{"sf1_id":2134104,"sf2_id":"rm8QqZDn","title":"All The Stresses From A Previously Unplanned Stop","author":"Apolarbear17","words":1342,"posted_at":"2024-05-10T03:54:02.000Z","tags":["Flight","Food","Home","Inconveniences","Return Trip","Rushing","Unexpected Cancellation","Vent Poetry","delays","stress","travel"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/2134104-all-the-stresses-from-a-previously-unplanned-stop","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/rm8QqZDn","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/56/d3/56d351bb-06a6-4e26-9e2a-094cef669205","description":"Back in May of a few years ago back I took a trip to Arizona. Getting there wasn’t too bad and I had a good time when I got there   \nwhich I’ve actually already made a poem about. Getting back however was a considerably rougher time that I had some trouble   \nputting into words when I first wrote this, delaying this poem for a while back then. Still I managed to post it then and now I’m   \nposting the story of that return trip and my grumbling about it here. Originally wrote and posted this in August 2022.","content":"All The Little Stresses From A Previously Unplanned Stop \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;By: A.X. Bueno\n\n  \n\nYou were supposed to leave this evening and arrive with plenty of time left the next day\u0026nbsp;\n\nBut suddenly that booked flight got canceled and you're leaving tomorrow instead\n\nYou'd be getting back with barely a few hours to prepare for work and that fills you with dread\n\nYou probably wouldn't make it but you need to or else you'd waste an unnecessary day\u0026nbsp;\n\nSo you decide to check for better options to get back sooner and also call to see what others say\u0026nbsp;\n\nYou find that almost every option including what they rebooked you for includes an extra stop\u0026nbsp;\n\nWhereas before it was a straight flight back home and a quicker trip with no plane swap\u0026nbsp;\n\nBut now you're just hoping to make it back by tomorrow and instead getting technical issues\n\nAs the flights you actually want come and go with errors encountered and nervous about what you could lose\u0026nbsp;\n\nBut you do get one and then spend several hours getting error messages as you try to do early check in\u0026nbsp;\n\nYou want things to go as well as they can but you waste several stressful hours to be sure you're good to go and your flight has yet to begin\u0026nbsp;\n\nYou planned to leave tonight but you get extra to try to unwind but there's a bit of anxiousness still there\n\nYou still have an extra stop to get home and they changed your flight once they could do it again without care\u0026nbsp;\n\nBut no this time your choice of flight stays but notice a downgrade\u0026nbsp;\n\nYou were supposed to be in first class as some kind of compensation but at least the important change was made\u0026nbsp;\n\nYou'll wait till the morning to get there and see if you can get that back\u0026nbsp;\n\nMorning comes and you hope things go smooth as you have a plan of negotiation and attack\u0026nbsp;\n\nAfter one last breakfast you make it to your gate and wait for anyone at the desk to appear\u0026nbsp;\n\nWhen they do you do your best to make your case about getting a better seat class and make them hear\u0026nbsp;\n\nThey eventually bump you up a class though not first but that's okay\u0026nbsp;\n\nThey also check in your bag at the desk too happy that you didn't just downplay\u0026nbsp;\n\nYou got what you wanted and then the plane actually on time arrives\u0026nbsp;\n\nYou board it and then when you get to the assigned seat what you thought was your luck changing nosedives\u0026nbsp;\n\nTurns out thanks to some minor malfunction your seat has changed and no one bothered to tell\u0026nbsp;\n\nThey assigned you a seat that was known to be unavailable and let you think things were well\u0026nbsp;\n\nThat everything was taken care and you argue over it and bring up all the inconveniences past\u0026nbsp;\n\nUltimately it doesn't matter and after some time and explanation you're stuck in the seat that's the very last\u0026nbsp;\n\nAlong with two others in that same seat row you wait as there's a delay to taking off\u0026nbsp;\n\nAfter a little over a half hour and an extra bag of chips as compensation which you accept but also internally scoff\u0026nbsp;\n\nFor all this worry and headache that and a hotel voucher you didn't need seemed to be your reward\u0026nbsp;\n\nAnd while the flight is long at least there's stuff to do and watch so you're not bored\n\nAfter several hours and a trip through three or so time zones you're back on the ground\n\nBut this is only a layover stop and a whole new gate in this unfamiliar airport must soon be found\n\nAnd of course with your luck as it is so far it's at the very end of this airport so off you bound\u0026nbsp;\n\nYou were hoping to get something to eat but you want to make sure you make it with time left\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;You figured there'd be some decent food places to get something by your gate as time's pressure develops more heft\u0026nbsp;\n\nBut instead what you find is lines and food that may be decent but you don't know\u0026nbsp;\n\nEverything here is either unfamiliar or would take time and this makes your anxiousness grow\u0026nbsp;\n\nAs you're uncertain of how much time you have\u0026nbsp;\n\nBefore you start boarding since back to the waiting area you still have to nav\n\nYou're uncertain and think you won't have enough time\n\nSo instead you try to get that compensation earlier denied by waiting at the desk line\u0026nbsp;\n\nBut surprisingly no one is there and you're flight should be boarding and departing really soon\u0026nbsp;\n\nSo you pace and wait and wonder if you'll have time after all while standing on what's less a line and more a disorganized, hoping to get going platoon\u0026nbsp;\n\nAfter a while of waiting with no sign of help coming you step away to text and call for advice\u0026nbsp;\n\nYou discuss the whole crazy situation over\n\nAnd how you wish among other things that their timing was concise\n\nAfter waiting till a few minutes past when you were supposed to leave you decide to slip over\n\nTo a little convenience store that's nearby inside since you should have left and yet they still won't announce the delay\n\nAfter a bit of back and forth you buy a wrap and some chips after a worrying wait\u0026nbsp;\n\nWith a plan to eat it on the plane's tray\n\nTurns out that you would have had the time but at least a delayed time was announced\u0026nbsp;\n\nAfter so long of being jounced around and then helping someone get something on it soon enough you're on the plane home\u0026nbsp;\n\nWhile you wait for it to start moving you dig into your bag, for lunch you comb through\u0026nbsp;\n\nIt's late, past 8 now so you eat and finish fast\u0026nbsp;\n\nAs you sit and wait to move and leave this southern biome behind\u0026nbsp;\n\nIt takes a little while but soon you're off and you think of how back in Arizona you had a blast\u0026nbsp;\n\nYou're in the back of the plane again though this time you had no chance to have whined\u0026nbsp;\n\nThough you don't think it would have been whining considering you've been through a lot\u0026nbsp;\n\nStill you have a good, considerably shorter flight and at almost an hour before midnight you land\u0026nbsp;\n\nAn exit now is all that is sought\u0026nbsp;\n\nBut before you head out of the airport you have to make sure you have your luggage in hand\u0026nbsp;\n\nYou walk to baggage claim as you have so many times in this airport before\u0026nbsp;\n\nRelieved to be back home again, tonight instead of tomorrow as you worried\u0026nbsp;\n\nBut still your return trip home decides to hit you with one inconvenience more\u0026nbsp;\n\nThere is a delay with the luggage getting to where you are so you stand around and wait unhurried\u0026nbsp;\n\nIt's a bit of a longer wait but while an annoyance eventually things move again with ease\u0026nbsp;\n\nWith some time and vigilance you grab your bag and finally make it to the exit pleased\n\nWell you thought it was one inconvenience more but it almost becomes two\u0026nbsp;\n\nAs your taxi driver and his dispatcher start arguing leaving you unsure what to do\u0026nbsp;\n\nUnsure because they're arguing over if he's supposed to be in the spot to be able to take you\u0026nbsp;\n\nAfter a few minutes the two agree that you're good to go\n\nYou're relieved as you enjoy a smooth ride back home and you return to what you know\u0026nbsp;\n\nYou set your stuff down and then almost immediately flop into bed\u0026nbsp;\n\nYou're able to finally relax by yourself\n\nKnowing you'll have plenty to take care of over the next few things\u0026nbsp;\n\nYou really wish you had gotten home yesterday but that's already in the past\u0026nbsp;\n\nAnd all you have now to show for all this trouble getting back is some points you can turn into cash\u0026nbsp;\n\nBut the trip was definitely worth it you think as you collapse, happy that you could get away\u0026nbsp;"}