Sometimes the Universe has different plans.

Get ready for an incoherent rant about my life/the beginning of this adventure.

Once upon a time I was leaving for Istanbul on February 1^st, 2011. Then once upon that same time, Mother Nature had different plans. A blizzard was sent the way of the entire Midwest the night before my planned departure. I began to panic. Then, at the suggestion of my friend and fellow world traveler, Shayna, I called Delta Airlines and tried to re-schedule. “Call in the morning,” they said. So I did. I called this morning (January 31^st) at 8:30AM and was told that I could leave at 1PM or 6PM. Obvz more time to pack means more time to pack, so I took the 6 o’clock flight out of Tulsa. At least I was supposed to.

I got to the airport with my parents at 4PM, as per the suggested two-hour advance check-in by TSA. It was already delayed till 7:45 when we got there, but why not just do it anyway? Trying to check my baggage was another problem. For international flights, you’re supposed to be able to check two fifty-pound bags free of charge. Well, since I had re-scheduled my flight, I was no longer connecting to an international flight but rather flying to Atlanta, staying the night there, and then checking in again for my Istanbul flight. This is what I was told. After a three-hour delay in Tulsa, we finally got off the ground. I sat next to a kid from Grove whose mom had picked him up after school and said they were going to Disney World rather than being trapped at home for days on end. I love spontaneity. You go, kid’s mom.

So, I get to Atlanta, ask a guy at the desk what to do, and hesitantly confirms what I had been told in Tulsa. Pick up bags, check in again, sleep in terminal.

I picked up my 38 and 50-pound bags (along with my carry-on backpack and messenger bag), and don’t rent a $4 cart to push everything around (because, let’s face it, saving money and getting a workout in the mean time is always a win) and head for the Delta counter way at the other end of the terminal.

I get to the counter, where I find my Disney World-bound friend again, and wait to check back in. The lady at the counter tells me that TSA doesn’t allow baggage scanning until at least 4:30 and that Delta has a 6-hour-prior check-in policy. So. Not much I can do about either of those. So I lug my 90+ pounds of belongings back down the terminal and I currently find myself sitting in Atlanta Bread in the Atlanta airport. Sleep may come. But not till I’m completely exhausted and the floor zamboni thing stops cleaning and flashing.

Mainly I’m glad I got out of Oklahoma before the sky decided to freeze everything like the dark side of Pluto. The next twelve hours will probably hold lots of time on my trusty computer and doing absolutely nothing productive. Good thing I like the unexpected, right?

Next blog comes from Istanbul. At least, that’s the plan as of now.