The day started off at 7:30 am when my cell phone alarm clock went off. Out of habit I found the snooze button without opening my eyes. Wait! Today is the day! I rolled off my flattened air mattress onto the hardwood floor.
My day looked like this: drive my loaded car to the storage unit and drop off the stuff, go to church, drop off my spare car keys to the dealership where I had sold my car, lunch with Debbie, store to buy last minute things, mail bills, finish packing, time with neighbors (?), shower, load the car with the last load for storage, drop off at storage, and get to Burbank airport in time for my 8:45 pm flight. Sounds do-able, right?
Well let's just say not a lot about this adventure planning has been easy. And that, my friends, is how I know I was meant to go. After lunch with Deb and shopping is where I go off schedule. "Finish packing" is not a small feat. You see, somehow that tiny apartment held more crap than I could ever imagine. And in the midst of trying to figure out a game plan, "super hot boat neighbor" comes over to say good-bye. While on any other day of my life I would have been ecstatic about this, at this point I couldn't figure out now to make him leave! I mean the clock was ticking and there were plenty of other hot guys with accents waiting in OZ.
By 5:30pm I decided to start loading everything into trash bags. I must have thrown 7 trash bags of once valued possessions into dumpster. No time to care. So now I had two boxes and a few other large items load into the car. I yelled for the neighbor guys and knocked on their doors. No answer. After a frantic call to Mom, I decide I'm going to try to hurl these boxes down the stairs myself. No go. It's 6pm now. I yell at an older man on the sidewalk, "Sir can you PLEASE help me with this box?" The old guy puts out his cigarette and struggles down the stairs with my box. I hug him. Bless you sir! Just then one of my neighbors comes out and asks if I need help. Yes! I'm in tears! I'm going to miss my flight! He and his lovely girlfriend help pack my car in minutes. I hugged them both and dropped my car key into a huge drainage ditch. Only it doesn't fall all the way in. Somehow it balances on the incline. That's a God thing.
I get all the way to PCH and realize I didn't turn in my apartment keys. I turn around and head back to drop off the keys. It's 6:30pm now. Next stop, storage unit. I'm in and out of there in 15 minutes.
By 7:15 I was on the freeway headed north. I call sweet Mom again to have her Google directions to the Burbank airport. She gives me step by step instructions, 605 N to 5N, exit San Fernando. Seems simple enough since most of that route was my daily route to work. Good thing, because my phone battery was dying. I drove for quite a while looking for a San Fernando exit. I noticed I had passed all Burbank exits. I call Mom again. There is no San Fernando exit! It is almost 8pm. I turn around and drive until I see "Bob Hope Airport next 2 exits". I choose one. I call Mom again. Where do I take the rental car? This is my punishment for relying so heavily on GPS navigation all these years. She hangs up and calls Enterprise to find out. While I'm trying to preserve phone battery, I decide to pull into the airport terminal. I see signs for rental car return. Hallelujah! I pull in and see every company name except Enterprise. Just then Mom calls back and I burst into tears again. It is now 8:05pm and I still need to check luggage. She tells me to calm down. The Enterprise lady told her I can drop the car off at Alamo. Bless her! I turn around and park at Alamo. I jump out of the car, gab my bags and yell at the overwhelmed car attendant "Sir, I have to go!" He yells back "leave the key and contract in the car!" Done.
Thank God Burbank airport is dinky! It is a very short distance to the United Airlines counter. I run in and the ticket agent literally rolls her eyes and says "we have ANOTHER late one AND she has luggage" A-holes. She can't promise myself or my luggage will make it. Tears again. She calls someone and tells me she will have to carry my luggage to the plane herself. I feel terrible but thankful. It is 8:20pm. She tells me to run, they have already boarded. I run full speed to security, which winds up being 30 feet away. Man this place is small. I fumble to find my liquids and computer. Security can tell I had been crying. I am the only person in the security line. They tell me to calm down and assure me my flight had not boarded. I calm down and take my time. When I get through security, my gate is 20 feet away. They announce last call for boarding as I notice I am the only person in the airport. I made it! I also stop feeling guilty for the lady who had to carry my bag 50 feet to make it on the flight.
When I get yo my seat I call Mom one last time to tell her I made it. Cell phone battery dies. Then an announcement from the pilot. We need to exit the plane due to at least a one hour delay for takeoff. Bad weather in San Francisco, where I connect for my Sydney flight. Believe it or not, I tear up again. The lady next me has a similar reaction. We both laugh. What else can you do?
We exit the plane and line up at the service desk to figure out connecting flights. It hits me. I am in no hurry. I have nowhere to be. I no longer have a home or car. Cool.
The service agent tells my to try to catch my Sydney flight, if and when we get to San Francisco. There are no other flights to Sydney tonight. We re-board the plane and take-off 45 minutes late. We land at 10:40. My Sydney flight leaves at 10:59. When we land I run like Forest Gump. My whole life in my backpack on my back, holding a koala pillow, and my lungs are burning. It is quite a distance to the international terminal. I find the gate and yell from the top of the escalator, "wait for me!" I made it! A security guard chased me down the jetway with my cosmetic case that had fallen out of my backpack. Bless him, too!
I finally get to my seat, physically and mentally exhausted. I can totally sleep for the next 14 hours. Then the announcement, free booze on this flight! I can sleep when I'm dead!
