The Worst Trip Ever
As I drove to pick up my husband and son at the airport last night, I was reminded of my worst trip ever. The actual “trip” part in the middle of our travel was wonderful, but the travel to and from were just horrible.
My daughter and I were going from Philadelphia to Denver Airport with a rental car drive from Denver to Colorado Springs. I had only taken this trip once with my husband a few years prior, but the drive from the airport to my sister’s house didn’t seem to be too difficult, and it would still be light out when we got there, so I figured I could handle it. I was certainly nervous about my first flight alone with one of our children, especially with getting a rental and the drive, but hey, you have to grow up sometime!
The first hiccup in our trip came when our departing flight was delayed by about an hour. This was no big deal as far as waiting was concerned, but now we would be arriving after sunset. So much for it still being light out. The second hiccup presented itself as we walked into the rental office and saw that everyone and their mother were renting cars from the same company that night. About 45 minutes of waiting later, Kallie and I walked outside to “inspect” our rental car as we were told to. This was not an easy task considering there were barely any lights in the parking lot and I had to use the flashlight on my cell phone. Inspection completed, I started the car and made my way out of the parking lot and onto the road.
Once I got onto the highway, I noticed that the headlights seemed to barely light up the road. I kept leaning over the steering wheel to see the lines on the road and was feeling quite uncomfortable. What the heck was wrong with these headlights! To make matters worse, this rental was not the fanciest of cars, and I could not get my phone to hook up to it so we could use the GPS. Instead, I had to have my daughter-my 10-year-old daughter- read the directions to me, because not only could I not hook it up, but for some reason it wasn’t talking to me either.
I drove along, trying my best to see in front of me and try not to let my anxiety get the best of me, as Kallie read the directions as they came up. Then I hear her say, “It says to go off this exit now.”
WHAT? I had about 15 seconds before the next exit to decide if I should follow this direction. This was not the way it was originally telling us to go. Against what was probably better judgement, I decided to stay on the highway. I just didn’t feel comfortable taking a different exit.
About 10 minutes later, I realized I had made the wrong choice. All of a sudden, we found ourselves at a complete stop on the interstate. All I could see in front of me were the two trucks in my lane and the lane next to me. We sat, and sat, and sat and my anxiety creeped up and up and up. What in the world was happening? Was the road closed? How long would we be stuck here? I began thinking about things like how we had no more water, no napkins or paper towels for possible pit stop use and no food. Not even a peanut.
I couldn’t let my daughter see my fear (or see any more than what I was probably already showing) so I tried my best to keep it together. For no more than moral support since he was about one thousand miles away, I called my husband to tell him what was happening. He wase empathetic, but unable to help. I called my mom and sister to let them know what was happening and to see if they could find out any information on the news or Facebook or something… but they could not.
After some time had passed, I told my daughter to try to sleep as it was now about 11:30 pm, and I braced myself for a long wait. Then, by the grace of God, the cars began to move again. I have no idea what happened. There was no sign of an accident or construction or anything else, but who cared, we were back on our way!
I would love to say that we then arrived at my sister’s house, the rest of our trip was just perfect, but unfortunately, as soon as I was back on the road again to go home, my worst trip ever continued.
Our flight home was already a late one with a takeoff time of around 10pm. I was once again driving at night with headlights that barely worked (or perhaps I just didn’t turn them all the way on but kept them in park mode, we will never know) and then, it began to pour. I mean, it poured buckets. Between the water on my windshield and the lack of light in front of me, I didn’t think I was going to make it. I must have been driving at about 10 miles per hour. To make matters worse, again, I couldn’t pull over and wait because at this point on the road, there WAS construction and the shoulders were closed. Can’t make this stuff up, right?
With extreme caution, I continued my drive through the downpour, praying we would make it. Luckily, it only rained for about fifteen minutes, and the rest of the drive was event free. I wish I could say ‘the end’, but wait, there’s more.
I was so relieved when we had returned our rental and finally walked into our terminal…until I saw the board.
'Flight blah blah blah DELAYED’. Not an hour, but two hours. So now our flight leaves at 12pm, and we would be waiting for about 4 hours total. I thought we might just find a restaurant and sit for a while eating desert, but wouldn’t you know it, nothing but the market is open at the Denver airport past 9pm.
Is that the end you ask? It is not. Our flight continued to get delayed with a final departure time of about 3am. I was so glad my poor girl was able to fall asleep in the airport, her little head on her backpack, and again on the flight. I myself did not sleep a wink. Plastic seats on our cheap Frontier flight do not make for a comfortable snooze. I’m pretty sure when my dad picked us up, I looked more like a zombie than his daughter.
Looking back, I am very proud of both of us for working through all of this difficulty and coming out mostly unscathed. If it weren’t for the wonderful time spent with my newborn niece, I would have regretted my decision to make this solo parent trip, but I would do it again for her!
