You Might Not Want to Travel With Me...

Most people can recall at least one or two bad travel experiences.  Delayed flights, lost luggage, etc.  I, on the other hand, would have a hard time narrowing down my bad travel experiences to just a handful of examples.  To give you just a glimpse of what traveling is like for me, I have been stuck in a city I had no intention of staying overnight in 5 times in the last year.  Just this past week, I had my luggage not make it to my final destination for the 4th time in my life.  Anyone that knows me, accepts the fact I have some of the worst travel luck around.  In fact, I have started praying for the passengers that are traveling with me at the start of flights I am on.  I pray that we arrive 'somewhere' safely and everyone has patience for whatever obstacle we are getting ready to experience.  My many travel issues have taught me several lessons I hope others can vicariously learn rather than have to experience on their own.  Here's my top 12 Unlucky Travel Lessons:

1. All flights are overbooked these days.  If you do not choose a seat assignment when you buy your tickets and there are no volunteers to go on a later flight,  you will be the person on that later flight!
2. It is possible to enter your flight confirmation number into the kiosk and have a different passenger's boarding pass print.  And if this happens to occur in Las Vegas...no one cares at the airport.  Las Vegas might have some of the worst airport security in our country.
   
3. Sundays are known as "Cruise Ship Sundays" in Fort Lauderdale.  You will wait 3-4 times the normal time for ticketing, security, etc.  when flying out of Fort Lauderdale on any Sunday.  Even if you have the first flight of the day.  Even if you do not check luggage.  You will miss your flight if you do not arrive at least 2 hours ahead of time.  Monday mornings on the other hand...you will sit for 2 hours if you arrive 2 hours ahead of time.  Plan accordingly.
   
4. When they offer to put you on the "standby" list, have the common sense to check to see how many people actually are on the standby list AND ask if the flight is oversold.  I was once offered standby for not getting on an oversold flight...I would have been 38th on the standby list and not a single subsequent flight wasn't oversold.  
   
5. Just because your plane pushes back from the gate does not mean your flight will actually take off.  I was on a plane that pushed back from the gate only minutes later to literally shut down on the runway.  We actually deplaned on the runway because the plane would not restart. 
   
6. Just because your plane lands, does not mean that your flight will be on time!  I just learned this lesson last Wednesday.  Our flight landed and then sat on the runway for 45 minutes since the airport was technically closed.  Thankfully I've learned to plan longer connection times and I didn't miss my connection.
   
7. If your flight is being diverted and/or there is a big storm over the airport you are connecting through AND your flight has in-flight WiFi...pay the money, get online and book a hotel.  I had a girlfriend of an air traffic controller save my butt one time and let me know they were canceling all flights into Boston...via Facebook while I was in the air.  Thankfully I booked a hotel because once I landed there were no rooms available in the city.  Every single flight leaving that city had canceled. 
   
8. The airline never considers your luggage "lost".  It is always somewhere.  One time, they delivered "misplaced" luggage to me at work 21 days after I returned from a trip to Jamaica.  The bag never actually made it to Jamaica.  I never thought I would see that bag again.  I was wrong.
9. Hand sanitizer has the potential to cause death on an airplane.  Hand sanitizer once caused the woman next to me to have a full blown asthma attack which required medical attention.  I felt horrible.  People that are sensitive to soap-smelling products should wear a sign!  (I now ask everyone around me before I use hand sanitizer and I put my hands down under my seat when I use it!)
10. Staffing issues aren't exclusive to healthcare.  Airports get short staffed too...and when they do, they prioritize getting the airplane off the ground rather than filling it with people.  About 1/3 of the total passengers and I missed a flight once because there was not enough airline staff to print boarding passes.  I was actually already checked in but the airline's website wouldn't allow passengers to print their boarding passes at home...apparently there was a "glitch" in the system.  You just can't make this stuff up!
    
11. If you wear a tube top (or strapless top) and are selected to be patted down, this may or may not include them accidentally pulling down your top.   The TSA agent thought it was hilarious....I did not. Thankfully this occurred in Hawaii and I was super relaxed about it.  Hawaii just does something to people...it relaxes you past the point of caring about anything.  If this had occurred in one of the continental states, I fear I would have made more of a scene.
    
12. Do not wear clothes made with metallic colored threads through the new security scanners.  You will set off the sensor machines in a way the TSA agents "have never seen before" (not what you want to hear as you walk through security!)  and it will cause you personal delays through security.

And although all of these lessons have been important, these particular lesson haven't been nearly as important as the more valuable "life" lessons God has taught me through my many unfortunate travel experiences.

The first lesson is one of control or lack thereof.  Despite a Plan A, B, C, D or Z...God is in control and things will happen that you don't plan.  In fact, things will happen that you didn't think were possible.  How you react to the change in plans reflects who you are as a person.  I have seen a grown man in tears, a woman throw a suitcase and people so angry on the flight that the Captain was waiting for them after they got off the plane.  Having a calm manner and just taking bad experiences one moment at a time is the best way to get through it.  And prayer.  Lots of prayer.

I have also learned patience.  I have learned to relinquish "my timing" to "His timing".  There will be delays.  There will be disappointments.  You have to keep perspective and realize His timing is absolute.  We don't want things according to our timing because frankly we would miss out.  When I get delayed or my flight gets stuck somewhere, I try to think of all the bad things that might have happened if the timing were different -- the "what ifs" that didn't happen.  I have learned to be patient and just trust His timing.

And finally, I have just recently learned perseverance.  When the airline "misplaces" your luggage at a very inopportune time, you have to use your resources and do your best to pull something together in a short period of time.  (Ever notice how luggage never seems to get lost on your return trip?  It's always misplaced on the way "to" wherever you are going!)   When you have a goal or something you want to accomplish and life gets tough, you have to push through it.  Don't let the discouragement or a bump in the road, let you lose sight of the goal. 

James 1:2-4, 12
“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.  For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.  So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.  God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation.  Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.”

Delayed flights, missed connections and lost luggage,

Ashley Lucille