10 Hours to Go . . . HOPEFULLY . . .

Let me set the scene:

With 16 hours until my flight to the Bahamas was "supposed" to take off, I was just finishing getting ready to head out to my family's house and to get ready for our 6 a.m. flight the next morning. After all the months of planning and hard work, I was finally starting to feel ready and prepared. I had all my immunizations, my passport and visas, I had said my goodbyes to pretty much everyone, partied off my butt with all my buddies (insert - I already had a headache when I woke up), packed up all my belongings and tucked them away so that the girl who is subleting my room could move in, and last but not least accomplished the greatest thing of all, the thing that had given me nightmares for months, I had completed packing. So, I was feeling pretty confident and starting to get over my nervousness and pre-homesickness and get excited about heading to the Bahamas, when, the phone rang . . . The following is a short, not completely verbatim reenactment of the conversation that was had . . .

Amber (also known as the dumbfounded, mistreated consumer): Hmmm . . . I don't know this number . . . Hello?
Nasty Ticket Agent at Spirit Air (henceforth known as "NTA"): Hello. I'm calling to tell you that your flight to the Bahamas has been cancelled for tomorrow.
Amber: What? Why?
Roommate enters: What's going on?
Amber: I have no idea. It's my airline saying they are canceling my flight.
Roommate: Oh no, oh, there's the hurricane over there . . .
NTA: Ma'am, do you want us to be unsafe? It's not our fault.
Amber: What NTA? I wasn't even talking to you. I had no idea there was a hurricane. There's a hurricane?
NTA: Well, Ma'am. Do you? Do you want us to be unsafe? You didn't know there was a hurricane? It's not my responsibility to inform you about the hurricane.
Amber: (thinking - what is going on? why is this NTA yelling at me? I'm so confused. This isn't happening.) (Going to my calm place - deep breath)Well, when will we be able to fly?
NTA: Maybe tomorrow afternoon, maybe Saturday morning.
Amber: Ok, when is the next flight we can get on with you then?
NTA: September 1st.
Amber: Oh no!!! September 1st?!? But, my boat is leaving on August 30th? There are no Spirit flights between now and then available? You aren't going to add extra flights?
NTA: Ma'am. The flights are all booked up. People book these flights a year in advance (impatient tone).
Amber: HELLO NTA!!! That's me!!! I booked this flight months ago! Look how well being prepared worked for me. (Ok, I didn't say this and I never called her the NTA, but I was sure thinking it!)

****moral of the story - don't fly Spirit Air. It's not their fault that there was a hurricane (although I'd really like to put the whole thing on the NTA) but THEY JUST DON'T SEEM TO CARE!!!***

So, that is the important part of the conversation. Here's the deal, there's a hurricane that's just left the Bahamas and heading towards Florida. Well, it's good news that it's left the Bahamas, but the bad news is that virtually every single flight that goes to the Bahamas stops in Florida first. That's why our flight was cancelled - not because our destination was the Bahamas but because we had a plane change in Fort Lauderdale airport, which is now closed.

So as you can imagine, the rest of my day was filled with stress and trying to figure out what to do next. Well, finally around 5 p.m. my mom and I decided to try to take a flight out tomorrow morning that stopped in Atlanta, Georgia instead of Florida. So, as of right now, we have a flight scheduled on Delta for 7:20 a.m., scheduled to arrive in Nassau at 1:38 with a brief stop in Atlanta. Of course booking five flights with no advance purchase knocked the bill up several hundred dollars. But, hopefully, if this all works out, we'll be in this Bahamas by this time tomorrow knocking back rum drinks and laughing at this situation. So, please, please, please keep your fingers crossed for us.

On a final note, I would like to just thank everyone for their support. It blows my mind how much support I have received, from my friends, family, and from people I have never even met. Thank you all for your thoughts, well wishes, e-mails, cards, gifts, and to those who made the extra effort to see me before I left. I appreciate it all more than you know. I have also been completely overwhelmed by the response that this blog has already received. I have literally had hundreds of visitors in the last couple of days. I know there are a lot of people watching. I guess that I'll have to go out there and have lots of adventures to make this blog interesting (once I get out of Chicago anyways)!

Well, ready or not, here I go . . . HOPEFULLY!!!

*p.s. I just added a message board. It's at the top right hand corner of this page. Please, please sign it to let me know who's visiting!

*p.s.s. Great news!!! I just finished weighing in my bags. The two big ones can be 70 lbs each and the carry on can be 40 lbs. After dragging them around all day, I was sure they were going to be too heavy. But, I just finished weighing them and they pass with a 60, 40, and 36. YES!!! Things are back on track!