Surviving Nemo

Someone once said, "Spontaneity is the quality of being able to do something just because you feel like it at the moment, of trusting your instincts, of taking yourself by surprise and snatching from the clutches of your well organized routine, a bit of unscheduled plea".

So that's what I did this weekend. Totally spontaneous move stemming from the unpredictable winter weather the Northeast sometimes faces, allowing me to cross Number 79 - Spontaneous Vacation Decision off my list.

Seven days ago, I checked the weather for my upcoming weekend getaway to The Big Apple. Much to my surprise snow flurries were in the picture and I got excited at the possibility of checking some bad-boys off my list. Later that day, I discovered it was in fact not only snow flurries...but a nor'easter storm grazing through the City right when my flight was scheduled to land.

Oh, the horror.

Thursday morning, I called AirTran at 8:30am to see what could be done about my Friday night flight. They told me it wasn't serious enough to prompt waived changed fees or flight cancellations, but to keep checking back. So that's what I did. Every 20 minutes. Check, check, check, monitor, monitor, monitor. Finally at 11:30 I updated my AirTran.com flight page to see that LGA was finally under a weather alert. I called them immediately to see what could be done.

"Well ma'am (in her sweet old woman southern drawl), I don't know if any flights will make it to New York on Friday. Nemo's - a - comin'. But I do have one seat left on the 8:50 flight tonight. Do you want it or do you want to call back? No guarantee's it'll still be here though...". I took it without hesitation. I'm glad I did, because at 11:36am an email went out to all AirTran customers encouraging them to call and reschedule. Ha, I beat the rush and got a flight out before the snow started. Then I felt an awful pang of guilt and anxiety wash over me.

I didn't request PTO 2 weeks in advance...crap. My supervisor isn't here, he's in London...what if he freaks out? How can I spin this to make a weekend trip to visit your besties sound more like an emergency? What if I get fired? These thoughts (and others) ran through my head all morning. And all afternoon. And right up until 6pm, when I got a response back from my boss saying it was okay. Phew. Now I can enjoy my Business Class flight to NYC (thanks to an amazing boyfriend who upgraded me using points).

Let me tell you, the flight into the City at night is unbelievable. I felt like I was filming a scene straight from Gossip Girl. Then I remembered, Chuck, Blair, and Serena have private jets - they don't do commercial. Oh, and they are fictional characters.


So I arrived. It was cold but not snowing...that didn't happen until roughly around noon on Friday. Then it didn't stop. A continuous wall of snow fell all day and all night long.




It allowed me to cross a couple other things off my list. I caught a snowflake on my tongue...and in my eye...and all over myself. Number 58 - Done. I also built the saddest little snowman EVER. Who knew that was so hard? We made her super fancy by giving her my headband, a pearl earring nose, and candy for eyeballs. But she was still pretty pathetic. I turned around and saw a MUCH better snowman. I'll just claim that one instead. Number 87 - Done. I'm also going to add "Make a Snow Angel" as Number 87.5. I can also cross that off my list. Check out my form...it's the best 3am, post bar Snow Angel I've ever seen. Even if I did get soaked from the snow and almost froze to death. Number 87.75 was also accomplished - Throw Snowballs in Central Park. Okay fine, these last two did not belong on my list, I was just really excited to be in the snow.

This trip to NYC was by far the BEST TRIP EVER. Not only did I get to see snow fall, but I got to see  two of my very best friends: Lauren and Loren. We dubbed this trip, "L, L, & L Weekend 2K13". It was one for the books. Not only can I not wait to get back up to the Big Apple, but I can't wait for more snowy adventures....This Florida girl, now a Georgia Peach absolutely loves that fluffy, powdery, white, cold stuff that falls from the sky.  I'm so happy I made the spontaneous decision to fly up, not knowing if I could and would survive a blizzard, and if I'd be able to make it home. Sometimes you have to take a blind leap of faith and hope it works out. For me, it did...I survived Nemo.

L