Minneapolis: surprisingly cold, hospitable OR At least I got a blog post out of it

So I haven't posted in a long time...I guess I'll use the seven hours of spare time I have in the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport to update my life. Readers who are aware, feel free to skip the garbled mumbo-jumbo below. I haven't removed my contacts since Friday, so I also cannot vouch for the spelling or grammatical accuracy of this entry. Forewarned!

Behold: the travel saga, abridged in bullet form. All times are estimated, but close to accurate and NOT exaggerated. Believe me. This is the best I could do while looking at the NWA flight schedules and comparing them to the call log from my cell phone.

-4:56: Flight scheduled to leave South Bend
-5:15: Flight arrives in South Bend
-5:21: Board flight in South Bend
-5:30: Everyone on board in South Bend.
-5:45: Everyone still on board in South Bend.
-5:55: Everyone still on board in...you guessed it, South Bend.
-6:00: Six people are taken off our plane. It is too heavy. Apparently the agent thought it'd be a better idea to burn 3 hrs of fuel to lighten the weight instead of removing 6 passengers who were last minute bookings from other airlines. Pilot disagreed. Argument ensued. Pilot wins after forty five minutes.
-6:15: Cargo dudes finally find the departees' luggage and close the door. We chill for a little while for no apparent reason.
-7:15: Wheels up! YES. [Note: if you look on the NWA site it says that we left at 6:12 and arrived at 7:51. This is false because it does not take 1.5 hours to fly from South Bend to Detroit. What they really mean is that we moved away from the gate at 6:12].
-7:51: Arrive Detroit. Connection from Detroit to Minneapolis was scheduled for 7:12. I assume I didn't make it. I assume wrong, because it is delayed.
-8:40: Flight from Detroit to Minneapolis scheduled to depart.
-9:35: Flight from Minneapolis to Wichita departs...without me.
-9:50: Flight from Detroit to Minneapolis actually departs.
-11:08: Arrive Minneapolis.

This is followed by a blur of waiting in lines of hundreds of people, news that the next flight to Wichita that they can guarantee me isn't until MONDAY (but standby for a Sunday flight is available), a late night shuttle trip to a hotel in Eagan, Minnesota, the realization that I have eaten nothing but a bowl of cereal at noon and have therefore consumed no food for over 13 hours, the realization that nothing is open here in South Fargo and my hotel has no room service, the quiet and desperate inhalation of a single granola bar, five hours of fitful sleep, and a trip back to the airport at 11:30 to wait for the standby flight. And apparently, the longest run-on sentence in the history of blogging. Ever.

It was (and is) also -26 here. The first time I was struck in the face by that wind, I think I broke out in cold blisters immediately. The people here are obviously made of hardy Scandinavian peasant stock, whereas my folk come from the land of 100+ degrees and 80% humidity. Clearly, I was built for this.


And then...THEN! Success!!!!!!

I am booked on a flight to Kansas City tonight at 7:05. KC is about 3 hrs from my house but at this point, I just want to get home before Christmas. Parental units will be arriving to pick me up, hopefully with food in tow. I will sleep for 48 hours straight and, with any luck, wake to find that if nothing else this ordeal has caused me to lose two pounds. Score.