Alone For The Night

In Burlington, Vermont, a week before Thanksgiving, I sat in a nearly vacant building, where normally 200+ people made their lodgings. I had signed up for a flight home on Sunday because it was cheaper. I was at college, in my dorm, alone, because I wanted to save money [and *spoiler alert* I didn't save money, I spent more than had I gone on Friday like everyone else].

Apparently I was way behind in the news but you weren't supposed to stay in the dorms after Friday afternoon. I intended on staying till Sunday afternoon so clearly the school and I had different expectations about how my weekend would play out and neither of us were right. I thought I'd stay in my dorm that I paid [/parents paid] an astronomical amount to sleep in for a semester. My school thought I'd go home on Friday because they gave me a week off [me and everyone else at the college - no preferential treatment though my ego tells me I deserve it].

What ended up happening went something like this:

Thursday, I'm hanging out with my friend, let's call her Alli for simplicity's sake [because that is indeed her name or nickname], and she asks me what I'm doing for the weekend since I'm not going home right away on Friday like the other 10000+ people on campus who got the message.

"I'm going to stay in my dorm" was what I thought was the obvious answer, why would I waste money doing something else?

This is when I find out that they're closing the dorms Friday, but maybe I can find a way to stay an extra night if I smooth talk my way into it because the forms were due 2 weeks before.

Pretty soon thereafter I was on the other side of campus pleading with The Room & Board administrator and finally she let up and gives me the form after I proved that I was pretty screwed since I had no living arrangements anywhere within 250 miles of the school [this wasn't a request I had to prove - I just had to show her my later-date plane ticket - it's just the way it was].

The form says I can stay till 10 AM Saturday and I figure, they can't force me out of the room, as long as I'm sneaky, I can probably stay the whole weekend as long as I stack up on food and never leave my room (until of course I needed to get on the plane).

Friday night I video chat with my girlfriend, as I did every day and come to the realization that I'm one of maybe a hundred people on this enormous campus and within my own building, I'm one of maybe three, aside from maybe two or three RAs who were left behind to check the rooms the following morning.

By 10AM Saturday I have all my stuff together and I chicken out on the whole: sneak-through-the-building-and-stay-the-weekend plan.

I head to the library and decide to kill a few hours by borrowing a book or two and surfing the web. The night before I had found a motel with the cheapest/least-dirty combo and it was several miles away and while I could walk it, I decided a bus was more feasible because anyone who's been as far north as Vermont, a month before winter starts, knows that it can get pretty chilly.

After five or six hours at the library it was time to get on the bus and I got to the stop about 30 minutes early. I kept seeing buses from the same company and followed them hoping to get onto that bus and just wait the extra loop out because at least I'd be warm - this following vehicles that go 10 times faster than you plan didn't really pan out and instead I missed my bus and ended up waiting an hour.

It wasn't absolutely frigid because at least it was noon and the sun was high in the sky but the wind wouldn't let up. Once on the bus everything fell together smoothly.

I got to the motel, signed in, went to my room, watched hours of TV only to stop for food/bathroom breaks or to go to the vending machines. Night-time rolled around and I called my girlfriend, we talked, I watched more TV and then I went to sleep. The following morning I had to leave at 11 because that's sign-out time at the motel and I didn't want to be charged an extra night.

Finally it's Sunday, the day of my flight. I'm cheap, of course, so I didn't want to waste my money on any extra costs and so I decided to walk the three miles, luggage et al, to the airport.

The walk wasn't too bad, but it was a tad exhausting. I let Google SMS lead me to my destination and fortunately it got me there safe and sound.

Of course my flight wasn't until the afternoon so I had to wait at the airport a while - hours. I had no laptop at this point in my life so this meant: No internet or TV to entertain me, but I had the books. The problem was I am easily distracted by noises so about two hours/3 pages into the book I gave up and just toughed it out.

I went to the restaurant in the airport and got a burger, my food of choice, and watch some TV in there for a while.

Then it was finally the time to get on my flight and I go through security, which of course when I'm in no rush, takes 5 minutes, maybe less.

I sit in the waiting area where two other people are waiting for their flight. As the next hour or two passes more people seep in, until a sizable number of the seats get filled.

You'd think, I'm finally at the airport, everything's good now; but you'd be thinking wrong.

When the plane comes in, there's some problems with the plane. This is of course annoying time-wise but also terrifying - no passenger wants to hear their plane has 'problems'. Eventually, an hour later, they get that resolved but alas that's not the end of it.

Now the head-winds are getting too strong and it's unsafe for planes to fly in the inclement weather so we have to wait more.

Another hour passes and the people start telling us we might not be able to take the plane that night - disconcerting since I already did all this waiting, but still I tough it out.

Eventually they determine it's okay to board the plane, so finally we get on the plane. You'd think everything's fine, I'm on the plane, 30 minutes and I'll take to the air, but alas you'd be wrong again.

At this point the UN has let out and everyone in the UN building has to take a plane to their native country or something along those lines and that means no commercial flights can be in the air. They figure, after 9/11 that all commercial flights in the air are probably impossibly equipped with missiles and technology to allow them to go faster than the jets that the UN members get to use - and of course that our little commercial flight, with all these modifications must also have a deep desire to destroy an international symbol of peace.

A couple hours later we get to take off and finally everything goes according to plan and I get to go home.
Yay!

PS I wrote this late and a tad rushed so sometimes the tenses (past/present) get a little messed up, I tried to fix it but I'm sorry for any errors like that.