Once dinner was done, I headed to my gate. To my dismay, the airport had barely any outlets to plug anything in, and my laptop was down to 30% and my iPhone wasn’t far behind, what outlets I did find were far from the gate, or otherwise occupied. I noticed alot of people sitting around, and my phone kept getting notifications from Orbitz about my flight being delayed. It didn’t take long for the cancellation to come. I really wanted to head home… But the weather had turned bad; ice formed on the planes, and the earlier Rochester flight was still at the gate awaiting departure. The next direct flight would be tomorrow morning at 1:30pm – Ouch!

This is the first time I’ve been stranded (it always happens to those other people on TV!). But I remained calm, since I’m of the philosophy that getting angry will probably not solve anything, and just aggravate the situation. I asked at the counter nicely about what my overnight options were, and the woman behind the counter indicated that no-one is allowed to remain at the terminals when the airport closes, I would need to wait in the area outside security (which is REALLY sparse). But she said that the lady at the info booth near baggage claim could help me out with discounted lodging at hotels near the airport (see it pays to be nice). I went down to see this woman who pointed me to the hotel phones where I could enter in a special code which got me to someone right away. The gentleman on the phone gave me rates for 2 hotels close by. The hotel at the airport was still expensive, even with the discount, but the Wyndham Chelsea, about 2 miles from the airport, had a reasonable rate of $109, and had a free shuttle.

So, I’m here now at my room in the Wyndham Chelsea (which is quite nice), finishing off my weekend blog and taking advantage of the extra quiet time.

Time for bed, and hopefully my flight won’t be further delayed tomorrow.