A Hellish Day

On Thursday, October 10, 2019, I would travel to California to see my family and attend a 90th birthday party. The day before I was to leave the temperature was 84 degrees and then the temperature began to drop. Snow was predicted so instead of driving, I decided to ride the RTD bus from a location about twenty miles from my home. Not knowing if conditions would be bad, I got up at one in the morning and by three I was headed to the Park and Ride in Northglenn. There was a mild drizzle, the temperature was not freezing, and there was no traffic. I arrived at the bus stop in about twenty-five minutes, about an hour ahead of schedule.

Since I had an hour to kill, I looked for a Starbucks but could not find any. Strange, when I am not looking for one I see them all over, practically on every corner!. I did find a Circle K and as I got out of the car to purchase a bottle of water I saw a penny on the damp ground. I picked the penny up and had a feeling that my son was going to travel with me!

I returned to the parking lot and waited for the bus in the warmth of my car. I seemed to be the only one alive in the silent world. The bus arrived about ten minutes before the scheduled time to depart at 4:49 a.m. so I got out of the car and purchased a parking ticket from a machine. Ten dollars was a bargain for the six days I would be gone compared to the eight dollars a day at the airport. The bus cost me a senior rate of $5.25.

Right on schedule the bus began its route on 104th Avenue and the surprise came to me when we stopped to pick up passengers. I had thought it was a direct route to the airport but it wasn't. By the time we arrived at the airport the bus was full of DIA workers. I was the only traveler on the bus!

The bus stopped below The Westin DIA Hotel and I could see that it is a regular bus terminal below in the guts of the Westin. It was cold as I rode the long escalator that would take me to the airport terminal. The security line was outrageous with the end of the line being in baggage claim. We crept along, passed the sniffing dogs, and finally made it through the security lines. I had ten minutes before the gates closed. My boarding pass showed that my gate was A60.

I rushed to find my gate and walking as fast as I could down a deserted hall I arrived at Gate 60 and found the whole area deserted. I hurried back to the main terminal and looked on the Departure and Arrival Board under John Wayne and Santa Ana but my flight was not listed. I went to Customer Service and inquired about my flight. It had already departed and if I wanted to get the next flight leaving at 5:33 p.m I needed to buy another ticket for $119. The snarky young woman was not friendly and she appeared bored as she answered my questions in a abrupt manner. She did not give me a receipt and I did not think to ask for one.

With so much time to kill, I decided to ride the bus back to my car, go home, take a nap and around one o'clock repeat catching the bus and returning to DIA. I purchased another bus ticket and began the bus ride to my car. By then the snow was coming down and the bus slid twice as I watched through the window as cars slipped and slid on the icy roads. I mentioned my plan to the driver and he suggested I return to the airport because the snow might get worse and on my return to the lot I might not find a place to park. I returned to the airport. I would have a long wait, about eight hours, before my flight would leave for California.

I texted friends, I ate, I walked, I shopped, I read, I dozed and read the Arrival & Departure boards to make sure my flight was not cancelled. Some flights were cancelled and I counted over 200 persons  waiting in line to speak with Frontier's Customer Service!

I was happy when we boarded the plane and flew out of DIA and arrived in California a couple of hours later! It was a long day for me but as the saying goes, "All's well that ends well!"

Airplane travel is nature's

way of making you look 

like your passport photo!"

Al Gore