Oh dear... this isn't going as planned!

Morning everyone from sunny Los Angeles.

Yep. Stuck here... for now.

Yesterday started out a fantastic day... Toronto airport checkin and security went flawlessly.

Getting on to the flight was organized and fast.

Wonderful!

Flight to Atlanta was perfect.

That's where the fun ended.

I had a 5 hour stopover in Atlanta.

For those of you that have not been to the airport there, it is hard to describe. It's basically a massive shopping mall in the airport... I think about 220 stores or something insane.
I have never been somewhere so busy or so loud.

I was hopeful that I was going to be able to find some WiFi... and wandered up and down the immense corridors trying to get a connection. I couldn't.
I paid T-mobile for a day pass of connection but couldn't connect to save my life.
Sigh.

All this time keeping my eye on my flight to LA. On time.

Since I was a bit overwhelmed at this point, I asked, I believe, three different people if I needed to check in somewhere, and was assured that I did not... I had a boarding pass already. I'm not much of a traveller. What do I know.

When time came to board the flight... there was utter chaos. I have never seen so many people in a big massive crowd trying to get on a plane. I just thought well, it's a big plane, right?
I learned quickly in this mall it's every man and woman for himself... and positioned myself quite close to the entryway.

I notice when people's boarding passes are being scanned that there are all these beeps and boops and I'm thinking... poor people. They are being moved off to the side.
The mob is getting restless and crushing in towards the attendants.
I move in and they scan my boarding pass. I am booped. And beeped.
WTH?

They direct me to a customer service area... and knowing how many people have also had their boarding passes rejected I run my tush over, while they are still standing around.
I pick up a courtesy phone and get on the line with a customer service agent. I tell her my problem.
She says something about mechanical problems on the plane. Blah blah.
She is looking for a flight for me.
The phone disconnects. (Crappy old phone).

I call back. Get another agent.
We go through the same song and dance... she says she has an option for me to get to LA (the next day of course... meaning I will miss my connecting flight in Sydney). I say fine fine fine... just get me to LA.
Damned if I was going to waste an entire day and only manage to travel 2 hours out of 36.

The phone disconnects again.

I have a bit of a tantrum.

I give up on the courtesy phone and get in line for a real live person.
Tired and hungry at this point, I am crying.
The poor agent.

Anyway... he gets me a flight that leaves about 45 minutes later. And tells me to see the customer service people here in LA when I arrive to get arrangements for hotel and so on because of the interupted flight.
Sigh.
He books me on a new flight to Australia.

I contact poor Peter by text message. I was upset and could barely type and I can't even imagine what he's thinking. What I don't know at the time is he is already jumping on the phone to get a new connecting flight from Sydney to Moruya. He'd have to tell you that part of the story himself.
Apparently it was a 2 hour ordeal... not because of the local carrier... but the one I was on.

I run to get on the new flight to LA. At this point, I am nearly passing out. My feet hurt from pacing up and down the massive mall for 5 hours... and I had only had one meal in about 24 hours.
Do peanuts on a plane count? Didn't seem like it.

I get on the flight with no trouble. But of course, as is the direction of the entire day, I have people around me that are nightmares. I try to sleep but am awakened every 2 minutes or so by twitching, banging, screaming, singing, etc.
Torture.

I get off the flight in LA. Relieved.

My relief lasted about 2 minutes.

The terminal where we exited is under construction. I don't mean a little construction. MAJOR construction. It is like a maze. No one knows where they are going... we walk and walk and walk... something I really was not prepared for.
I also don't know where my luggage is... is it on connecting flights? Is it abandoned somewhere?
There are no desks or people... oh yeah... it's midnight by now.

I have another breakdown. What the hell am I doing?
I send poor Peter a text message telling him I give up I am going home. I miss my dogs and I want dinner.
Poor guy.
Hey... my mom would say I need to get fed.

During my breakdown I am surrounded by staff... I don't know where the heck they came from. Pilots, cleaners, I don't know who else.
They tell me where I need to go.
"Just keep walking... just keep walking..." (Thank you Dori).

I get to the customer support area and there is a massive lineup. All people from the same flight as myself. ALL customers on the flight had been cancelled. The story now is that it has to do with a blackout at Sydney a few days ago. Who knows.
I wait perhaps another hour in line. OMG where's fooooooooooood???

My turn comes up and... there are no more hotels.
:S
More waiting.
They find hotel.
Now a taxi.
Can't find a shuttle.
The customer service lady, Joni, felt so bad for me she left the desk (gawd I must have looked a fright) and came with me to find the shuttle to the hotel.

Which she did.
An angel, she was. I'll have to remember to write a letter to her employer about it.

The shuttle was overcrowded and I didn't think I'd squish in. I did.

The hotel here was nice. Took a long time to check in, there was a small group of us, as the hotel hadn't been notified about the rooms being released.

I really wasn't sure much else could go wrong.

Nothing did. Except I was too worked up to sleep and ended up staying up until 4am.

Still at the hotel now.

I went to this massive mall across the street and wandered around for a while.

I am just about to go to the restaurant here and get some lunch. One meal in so much time, not so good. Wonder if I lost any weight???

Haha.

If all goes well I will be heading to Sydney at 7pm tonight, arriving on Wednesday, a day past schedule.

Whew. This was more work than even I could have imagined.

Hope everyone is well.

Hugs 'n kisses.