I was really looking forward for my semester to end so that i can escape to California to my sister’s place. Had i known that i ‘ll be going through all this shit… i would have give it an another thought.
Not that I didn't have fun in my semester. It was always fun making new friends, getting into a new place, learning their culture, eating new kind of food (McD rocks!) But there also situations where I was so frustrated as I know I was not up to the mark in my class, ……assignments which are supposed to be fun is never the same with me. To me its like a ticking dynamite. My work as a Research Assistant to my proff was very slow and i was guilty about that. It was an easy job but i was so winded with other things that I was very slow in completing my tasks. Luckily my professor is a very nice guy and he seems to understand me. But its not the same case with Mr. V who is taking my independent study. I am pretty sure he knew I was skipping his work as I am working at another place and now I regret for taking that IS in the first place :( He is not happy and neither am I.
Then came the finals. Two projects, two presentations and one demo…. but all on the same day!! as my flight to Irvine was on the same date. I made a big mistake of booking my ticket before hand. Postponing will cost me like 170$ which i don't think is a better choice anyway.. so I preponed all my finals to 15th Dec. I was literally living on coffee to finish up my projects. No sleep for 4 days straight (just taking small naps on my desk). But finally made up my projects and gave some crappy presentations (Mr. V was not happy with my presentation either).
Heck with the grades! now I had a flight to catch! So ran up to my home, opened my bag …placed my Xbox 360 and then threw couple of jeans and tees on it. Lot of things were running on my mind at that time. I lost my IPod somewhere in the living room and that is bugging me as I hate travelling without having music on my ears. Memory stick in my camera is screwed somehow and now it was just lying lifeless in my bag. My stomach is crumbling something as I didn't eat anything the whole day. At that moment I realize my passport was missing!! Damn… I start searching everywhere and after an intense combing operation found that stupid thing in my bag!! See?? how frustrating!!
I opened my laptop and searched Google maps to find bus route to airport as I still have 2 more hrs left to catch my flight. There was 10 more mins to catch my 1st bus. So run-sid-run!!! There’s lot of snow on the footpath and I was not sure if i can catch the bus. So ran on the road and made it to my stop. 5mins more for the bus… watched kids playing in the snow… wished I had snow at my place while i was a kid… trying hard to keep my eyes open. Bus arrives.
Nothing much on the bus except pinching myself to stay awake. Reached the airport and checked in. The security guy asks me if there was any Xbox or PS3 in my bag. I was worried as I donno what that means.. (Now am I not allowed to take in flight? no! not again) “Sir, just take it out and keep it along with your laptop. We scan electronics separately” Thanks god! While opening my bag the guard was like “WTF!” seeing my stuff or what others call garbage!
Ate a hearty burger at Burger-King and made friendship with an older Vietnamese lady. Finally at 4.30pm, when I reached my gate and thought –this is it, the lady at the counter said the US-airways flight is delayed as there was some technical issues with it and gave another ticket for a delta flight which is supposed to flight at 8.30pm :( Now the waiting game…. cannot sleep yet as I don't trust myself awaking on time if i doze. Opened my laptop hooked in ear buds and watched “Un prophète” a french movie and when its time i went to the new gate that was assigned to Delta. Fun is not yet over! Flight is already gone!! WTF! How can the flight go when I was on time? It seems US airways printed wrong time on my itinerary :( There was no flight after 8.30 to Longbeach or Orange county. Hearing my case Delta guys issued new ticket for the next day morning 11.30 am. Now its like 9.15 and i don't have Bus to go back home till 10.20 Pm . More waiting! Its freaking cold outside maybe like –5C and my hands are freezing on my way back to my room. Man! I am supposed to be in Irvine now dining with my Sis and Bro-in-law! Back in my room was so tired but my roommate made chicken and a glass of Ice wine (an offer you cant refuse! ) And it was like 2 am when I crashed, which is a very bad sign.
I don't remember who woke me up the next morning but panic stuck when i looked at my watch. its 10.30!!! Bad luck is still haunting me…. No way I can catch flight on bus, so made a call to cab service and they promised me to be in 10-15 mins. Its 10.00 am when Cab arrived. Now this cab driver is awesome! I told him about my situation and he spoke like “peter parker” before he is delivers pizza. But on road he as slow as snail! He keeps pointing at the speed limit when I point at the watch. 10.20! and he is still expecting Tip?? I ran to the security check and sadly they sent me back to get my boarding pass. Now I am doomed and gave up.
No! don’t expect something happening that miraculously saves my day. Nope! nothing happened. Delta charged me 50$ to change my ticket to the next one which is at 2 pm.
3.10pm: In John Wayne Airport (SNA), Orange County, California.
Now “Welcome to California”?? Really???
