A Story of Recovery:

Travel Trauma

I was staying in Virginia Beach with my boyfriend for the summer, but I had flown back to my  home in Boston on Friday night so that I could attend my AWOL (A Way Of Life—a study of the Twelve Steps) on Saturday morning, followed by another FA meeting. I left my condo at 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon to head to the airport.

I arrived with a comfortable amount of time before boarding my first flight. I had a connecting flight through Newark and had decided to bring my dinner with me because the plane was arriving in Virginia at 7:55 p.m., and I didn’t want to chance going out to dinner after that, in case the plane was delayed.

When I arrived in Newark, I found a screen with updated flight information. I carefully scanned the flight numbers, until my eyes finally landed on my flight. In large, green, uppercase letters, I read, “CANCELED.” I didn’t become too anxious, because I had been flying a lot and was not a stranger to canceled or delayed flights. I found the nearest service desk and felt confident I could just get on the next flight.

“The next available flight from here to Norfolk is Sunday evening at 9:30 p.m.,” said the woman at the desk. I checked my watch. It was 5:26 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. I got a lump in my throat. All I had with me was my handbag and a backpack with my dinner and my laptop in it. I had not a stitch of clothing or any toiletries, since I had everything I needed in Virginia Beach, at my boyfriend’s apartment.

“Are you kidding me,” I asked in disbelief.

“No ma’am, but let me see what else I can do,” she replied. As I watched her checking the different options on her screen, I began to quietly pray. I had never been stuck like this!

“I can put you on standby for a flight at 9:25 p.m. tonight (Saturday). If you don’t make that, we can put you in a hotel. As a backup, I am going to book you for an early flight to Atlanta tomorrow morning. From there, you can take a morning flight to Norfolk. That is the best I can do,” the service woman said. I asked her once more if there was anything sooner, and she said there was not. I knew I just had to accept my circumstance and go with it.

I waited at the gate for the standby flight. I ate my dinner and used my phone. Thankfully, they also had a television. That flight ended up being delayed. By 10:30 p.m., they were all boarded and the attendant stated that there was no more room. This left me and three other people stranded. We searched the airport for an open customer service desk so that we could get a hotel room. None of the desks was open.

Finally, we went to baggage claim, where they told us they could not get us a hotel room. I attempted to argue that we had been promised a hotel and meal vouchers, but they would not hear of it. One of the women I was with did get the vouchers, so we went back and pleaded our case. They eventually issued us hotel and meal vouchers, but the hotel vouchers did not work. By the time we called the hotel, all the rooms were full. It was now about 1 a.m. Sunday morning. We had to be back at customer service at 3 a.m. when it opened.

I decided to try to lie down on a bench. After attempting to rest, I eventually got up and roamed around, because the bench felt like a pile of rocks. Fortunately, the women I was with were humorous and positive. We all kept each other from getting upset.

While walking around, I was able to find half of an abstinent breakfast. I asked for ice, and I transformed the front of my backpack into a cooler. Since it was only 3 a.m., I did not want to eat my breakfast yet. I also had to find the other parts of my breakfast. I was confident that I could find more food when the other restaurants opened.

When it was time to go through security for my morning flight, I walked by some restaurants and put together the rest of my meal, which I was able to eat on the plane.

God was with me the whole time. I kept him with me, and he let me know that I was going to be okay, no matter what. After another small delay, I finally arrived at my boyfriend’s apartment—almost 24 hours after I had left my home the previous day, but I arrived abstinent!