Unexpectedly in NYC

Wednesday, December 20th - Friday, December 22nd, 2017

Minneapolis, MN, New York City, NY

Like most Hawthorne trips, this one started off with an incredibly complex and detailed travel plan that went array. It all began about a month ago, when I get a text from Lisa, saying "London before Christmas?", to which I, of course, replied, "YESSSSS PLEASE 😍.". Very well thought out and planned. From there it only got bigger. Dreams of driving out to the English countryside, meandering around Stonehenge on the Solstice, and strolling through Christmas markets began to take root. Well, my friends, some dreams are not meant to be. 

Flash forward, a week ago, Sunday, December 17th. The Atalanta airport loses all power. But not to worry! There's a backup generator! Nope. Wrong. Dead too. Some 1,200 flights are canceled, throwing the country's travelers into disarray. "Sure, fine, thanks for reporting the news Cristiana, BUT WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH YOUR LONDON TRIP?", you might be thinking. (Or I hope that's what you're thinking because I've been trying to build up the suspense.) 

Well, thank you for asking. As a standby passager, we can fly on any Delta flight that has open seats. Do you know where Delta HQ is? Give you one guess. Yup. Atlanta. Flights have been crazy all week.The blackout, coupled with the holiday season, made it a bit of a tricky time to travel standby. Not to be put out by a measly little blackout or holiday travelers, we started to get creative. We could get seats on a flight to NYC, and from there, the London connection didn't look too bad. 

Here's where the story gets a little, umm... hmmm... extravagant...? (Is that the right word? I don't know.) There were technically seats open on the flight to London. In the very back of the plane, middle seats, separated. At this point, we were tired and (in my case, anyway) a little bit (AKA a lot a bit) cranky from traveling all day and waiting to get on different flights. At this point, we were set back a few days, leaving us only two in England. On almost no sleep. So we made a judgment call and passed up our tickets, and let our seats go to another family waiting. (Bon voyage my fellow standby passengers!)

So now the four of us are in New York City, with no hotel and no plans. But guess what? This is the 21st century and we can book a hotel from our phone, and New York City isn't such a bad place to be for a couple days. So bring on the unexpected adventure, we'll roll with it. 

Xo, 

Cristiana