Blessing in Disguise: Stranded at IAD

Ever wondered what's the point of flying if you're going to be stuck for hours in the airport?

Well, that's exactly what happened to me today. There was no plane in sight when I checked in this morning to fly home from South Carolina, hoping to arrive at Pearson International Airport at 2 PM. An hour after departure time, the plane finally arrived, a United "Express" that needed to be refueled and checked before we could board. Quite sure I'd miss my next flight, from Washington, D.C., the airline people pre-booked me on a flight leaving 5 hours later than scheduled, at 5 PM. That done, we finally took off.

What beautiful snow greeted us on arrival when we poked south of the clouds and saw a totally whited-out airport! On landing at D.C.'s Dulles Airport (airport code IAD), the cabin crew optimistically asked us to "go for it," to catch our connecting flights. That's when the slow shuffle started, with the plane taxiing forever, looking to park at the terminal building. We were warned that we'd have to be careful going down steps to ground level as there would be no aerobridge. No kidding.

All parked, the plane had to wait another eternity for the ground crew to show up and shovel, scatter salt, unload plane-side checked baggage, and simply wrestle ye olde stair truck over, which also needed to be shoveled. To cut to the chase, my next plane had taken off. So what was there to do but to book myself onto the 5 PM flight at a kiosk, trudge over to the gate, and ask around for any free Wifi? And there was, thank God!

Right here, at the US capital's airport, I've cleared email, skyped home, and written my lesson plans (Hint: Merry Christmas!). About an hour ago, I decided to get off my behinds and look for some decent-priced food--that would be a worthy challenge at any airport! So I check out the pizza, coffee, sandwich, and convenience stores--no way, at four bucks per measly pack of nuts or chips!--and here's this fast food place, improbably named Five Guys, selling "Tiny Hamburgers" for US$3.50 each. Suspicious, I ask how big the "tiny" things were. Well, "tiny," I was told, means you get a single beef patty; "regular" means two patties. Oh.

So down went my tiny hamburger, loaded with raw and fried onions, tomatoes, fried mushrooms, and one patty of beef. Yum. I went back and offered to buy $2 more of fried onions and mushrooms: "Your vegetables were good! Can I buy two dollars worth of your fried onions and mushrooms?" The owner looked at me and then ordered one of his workers to get me a packet of them. Seeing me handing over my credit card, he says, "Don't worry about it."

"Thank you so much! That was very kind of you!"

Wow, this blessing in disguise simply had to be blogged! Okay ... it's 4:10PM ... seeya l8r, gotta plane ta catch!

Now, how'bout the CBC Open House Field Trip last Friday? Was it good?

(PS: Instead of arriving at 2PM, I finally got back to YYZ at 9:30PM on Saturday.)