Spring Travel Woes: Lessons Learned

When traveling in Western states in the springtime, you never really know what type of weather you might encounter.  Last week, I traveled from Colorado to Montana for my spring break.  My flight there was great.  No delays.  No hiccups.  The weather was nice and slightly warm (for Montana in March).  However, the very next day presented a winter storm....and the next day and the next day...pretty much the entire week.  

I regret to say that I was not completely prepared for my trip (gasp)!  My fiance (a Montana native) told me that it would be warm and I really did not need to bother with much cool weather stuff.  I only partly heeded his advice, bringing my ski attire but leaving the winter boots behind.  Luckily, my mother had an extra pair of boots in storage that I could wear because when the inches of snow started piling up, my flats were not going to cut it.  Lesson learned: always be prepared for all types of weather when traveling to the Rockies.  Do not rely on the weather forecasters.  Bring your boots, a warm coat and gloves because chances are you are going to be scraping snow off of your car!   

The travel day back was somewhat of a nightmare, but it could have been a lot worse.  Fearing the worst for my drive and the weather, I left northern Montana with 2.5 hours of extra time.  Good decision!  The roads were terrible and I encountered many whiteouts.  I arrived at the airport with just over an hour to spare.  Our plane was delayed by 30 minutes because of the weather.  At about the 30 minute mark, I received a call from United telling me that my plane had been cancelled!  Having heard that "if you don't get out today, you are stuck here until Wednesday" from the ticket agent, I promptly called United back to rebook.  I was one of the first (if not the first) to do so, since all of the other passengers were crowded at the desk trying to figure out what was going on.  It was a great feeling to be ahead of the game...until I walk to the ticket counter to retrieve the bag I had checked....and the nice lady told me there is no way I was going to get on a new flight because ALL of the flights were sold out.  I did not take the "confrontational cues" that I have seen my dad present all too often when encountering such travel mishaps.  I did, however, flash my brightest smile and tried to be understanding.  In return, the ticket lady ran over to the Frontier counter and got me on their next flight the very same night.  It was probably the most turbulent flight I have ever been on, but I was grateful just to be on it.  After 15 hours of traveling, I made it home and went to bed at 1:30 AM.   As tired as I was, I learned a few more lessons: 

1. Always sign up for the airlines telephone updates.  I was one of the first to receive the call to inform me that my flight was cancelled and was also the first to react.  
2. Be nice to the ticket agents!  They can really help you if you in desperate times.