Saturday, May 3

Well, I can honestly say that the first day of this trip has been very interesting and very stressful for me. My plan was to drive to JFK with my parents and meet up with the rest of the group there. I left my house at 11:00 this morning in order to arrive at the airport at 1:30, three hours before the flight. Usually, the trip from my house to New York takes two hours, but we gave it two and half hours, just in case. Apparently, the extra half hour was not enough "just in case" time because five hours and two multi-car accidents later, I arrived at the airport and had missed the flight with the rest of the group. On the way to the airport I had called Delta because I was pretty sure that I was going to miss the flight and I wanted to know what other flights there were that I could take. I thought that maybe I could catch up with the group in Atlanta but the next flight got me there without enough time to catch the 10:10 flight to Santiago. What's more in that the next flight to Santiago left from Atlanta at 10:10 the following night. I was trying not to freak out, but I was so mad at myself for not giving myself enough time.

Fortunately, a very nice woman helped us out at the JFK change-of-flight counter an booked me on the 6:45 flight to Atlanta tonight and the 10:10 flight to Santiago tomorrow night. She told us that the price of the ticket change would normally cost me the price of the original ticket but because of the circumstances, she gave me an exception and only charged me $200. It was the only good news of the day and I was very thankful for that. I am also lucky because I have a brother who lives in Atlanta. He picked me up from the airport and I am staying at his house tonight. In a way, it worked out for me because I haven't seen my brother in a long time and I also have not yet seen his new house. So, although I would categorize my day as "very bad," there is also a part of me that is excited to be in Atlanta visiting my brother and to have this chance. Sadly, I will miss the soccer game tomorrow but if that is the only thing I miss, I won't be too disappointed.