Day 355/365
The last moment of real happiness for my poor little Mason… And for myself for that matter.
This was shot at the Brussels airport. It was a playground with TVs, games, toys, cushion-y areas to jump on. Really fun.
But because of the snow, we were about to experience the worst trip of our lives. Well Mason is four, but it was by far the worst trip of MY life.
The plane in Brussels was an hour late. We got to London and we had to hurry so we could get on the next plane to Chicago. I first went down the wrong line for my connecting tickets. Then I went in the right line with less and less time to make my flight, but the line was strangely very empty…
I get to the front desk and talk to a rep there.
My flight to Chicago had been cancelled due to the weather… Oh no… NO!!!!… Now what?! They told me that I was on my own because it was a weather delay so United Airlines couldn’t book me into a hotel; I’d have to pay for it myself. Oh thanks. And there were absolutely no other airlines that could get me back to the states. Great. I was gonna have to call Travelocity to see if they could help. I paid extra to have their travel protection, they better pay up and help out!
Another guy came along at the United Airlines desk and said the best they could do was put me on standby on a flight to Washington, which would then connect to Denver and then finally back to Salt Lake. No guarantee that I could get on the first plane, let alone the other two, and the extra connection sucked, but it was something. They’d re-route my checked luggage too of course, which I would have to pickup in Washington and check back in (standard procedure when entering the country from abroad).
I hurry to the gate for the flight that’s headed for Washington, anticipating a full flight that wouldn’t have any room for Mason and me, but to my great surprise, we got in! We had two seats! Hallelujah!
There WAS one little problem though… The only reason we made it to that flight, besides blind luck with being on standby for seats, is that the plane was delayed pretty significantly… That’s gonna make it hard to make the connection from Washington to Denver, but I’m sure it’ll be fine. Besides, I’d be in the US and I’d have more options.
The flight was long. The sun stays up longer when you’re flying west and Mason wouldn’t close his eyes and get any sleep. That is, not until just before landing, by which time everyone, and I mean EVERYONE on the plane, was in panic, because the large majority of people on the plane knew they’d have to hurry up where they could and wait enormously long lines through security to get to their connecting flights.
I could hear several in nearby seats who had already given up hope on making their connecting flights.
Me on the other hand, I refused to give up hope. I’m gonna make it. I have more time than most. I’m gonna make it. I’m gonna be fine.
Everyone on the plane has a screen in the seat in front of them. You can watch movies, but many of us watched the map indicating our distance from Washington and our approximate landing time. We were finally within 4 minutes of our approximate landing time.
But then it stayed at 4 minutes for about 10 minutes… And we’re turning a lot…
Oh you’ve gotta be kidding me… We’re circling the airport NOW?!
Finally, we land. And Mason is fast asleep… But I have to wake him up. And I do. And nobody likes me now. And he’s inconsolable.
I rush out of the plane, hauling a stroller, my camera bag, a backpack-sized carry-on and Mason. We make it to the long line for security and now we wait. And wait. And wait. Catching our flight to Denver is really not looking good now. And we still have the long line after picking up our suitcase so we can check it back in and I’m not really sure how I’m gonna push a stroller, a carry-on, deal with Mason and pull a large suitcase to anywhere… I don’t have enough hands now…
Lucky for me, United managed to lose my suitcase for the second time, which means I spent a good 30 minutes looking for something that was never going to show up in the first place. Cool, so I ask someone where my suitcase is and they said to file a claim once I get to Salt Lake. And I’m looking at my time, and I’ve got about 7 minutes to cross an airport I’ve never been to with almost more luggage than I have hands to hold them and a child who’s really not in the mood anymore just so I can make it to a connecting flight to a place that’s still not home…
I ask one of the staff if I can make it. She says yes, I can make it.
Run.
So I book it. And I mean that, I’m running across the airport like a friggin’ maniac with the stroller in front of me and Mason, very unhappy, not enjoying the fastest ride I’ve ever given him on it.
I finally get to the gate, breathing very heavily. I look up at the status screen and it says the flight is leaving at the time it’s supposed to, at 5:25pm. I can’t believe it! I made it!
I walk up to the counter and ask about the flight.
It’s been delayed by four hours.
I’m not gonna make the connection in Denver to get home and there’s no other way to Salt Lake, Mason is still crying and screaming his head off and I gotta say, I don’t smoke, don’t have any interest in starting whatsoever, but I finally understood why people smoke.
“You mean after as many setbacks as I’ve been through all day today, after I ran like a psycho to make it here, it’s been delayed by FOUR HOURS?!… Excuse me for a second (pulls out a cigarette), I’m gonna go kill myself now. Slowly.”
We finally made it to Denver, at 11:30pm, by which time Mason had fallen asleep on the plane of course, which meant I had another 20 straight minutes of screaming child to deal with. We got to the hotel at about 12:30am, which United had decided they would book for me, since this time there was no excuse for the plane being 4 hours late, and were finally in bed by 1am.
Day 356/365
The view from our hotel in Denver the next morning. It wasn’t an early flight out, but jetlag had woken me up at about 4am and I caught some of that sunrise.
A few more screaming child episodes between the plane, the airport and the ride to my house, and on January 7th, we were finally home.
You know what’s funny? I hated United after that flight. Hated them. But I got $150 in credit for my next flight with them… And as 2 weeks went by and nobody could tell me where my suitcase had gone until one morning it finally appeared at my door, it meant I was lucky enough to spend hours talking to customer service, asking them where in the world my suitcase was; literally. Chicago? Denver? Salt Lake? London? Brussels? Zimbabwe? Where on this planet was my suitcase? So they gave me another $250 voucher and a $150 voucher.
I should have called more often. Maybe they’d have shipped me a box of cigarettes (see above).
And now, like an idiot, I’m wondering where I should go. San Francisco for a few days in the summer sounds great to me. Anyone have some awesome suggestions?
Day 357/365
Getting home was important because I had the Bridal Showcase at the Salt Palace to do starting on the 8th. I did have a backup plan, as I enrolled the help of the wonderful Heidi J Photography to setup in case I couldn’t make it due to delays.
Day 358/365
Junk food helps get you through a day at the bridal show when you have no time to shove any other food down your throat.
Day 359/365
Sunset on my way out of a movie.
Day 360/365
I’m coming to the stop sign of my 365 project!
Day 361/365
Went to Antelope Island with my good friend and fellow photographer, Heidi, and it was this horizon that took my breath away. I hadn’t planned to go out there, so I only had my iPhone unfortunately and I’d run out of shots from my Holga.
Day 362/365
If I can find you and I happen to be getting rid of old portfolio pieces, I like to give the print to you, free of charge. I’m just gonna chuck them anyway, why not make someone happy instead? Sarah and Dani.
Day 363/365
Pulled over on the way home as I rose above the fog down below.
Day 365/365
Posting this one first because I want to end this project on a little note regarding the image on day 364 and its meaning.
Engagement session with Joe & Heather. These guys were a ton of fun to work with! I love being able to have me some fun and watch my subjects join in. They were up for anything!
Not so superstitious 
BLUE STEEL!!!! hahaha
Groom: Where’d they go boss?
Bride: That-a-way!!
And the last image of the 365 project…
Comes tomorrow!!!
Yes, I just pulled a Ryan Seacrest
