Southern Belle in Training

Fashion, Travel & Lifestyle Blog || Est. 2012 || Virginia Beach, VA

June 8, 2013

When life gives you flight delays...make friends!

     Soooo I had all the posts about my Vegas vacation planned out in my head. I was going to do a little fashion/preview post on Monday, and then work my way in order through the days of our trip, sharing pictures and memories. I still plan to do that, but things are going to be a little out of order, because I'm choosing to start with the end of our trip, aka today. We were supposed to be home a least a few hours ago, but our day took a bit of a different turn...

     My mom and I woke up around 6 am to leave for the airport. (Note: we aren't morning people.) In short, the day basically it involved crazy long security lines, boarding the plane, then going back to the gate and unboarding the plane after it was announced that there were some mechanical issues, then boarding again, unboarding again... eventually this lead to a cancelled flight. The Las Vegas airport wasn't offering many flights to New England today, and all the others were booked. Our plane itself had been full, so our gate was a mess with 100+ displaced people!

     On Saturday the 8th I had a graduation party to attend for one of my closest friends from high school, Jules, as well as an evening shift at work. Missing a work shift wasn't the worst thing in the world, but I was seriously bummed about missing Jules's party. In addition to that, I'm the type of person that likes to plan everything out ahead of time and have everything go according to plan. I don't like these types of surprises, especially when I have important plans! My go-to emotion was to be angry and bitter. For a split second I even considered screaming when I saw how long the line in the airport was to rearrange our flights (we had to wait over an hour). 

     But just as instantly as I felt the anger, I felt something inside of me going How would a true Christian act in this situation? Would they dwell on things they couldn't control and be bitter, or would they try to see the best in the situation and keep an open mind? I decided to try option #2. And what a great decision that was!

     The first way that I tried to stay positive was by being friendly with fellow passengers waiting with us in line. Some of the passengers were really rude to the airport staff about the cancelled flight. I tried to kindly remind some of them that it wasn't the people that worked at the ticket counter's fault that our flight was cancelled! The poor airport employees definitely weren't prepared to deal with all of us so last minute. I also tried striking up conversation with those in line near me and my mom.

     Through this I was able to meet a young woman from India. She was flying from Vegas to New England as apart of her first trip to the United States. She was all alone, and told me that she'd had a difficult travel experience so far. We started talking more and I told her about my love of Indian culture and food. After we all finally made it to the front of the line and spoke to some airport employees, we learned that we'd be flying out the next morning and would be spending the night in a small hotel near the airport. As if things weren't stressful enough by now, my Indian friend's luggage had already been sent to New England, and she was without everything except for her purse! Poor thing. 

     We were both being sent to the same hotel, and my mom and I ate dinner with her. Might I add that dinner was my very first In-N-Out burger experience?! :-) I've heard great things about west coast burger chain In-N-Out over the years, and even my blogging friend Elle had told me before our trip to visit if we got a chance! There wasn't an In-N-Out near the hotel that we spent most of our trip at, but this hotel was right across the street from one! My burger was simply amazing, and was quite a nice surprise treat. Here's an instagrammed version of dinner:



     After dinner we walked with our new friend along a little bit of Las Vegas Boulevard (aka the Strip). She hadn't seen much of Vegas yet and was delighted that we offered to walk with her! All in all, the night was a great time to meet a new friend from a fascinating culture, and we have exchanged e-mail addresses and will hopefully stay in touch. I also met some other people from our flight today, and it was nice to make conversation and know that my mom and I weren't alone in being stranded in Vegas!

     Yes, it would have been nice to have gone home according to schedule, and to sleep in my own bed tonight. It would have been nice to go to the graduation party and then head to work. But I'm also so thankful that our extra night in Vegas turned out to be a positive experience, and it makes me realize how God's blessings come in so many forms! This was a great lesson for me that when I have a positive attitude, things go so much more smoothly. Isn't it amazing how the Lord used such an interesting turn of events to teach this to me? God is so good.

     Please cross your fingers with me that my mom and I will be able to leave on time on Saturday! We're very ready to be home. I can't wait to share way more about the trip with y'all next week, and stay tuned for the giveaway winner of my Lilla Rose Flexi Clip giveaway! 


     xoxo Miss ALK
Share:

2 comments

  1. In-N-Out, most delicious place ever! So glad you were all to try it! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a positive outlook to have on an otherwise crappy day. I love that you took a moment to look at life from the perspective of Christ to bring on some positivity. It would be helpful if as Christians we all took the time to do that when things are not going the way we expected. And what I love most about the layover is that you met a friend, you and your mom could have very well been the only bright spot in her entire trip. Sidebar: I would have been thrilled to have met her I love hearing about India. I have a few friends that are from there and one that lives there....hoping to visit that beautiful country in 2 years. I cannot wait to hear about your vacation and thank you for leaving a comment via Blogs by Christian Women about my post. I would be delighted if you shared it in your space. And I am now following you can't wait to get to know you through your post.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for reading Southern Belle in Training! Comments make my day- so feel free to share your thoughts on this post! I read each and every comment.
If you have a question in regards to one of my posts, or just want to say hi, the best way to get ahold of me is by e-mailing me directly at: rainbowflash94@yahoo.com. I am better about responding to e-mails than blog comments sometimes!
Xoxo

Blog Design Created by pipdig