given my seat assignment, I called my son, got directions on how to get to Amtrak from Regan airport and waited to board the plane. The plane took off on time and we arrived in DC at about 9:15pm. I was almost home. I went over to claim my baggage only to find out that my bag was still in Atlanta and would be sent to Newark once the airport opened up. I filled out a delayed baggage claim form and headed to the DC Metro for Amtrak. I got to the Amtrak station about 11pm. It was deserted. I went over to the information center and asked how I could buy a ticket for the next train to New York if everything was closed. The person at the information center told me that all the trains to New York were booked until Wednesday, and it was still Monday. I sat down. I did not know what to do at this point. My son was still visiting in Galveston, so I called him. Since he lives in DC he told me I could stay at his place until I could get a train. I thanked him and as we were talking I realized that I might be able to get a Greyhound Bus from DC to New York. I hung up, called my daughter; actually I woke her up, and asked her to please go on-line to see if Greyhound was running any buses from DC to New York. She called back and sure enough, Greyhound had a bus leaving DC at 1:30am and arriving at New York’s Port Authority at 5:45 am Tuesday morning…2 days before Amtrak could get me to New York and 3 days before Delta could fly me to New York. She booked my bus ticket on-line and texted me my confirmation number. Gotta love technology.
Anyway, I call my son back and to tell him that I needed directions to the Greyhound bus terminal from Amtrak. He told me that the bus terminal was in an unsafe part of DC and to go out of the Amtrak terminal and take a cab. I promised him I would and hung up. Thinking that he was just being overprotective of his mother, I decided to ask a police woman. “Excuse me”, I said. “I am stranded and need to get back to New York. My daughter was able to book me on the 1:30 am bus from DC to New York, but I don’t know how to get to the bus terminal. My son says I need to take a cab, but I don’t even know where the taxi stand is.’’ “It is only 31/2 blocks, you can walk it ” she tells me, stops herself, looks at me and then asks “Are you alone?” “Yes, I’m alone” I tell her. “Your son is right, that neighborhood is unsafe at night for a woman alone. Just go out the main Amtrak exit and you will see the taxi stand.” I follow her directions, find a cab and am at the Greyhound terminal before midnight. Greyhound, unlike Amtrak, is not deserted. I walk over to the ticket counter where there is an agent on duty; show her the text with the confirmation number and she prints out my ticket. Cost for this journey… less than $34.
As I said the Greyhound terminal is bustling, not only with people but also with creatures of the night, roaches. When I put my cell phone on a counter lined with plugs so that I could charge my phone, I saw a few of them meander across the counter. Small price to pay for not having to sleep in the Atlanta airport for four nights. Since I had gotten pan-handled at this bus terminal the last time I was here, I decided to keep moving and keep my eyes open. There were a few questionable people hanging around, but most of the people there that night were stranded by the storm, each with their own blog to write.
Around 12:30am I see that the line for the bus is starting to form so I decided to get in line so that I could get a seat on the bus. A bus pulls in at about 1am and the passengers on that bus get off, the line behind me is growing. At about 1:20, the passengers who got off the bus re-boarded and it looks like that bus is almost full. I have visions of spending the night at the Greyhound terminal. Suddenly, I see two white knights dressed as buses pull in and about 10 minutes later Greyhound has not one but three buses loaded and ready to depart for New York’s Port Authority. Go Greyhound!
We arrived at New York’s Port Authority Terminal, as promised at 5:45 am. I was delayed by 11 hours but given the extent of the delays other people were looking at I was lucky.
But my journey was not over. I had planned to take the NY Airport Bus from Newark to Grand Central, but now since I was 4 blocks away and since the entrance to the subway at the Port Authority was locked I decided to walk. It was cold and there were not many people out at 5:45 am, but the sidewalks were cleared of snow. The crosswalks were another matter. The crosswalks had 4-5 feet of snow plowed up into them and no one had shoveled most of them out. I had to climb through the mess to cross each Avenue and took several spills. I managed to get to Grand Central in one piece, caught the 6:20am train to Tarrytown and I was picked up by Mike at 7:10.
So if you were paying attention here is how I got home.
I took:
Car from Galveston to Houston-Hobby airport
Plane from Houston-Hobby airport to Atlanta airport
Plane from Atlanta airport to Washington DC Regan airport
DC Metro from Regan airport to Amtrak’s Union Station
Cab from Union Station to DC’s Greyhound terminal
Bus from DC’s Greyhound terminal to New York’s Port Authority
Walked from Port Authority to Grand Central Station
Metro North railroad from Grand Central Station to Tarrytown, NY
Car from Tarrytown, NY home
