I am officially back home and law school classes have started up again. The holidays went really well and I've been fortunate enough to see most of the people I had been missing during my time abroad.
Getting back to the U.S. from Ireland was quite a feat, due to all the bad weather in Europe. I really believe it was a Christmas miracle that I actually made it back in time to spend the holidays with my family and friends.
On Tuesday, December 21st I was scheduled on the 1:00 p.m. flight from Dublin to Chicago, where I would then get a connecting flight home. I had made it all the way through security, customs, and immigration and was waiting at the terminal gate. Just as we were getting ready to board the airplane, they said the flight was being delayed because it had started snowing faster than they could clear the runways, etc.
After several hours of being "delayed", we suddenly heard announcements over the speakers that passengers on canceled flights should leave the airport and re-book their flights online. It was only then that we saw on the departures board that they decided to cancel our flight.
On my way to reclaiming my luggage, I called Steve and asked for his help in getting my flight re-booked. At the same time, a couple suggested to me that I go and try talking to an agent in person, even though they were telling us we should leave. As I waited in line, Steve called to tell me that the earliest flights he could get me out on (without having to pay at least $2000) was on Sunday, December 26th -- meaning I would be spending Christmas alone in Ireland. I decided to wait in the line anyways to talk with an agent in person and see if there was any other possible solution.
I finally saw an agent after 4 hours in line and there was essentially nothing else they could do for me. He even said I was lucky at that point to be on the Sunday flight because other people were already getting pushed to flights that didn't leave until January 1st! He did say that I could try coming to get on standby though - but that if I took any flight to the U.S. other than the one to Chicago, I would be responsible for getting my own connecting ticket home.
I waited another hour in the line where they were giving out rooms at nearby hotels. When I spoke to that agent, she saw how upset I was by the idea that I wouldn't get home until after Christmas. She suggested that I come back to the airport at 6:00 a.m. the next morning and beg/plead/cry/etc. to try and get on standby.
The silver lining of the ordeal was that they put me up in a really swank hotel and even gave us free dinner and breakfast. I missed the free breakfast, however, because I had a taxi pick me up at 5:15 a.m. to head back to the airport.
The woman who put me down on the standby list said I had a good chance of getting on the flight to Chicago because of all the other passengers who wouldn't make their connecting flights in from many other parts of Europe. However, I later found out I was number 26 on the list!
Trying to make a long story shorter, with only thirty minutes before the plane was scheduled to take-off for Chicago, my name finally got called off the stand-by list. I was so excited that I literally ran through the airport to make sure I didn't get left behind.
When I arrived in Chicago there were a number of other problems that cropped up and almost forced me to spend the night there, but ultimately I arrived home that night around 9:30 p.m. It was a good thing I got out of Dublin when I did too, because the airport was closed again the next day due to weather.
