For my return flight home, the auditor had a flight at 2, and mine was scheduled for 7:45. I anticipated having some more time to kill at the airport, and this time I went into it with a bit of a plan.
Hour One (12:30-1:30)
The first thing I did upon arrival to the airport (after dropping the auditor off at the terminal) was drive around to return the rental car. Then I waited for the second shuttle because the first one was over crowded, and, as it turns out, I wasn’t in that big of a hurry. There was an Inn at the Rental Car Station for my Wizards Unite game, so I sat there patiently reloading my energy (which, during this experience, became completely full for the first time since I originally downloaded the game–yay!). I finally made it to the Delta terminal around 1:30. One hour down, six to go.
Hour Two (1:30-2:30)
The first thing I wanted to do was actually check out the 9/11 Memorial–not just glance at it from above–and so I did. It was pretty small, and appears to be dedicated to only the people who were in the planes, not the people who may have been in the towers, but it was pretty impactful to see all the names.
The memorial was across the road from a Hilton Hotel which had a nice walking path, so I also took an opportunity to explore that. You know, since I wasn’t in a hurry to go anywhere.
Hours Three and Four (2:30 – 4:30)
Turns out after all that walking I was getting pretty hungry, so I spent the next hour relaxing at the bar, enjoying some french fries. I also ordered some chicken tenders, but they were… less enjoyable.
After eating I meandered back to the Delta terminal, making sure to track my steps and collect the foundables along the way. Along the way I passed an art gallery (of which I took a picture of the description) and a whole wall dedicated to people’s mental health wins from the local hospital. I also found what someone told me is a pay phone? For people who don’t have cell phones? Weird, lol.
Hour Five (4:30-5:30)
Shortly before 4:30 I made my way to security and got a seat near my gate around 4:50. At 5:05 I got the wonderful alert below. Now, for those of you who don’t know, I am notorious for my bad luck at getting home on time when I fly places. It is so bad that when my coworkers are delayed they send out a mass email saying that the “Krista Curse has struck again” Rude, right? So, needless to say, I wasn’t super surprised by this turn of events. I was a little unnerved at the idea of arriving to Detroit at 10:27 though, because my flight from Detroit to Grand Rapids was leaving at 10:30. I silently resigned myself to the idea that I was going to be hanging out in Detroit overnight.
Hours Six and Seven (5:30-7:30)
I spent the next couple hours watching Vlogbrothers videos, listening to SciShow Tangents, and talking to my mother. Also waiting for my plane to arrive so that I could go sit in a different airport. At around 7:15 I went to find something to eat for dinner and arrived back to my seat just after 7:30.
Hour Eight (7:30-8:30)
By this point, I was done. I no longer wanted to be sitting at the airport. And as luck would have it, just as I sat down with my dinner, I received this alert.
That is correct, the gate changed! Wonderful! I packed up all my things and migrated to the other side of the airport terminal to await my flight home.
Hour Nine (8:30 – 9:30)
This was it, guys! Shortly after 8:30 they began to board the plane, and just before 9:30 we finally were up in the air and on our way to Detroit, after spending only 9 hours hanging out at the Boston Logan Airport. Yay!
The rest of the evening
I will save you the minute-by-minute play-by-play, but suffice it to say that my flight to Detroit was uneventful. And in an incredibly lucky turn of events the plane that I was on from Boston was actually the plane that was going to take us to Grand Rapids. And so I got home. I got home at 2:11 in the morning instead of the anticipated 11:38, but I got home. I got to sleep in my own bed, and not worry about getting up to catch another plane in the morning. And that, my friends, is the best feeling in the world.
Krista M. Doud 