The Good, The Bad, and The Burgh: My Travels to Pittsburgh Part 2

When we last left, I was headed back to my gate in Green Bay after waiting on the tarmac for 3 and half hours in the midst of a blizzard only to find out the Twin Cities airport had shut down. And now...

Still trying to get here

Wednesday March 23 10:15 a.m.
Getting off the pane, I immediately got on the phone to Walt to figure out what I should do. I knew there was a flight leaving sometime around 1 p.m. to the twin cities as well, but looking at radar, it didn't look like anyone would be getting in or out of the Twin Cities anytime soon. Walt luckily works for a company that has their own travel agent, so he was able to figure out that there was a United Airlines flight to Chicago leaving around noon, as well as an American Airlines flight leaving for Cleveland around the same time.
There was a long line but an additional desk opened up and I was able to get helped fairly quickly. The lady at the desk while nice, did not seem to happy when I asked to be switched to a different airline, but I was like hey lady I gotta get to Pittsburgh. However apparently Delta, United, and American don't get along very well, so neither of them was willing to give up any seats.
What finally ended up happening was that I kept my original Delta flight, but got put on standby for two flights to Pittsburgh, and was actually booked on one that left at 7:30 p.m. As a I again looked at the radar, I noticed the storm now stretched from Minnesota to the East Coast, suffice it to say, I believed I had little hope of actually getting to Pittsburgh that day.
I got a terrible sandwich that was grossly overpriced at the airport, and began to again wait to see what would happen. Outside the the wind was still blowing and the snow was still falling. At 12:30 they reboarded the plane, but this time, I had to go back to my original seat, since the couple seemed to have given up on this plane. After sitting for another hour, as they deiced the plane again, we finally took off, and got to the Twin Cities safely.

This a scale model of the Twin Cities Airport, although I don't know what scale

2:30 p.m. Twin Cities, MN
I got off the plane at the exact moment my first standby flight was departing. Since it was on the other side of the airport, and the Twin Cities airport is apparently really big, there was no way to get there, so I made my way my next standby flight, also on the other side of the airport, so I could check in.
When I got to the gate, there was an old man working the counter, which I immediately knew was a bad sign (nothing against the elderly). He said he couldn't add me to stand by because it was already full, but directed me over to a guy in a red jacket, who is apparently like the head customer service person for Delta, who was able to get me on standby.

Apparently these guys were the bees knees in the 70's

I waited around for a while, and saw the flight get bumped to 5:30, which was good because I hadn't seen the flight from green bay that should have left shortly after mine arrive yet. I tried sleeping at the airport, because that's kind of like a bucket list item for me, but i just couldn't find a good spot to nap. At about 4:30, the two girls finally got their, saying their plane had gotten stuck in  a snow bank, as had the tractor that had come to get the plane out. They were able to make it onto the flight, and looked as if I was going to as well, because there were two seats open for standby, and I was the second one on the list. (Apparently Delta prioritizes standby by how badly your travel arrangements had been fucked up that day, so even though i was the last person to be added to the list, I was technically second) However, the people on the list in front of me, was not one person, but actually a party, consisting of two people. So, I was out and off to find a place for dinner.

5:30 p.m.
I trucked back to find the gate for my 7:30 flight, to find it had been bumped to 8:30, which was fine because it gave me time to find someplace to eat. I was also waiting for about three other girls to get in from Green Bay who were supposed to be on this flight, however I was soon informed their flight had been canceled and they wouldn't leave until the next day. So for dinner alone, I had a few options, but traveling makes me anxious, which makes me lose my appetite, so i thought over a few options. There was a TGI Fridays, that was tempting, but was no Chili's. There was a Quizno's that sounded good, but apparently Quizno's changed their menu, so I didn't seen anything too appealing, I finally settled on a sandwich at Einstein Bagel Brothers which was good, not great. Then I headed to my gate and waited.
Upon my return I found that my flight had been moved back to its original time of 7:30 and would soon be boarding.

7:30 p.m. On the plane
Once on the plane though we had to wait because the time had changed and they were still missing people, so they wanted to make sure everyone got on the plane. It was on the plane that I experienced first sitcom stereotype of air travel, the uncomfortableness of sitting next to an obese woman. She even said I should ask the stewardess to move to the open seat behind us because "We would both be more comfortable." But the person showed up for that seat so I was stuck, allow I was on the aisle so that was ok.

This is the best result Google could give me for the search "stuck between fat people on a plane"

In front of me there was a girl who looked to be about my age, also traveling by herself. A guy came up and asked to read her moleskin, she seemed surprised but said ok.
It was at this point I asked if she was also headed to the STD convention, to which she said yes. Her name was Hilary, she was from Santa Clara, and she was also presenting a creative non-fiction piece.

The plane took off, and an hour and half later, we landed in Pittsburgh. Now I needed to figure out how to get to my hotel.

So end Part Two, stay tuned for Part Three, to find out if I make it to my hotel, I told you day-by-day, play-by-play, you get all the details whether you want them or not.