Songbird76
Well-Known Member
I get horrible anxiety with traveling. I'm fine once I get where I'm going, but I always worry about being late for a flight, or being held up at security. We have missed connecting flights a few times and that's terrible on my anxiety. This time, I had the choice between only having an hour and a half layover to get through customs and passport check, or having something like 19 hours. So I took the 19 hours and got us a hotel room. We'll just sleep for a night and come back in the morning. But I know I will be a wreck in the morning again until we get to our gate.
Last summer, the airports in Europe were all having severe problems getting all the travelers through security on time. There was a shortage of workers and an abundance of travelers since covid restrictions were finally gone. People had started showing up like 6 hours in advance to be sure they'd make it through, and then that caused a problem with people who showed up later because the lines were so long with people who were there so much earlier, so people were missing their flights left and right. They finally said you couldn't come to the airport until 4 hours before your flight, which has always been the recommendation for overseas travel since 9/11 brought stricter security measures. We got there a little bit earlier than that and just waited until the minute our 4 hour mark hit and then went to check in. Like, literally the minute it was 4 hours. And we still nearly missed our flight because of a stupid security person. We had gotten through check-in, and were in line for security, but the line was so long that it wrapped around and went down the stairs. A has an issue with stairs....he's very nervous using them and it takes him a while. DH was in a mood for some reason...he had been in a bad mood for MONTHS leading up to our trip. So when we got to the stairs, E and I rushed up to secure our place in line while DH waited with A and helped him up the stairs. Except when they got up the stairs, they didn't come get in line with us because Dh decided he was mad that we didn't wait for them or something. He wasn't answering my texts or anything and I kept looking back and saw them back further in the line. Then we get to a certain point and this security person tells us they are fixing to close this line down and it will be faster if I get into the new line they are opening up, so she sends us to a different line, and I'm now worried that DH and A are going to be stuck. But I keep watching for them. On one of the switch backs like half an hour later, I notice they are closing off our line again and reopening the other one, so DH are going to be sent to the other line. I'm panicking, because our line is supposed to be faster, according to idiot security lady. I approached the same lady to explain the situation and she cuts me off and says if I had listened to her, I would know that this line was going to be faster, because....and so then I cut her off and told her I HAD listened to her and that was not my concern and she needed to listen to ME now, that my husband and son were stuck in the other line, could I go get them. And she yelled at me for splitting up, and I tried to explain that it was because my son had autism, and she cut me off again and told me no, we could not be switching lines, even though I had seen her let OTHER people get out of line and get back in. It was taking forever and I was so worried that WE would barely make it through and that they would be stuck and we'd miss our flight. Then we get a text from DH that they are already through, and they were going to wait for us at McDonalds. It took us another HOUR to get through the line that would be so much faster. Then DH hadn't ordered their food yet, so I had to go order food when we finally found them. I figured they'd use the time to go eat since I told him it was going to be a while. Then he sent me to order food while he sat with the carryons, but didn't answer his phone so missed it that they didn't offer his burger and what did he want in place of it, so I had to send E back and forth, which took a while. We got to our gate just as they were calling for last boarding. It all could have been prevented if stupid security lady hadn't insisted that the other line would be faster and we needed to go there. This is pretty much my nightmare experience that I DREAD happening and exactly why I have anxiety about airports. I'm a wreck until I get to my gate. And then again when I have to make a connecting flight.
- she was turning 5 just yesterday!). She just finished up two college courses she took for summer dual enrollment, she's still volunteering at the library, and her choir director tapped her and the other officers to be part of our district convocations. The convocation rehearsals seem to be never ending. We had several college visits during our travel and have more on the horizon.
I am reading such horrible things about this excessive heat. I read an article in WaPo last week about people who are getting scalded with the water out of their hose. Someone else fell outside and got second degree burns from making contact with the hot pavement. This person required surgery and skin grafts! This was in Phoenix. 
I might do the same again tonight.
