Tales of an epic journey (now from Blacksburg)

Chapter 2: LA
We landed in LA, about an hour late. They let people with connecting flights off the plane first, but it was still going to be a rush to make my connection. Going through immigration was actually a fairly simple process, but then I had to wait a little while for my bag. Customs was also simple, but as I rushed to the connections desk, I realised there was very little chance I was going to make my connecting flight to Chicago.

As it turned out, being late was not a problem, because the flight I was going to take was cancelled anyway. I was then given (confusing) directions... and got a little lost. I was very sleep deprived, and needed to be told everything at least twice. Finally, I managed to find where I was supposed to be, and got rebooked onto another flight to Chicago - which would give me about an hour to make my flight to Roanoke.

Then, that flight was also delayed. I began to fret, because I knew that I had arrangements for Dr Riffle to pick me up from the airport in Roanoke. Roaming wasn't working on my mobile, and I couldn't access the wireless internet at the airport. Finally, I remembered that Dr. Riffle's assistant, Angie, had sent me some emails... and that her signature (including phone number) was at the bottom. I bought a phone card, called her, and explained what had happened. She was able to pass on the message to Dr. Riffle, and gave me her cellphone number so I could call once I knew what was happening. After this, I relaxed a little... because I knew I would eventually reach my destination. About this time, we finally boarded for the flight to Chicago.

Chapter 3: Chicago
I slept pretty much the entire flight to Chicago. Landing in Chicago, I figured there was little chance of making the flight to Roanoke, since we landed 10 minutes after my next flight was due to depart. I made my way to the desk for my next flight, where I once more discovered that it didn't matter that I was late, because the flight to Roanoke had been cancelled. Great. The woman at the counter exclaimed "They should never have sent you here, they should have sent you to Dulles!" Great. I was booked on the first flight in the morning. I asked if there was somewhere I could stay the night, and I was handed a slip of paper with a number I could call to get discount accommodation.

Realising I now had many hours to kill, I found somewhere to sit and finally managed to connect to the internet. Anne was online: it was so nice just to be able to talk to someone I knew. I also had a message from Angie saying that Jon was to pick me up the next day, giving me his number. I called Jon, let him know the details of my next flight, and chatted for a few minutes. I also called the reservation number, booked a hotel for the the night, and received instructions for airport pickup.

After this, I chatted to Anne some more, sorted some emails and forced myself to eat dinner. By this time, it was getting on for 10pm, so I called for pickup and made my way to the bus/shuttle area. Finally the bus came, collected me and dropped me at the hotel (about 10 minutes from the airport).

The airport hotel was nicer than I expected. About midnight, my phone finally began working. I celebrated by watching a little TV and then going to bed. I woke several times throughout the night, eventually getting up at 4am. I was ready by about 4:15, and since I didn't have to check in for my flight until 6:30 I had a little time to kill. I chatted to Neil online, and wrote a blog post about Chicago (key point: cold). About 5am, I checked out of the hotel and waited for the airport shuttle. While I waited, I chatted to a very nice American man, who was very interested to hear about Australia: how hot it is at the moment, how isolated Perth is, and so on.

Since I already had my boarding pass given to me the previous night, I was able to go directly through security and then to the gate to wait for my flight. While I waited, I connected to the internet and chatted to Neil some more, until it was time to board. The fun part: it was such a little plane we went outside to board. Cold...

Chapter 3: Roanoke... and Blacksburg
The flight to Roanoke was fairly uneventful, only about an hour or so. The sun was rising, so I spent a fair amount of time looking out the window. I also read my magazine for a while, and before long we were coming in to land. Being on such a small plane (with about 10 fellow passengers) has a plus: getting off the plane is very quick and easy. By the time I made my way to the baggage collection area, my suitcase was already on the carousel.

After a short wait, Jon and Phil collected me from the airport. We took the scenic route to Blacksburg, stopping at Best Buy so Jon could buy cheap Blu-Ray discs, and then to a cleaning store so Jon could try and collect a pair of boots he owns (another epic tale, with Jon having been separated from his boots for almost a year now). Sadly for Jon, no boots were there for him.

We then continued on to Blacksburg. Jon and Phil dropped me off at Dr Riffle's place so I could sleep, which I did with much enthusiasm.