Julie Gumm - Author

Extra long trip to Birmingham

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I loved how I got to spend my Saturday. It was even worth getting up early for 🙂

Yesterday I was in Birmingham, AL delivering the Adopt Without Debt workshop for Lifeline Children’s Services. This is the first time that I’ve put all the “pieces” together in one workshop and I had a blast.

I know you’ll be shocked to hear that I had no problem talking for 2.5 hours. I mean after all it’s adoption and living debt-free – I could talk for days 🙂

The trip was doubly fun because I got a chance to see my friend Kelley from high school, who drove over from Atlanta. We turned it into a fun sleepover and stayed up way to late talking.

After the workshop Kelley and I headed to lunch before I had to go to the airport. After the drinks, chips & salsa got there, I thought to check my email to confirm what time my flight left. I thought it was 4:15.

Not so much. It left at 3:05. It was 1:30. And I had a rental car to return. Yikes!

Feeling like an idiot, we had to cancel our lunch order and hightail it outta there. Luckily we weren’t far from the airport and I got the rental car returned and had time to spare.

At the ticket counter the agent says “Let me check your connection because your flight is delayed. Okay, you get it at 6:15 and leave at 6:30. You should be fine.”

I was not filled with confidence. (Instead of going home, I was on my way to Pittsburgh – via Tampa – to spend a few days with my BFF…since I was on this side of the states and everything.)

But at least I had time to grab a bite. Maybe they’d make up some time in the air?

After sitting at the gate for 15 minutes or so I began to notice that the gate agent was rebooking people. I jumped online searching for alternate flights – nothing promising.

I decided I was better off asking sooner rather than later, just in case.

Apparently my plans fell prey to the heightened 9/11 security. The plane that was supposed to eventually make it’s way to Birmingham was the Southwest flight from Albquerque to Baltimore that got diverted to Nashville due to a “suspicious passenger”. Well, that’s what the news sites are saying. The SWA gate agent said that a “direct threat had been made against that flight”. His words, not mine.

So my choice was spend another night in Birmingham, or wait around until that plane (at the time still under TSA control) arrived, fly to Tampa and spend the night there.

Yeah, took me about 15 seconds to think on that one. One day of travel is always better than two.

So I got a “distressed traveler” rate at the Sheraton. I guess TSA takeovers fall under the whole “act of God/airline not liable” clause so I had to shell out the $49.

Could have been worse. I could have been a passenger on THAT plane. Now that’s a bad travel day. Diverted, pulled off the plane, have to go through security again, wait for the plane to get cleared…

Since I was loosing one day of my already fairly short trip to visit Kristen, I asked pretty please if they could extend my trip and rebook my return for Tuesday instead of Wednesday. They were happy to oblige and I even got on a non-stop flight.

It wasn’t until I was settled into the hotel room (enjoying the quiet) that I realized I’ll be traveling on 9/11.

Then I realized it was stupid to be nervous because that’s probably THE safest day to fly EVER.