Going Home Tomorrow?

The plan is to go home to Iowa tomorrow to spend Christmas plus a little more time with my family. Of course, as always, the weather is playing a factor, and I may get to experience a less extraordinary repeat of last year’s attempt to get home.

You may recall that last year I had a flight on December 21 to Cedar Rapids. That flight was canceled ten hours early due to “weather” (keep in mind it is a less-than-two-hour flight). That cancellation led to a next-day rebooking, and that day’s flight was not canceled until I was at the gate, leading to another flight the following day, which was not canceled until I was on the plane. The good news, of course, was that the airline sent my luggage to Cedar Rapids the day after that. I ended up getting a refund, staying in Colorado, and video conferencing home for Christmas.

In a moment of desperation, there is always the option to jump on the train if the flight is canceled tomorrow, but that is a real gamble. Last time I took the train (the only time really, so this is not exactly a statistically significant sample) it departed Denver seven hours late.

I do hope to go home tomorrow. When things go wrong, however, I am surprisingly calm and patient in the face of massive disruptions to my plans. After all, what can I really do about it?

Happy holidays (and safe and effective travels) everyone.