And we are...off?!

The day has arrived. The bag is packed, the backpack is ready, and I moved through the day with anxious excitement. Then mid-day the first of a few bumps occurred and made me wonder if all the pieces would fall into place...will I get to Kathmandu in time to meet up with the others?

First I received an email from the airline about my second leg, "we regret to inform you the flight has been rescheduled." Uh...i refuse to succumb to panic, and I read on. Then again. Then again because I think I must have misread the message. But no, the date and time of the "reschedule" is the same as the original flight. Still, my stress level is rising and I am suspicious. I do what any technophile would do, I use the Internet to search every possible site which will give me an update on this flight; every source lists this flight as departing as scheduled. I am relatively calmed by this consistent message.

Then the bestie (aka the Diva) calls to check-in, "did you see the news about Paris? Is your flight going to be delayed or cancelled?" Uh...huh? I guess I am not quite the technophile I boasted about above as I hadn't been checking my Twitter, Facebook, Periscope, or the multitude of other apps available to keep me up-to-the-minute on world events. Truth be told I don't have all that many social media or news apps and the ones I have are all banned from sending me notifications. Which means I am always hours behind on the breaking news of the day; I am quite content with this way of life. Back to the bestie and her catching me up to the tragic events in Paris. My mind reeled; violence, death, hostages, a closed French border, and a president calling a state of emergency. 

The rest of the afternoon I followed the news and not-quite obsessively checked my flight status. Then the time came to head off to the airport via a shared van ride. 10 minute passed beyond the "pick-up window," and I checked the status online, the van appeared to be at least 30 minutes away. Sometimes the app is off though and other times it lags behind so I waited another 5 minutes. Then I called to find out the ETA. "Ah yes we are a little behind but it is only 12 miles away. Sigh...12 miles is nothing in a rural community or at 3am in a bad part of town, but here that means at least 30 minutes away. I spoke to 3 different people and was one hold at least 5 times; between times 4 and 5 of being on hold I called a taxi. Then I cancelled the van because it was now 40 minutes late and still 20 minutes away. Calm set in as I slide into the backseat.

At the airport I learned flights 1 and 2 are on time, and 3 will depart 10 minutes late. Here's a question, why does an airline delay a flight by 10 minutes when it isn't set to depart for over 24 hours? How do they know it needs to be delayed? How did they arrive at 10 minutes specifically? 

Now is am waiting to board. 

Will all the pieces fall into place? We shall see...