Home For The Holidays......Finally!

Hi All!

I have been back in the USA for exactly one week visiting family and friends.  What many of you do not know is that I almost spent Christmas in Ireland.  Europe has been receiving record snowfalls lately and it has caused many inconveniences.  During the week of December 20th,  airports all around Europe and the UK were closing and flights were being canceled daily.  I was scheduled to fly home for Christmas on December 23rd.  You have no idea how much praying I did during the week of December 20th.  I was checking the weather forecast every hour of every day up until the 23rd. All the forecast said it was going to be sunny, but I should have known better.
My flight was for 8:40am, and being the super prepared person that I am, I arrived at the Dublin Airport for 4:45am thinking no one would be there that early and I would be first in line for my flight.  When I arrived at the airport at 4:45am, the building was packed.  There were long lines, screaming children, and angry customers yelling at airport officials.  Since flights had been canceled and delayed all week, there was a backlog of flights still waiting to take-off.  After checking the monitors I was very happy to see the Delta flight I was scheduled for was on-time.  After waiting in line to check my luggage, I quickly went through security, USA Immigration, and then on to my gate.  At this point I was so happy I was giddy!  I had made it this far so the plane had to take off.  Waiting to board the plane I talked to many passengers, mainly students like myself, all anxious to get home for the holidays. 
 
We finally boarded the plane and you could hear everyone talking about family members meeting them at the airport in Atlanta and in other destinations that they had not seen in months.  All of our carry-on luggage was stored away above our heads and our seat belts were on.  All of a sudden, the announcement we had been dreaded happened. "Would everyone please quite down for a second, the captain would like to make an important message."  Everyone cringed, not knowing what to think; and then it happened. The captain came on over the speaker and said "I am sorry to inform you, but everyone needs to disembark the plane, the Dublin Airport and runways have been closed until further notice due to a heavy snowfall that happened an hour ago".

People were crying, there was a lot of sighing, and no one was laughing anymore.  The morale of the passengers had completely gone down the drain.  Not to worry though, the morale quickly improved once everyone was back outside the gate.  Some of my fellow passengers opened their carry-on bags, took out their duty-free alcohol (Jameson Whisky), and passed the bottles around. After about 30 minutes people were starting to laugh once again.  We kept peering outside looking at the snow falling and wishing it would stop.  Every time we thought it was starting to slack off the sky would turn gray once again and the snowflakes would become thicker and fall even harder.

After three hours of waiting outside the gate, the pilot came out and told us the runway was going to open for our flight and the other three transatlantic flights in one hour.  There was another snowfall heading towards Dublin and we had a one and a half hour window in which all four flights had to take off or the flights would be canceled.  He then told us to start boarding the plane right away so the airport workers could sweep all the snow off the plane and start the de-icing process.  After boarding the plane a second time, no one said anything.  We were afraid to!  We did not want to get our hopes up again.  With the snow swept off plane and the de-icing fluid fully covering the plane, we were set to go. Then.....the pilot made another announcement.

The runway was still icy, but safe enough (so they said) for the four planes to leave.  Parents were to hold their children on their laps and to strap them in tightly, but safely.  Even though the plane had a good grip on the runway, the pilot did not want to take any chances with people, equipment, or luggage moving around if the plane happened to slip on the ice.

At 1:21pm the flight to Atlanta finally took off from the Dublin Airport heading to Atlanta with passengers cheering and crying.  We were going to make it home for Christmas.  I can't lie; I had a few tears in my eyes too. 

If my flight to Atlanta would have been canceled and I could not fly home for Christmas, I had plenty of places to stay for the holidays.  I have many wonderful friends in Ireland who all opened their homes to me for the holidays and I cannot thank them enough for their generosity.

On the 24th of December I was watching the news with my family when there was a segment about how over 300 flights from Atlanta to the rest of the USA had been canceled due to heavy snowfall in Atlanta.  Some of those flights were to Lafayette.  My family and I looked at each other and our mouths dropped.  I could have been on one of those flights that were canceled.  If I would have left one day later from Dublin (if I could even get out) to Atlanta, I would have been stranded in Atlanta.  I like to think I had an angel looking out for me during my journey home for the holidays.  There were so many close calls, but every time something got in my way I barrelled through and kept thinking positive.  I was going home for the holidays and by golly I made it home just like I said I would! 

Love Always,
Amanda