Its spring time in Seattle Washington and spring break is coming up. This would be my second spring break in America and I was going to do it with some style. My lady and I had been planning on going to visit her sister and family in Hawaii for a long time. Our obsession of mundanely trawling the internet for cheap flights paid off. We managed to get cheap tickets flying round trip to Honolulu on March 25nd for two weeks, leaving bright and early in the morning so we get the full day in Hawaii. We had booked the tickets way in advanced so we could save some money so that we could do absolutely everything we could fit into two weeks. I was buzzing for this trip, I counted down the days like they were my last on planet earth. The day couldn’t come around quick enough.
I had a couple more days of school before we jet off to Hawaii that I had to force myself to go to.. I had my bags packed about a week ago; I got a little bit excited and jumped the gun, my lady had her bags packed before mine though, which we had some banter about, and I pretty much followed in her footsteps a couple of days later. This holiday meant a lot to me for a number of reasons and was probably the protagonist for all my anxiousness and excitement. This is the first holiday my lady and I would spend together and to add to that I was going to meet her Hawaiian family for the first time.
The weather in Seattle was of course wet and of course bitterly cold. We hibernated indoors for the majority of time with the rest of our house mates. We shared a four bedroom house that was very homey, so we had no problem with staying in and doing our own things. It was the 22nd and only a few days to go now. I was walking back from school and the rain was beating down hard on my back- lucky I had worn my North Face today- and I thought to myself I’m sure I remember seeing our flight to Hawaii on the 22nd not the 25th. Anyway, I didn’t think much of it. I got to the front porch of the house and took my shoes off. I opened the door and was hit by a wall of fire; our house was always so hot, the girls complained about being cold so the heating was on constantly. I walked into the living room where everybody was indulging in Xbox and fast food, which was the usual routine for most of them. My lady was on the laptop properly checking the flights again.
“Alright Kel,” I said, “What you up to?”
“Hey,” She said while transfixed to the screen, “Just checking my emails.”
“Again?” I laughed, “You hungry? I’m gonna make some lunch.”
“Yes please, I haven’t eaten yet.” She said
I began gathering all the necessities to a late brunch: eggs, bacon, potatoes for hash browns, and pancake mix. I crack the eggs in a bowl and whisk them up with a little pepper and milk and chuck some rashes of bacon in the pan. As soon as the bacon hits the pan it starts sizzling and giving off a mesmerizing aroma that takes control of any meat eater. I start chopping up the potatoes to make the hash browns when firm terrifying clasp grabs my arm.
“Jake,” My lady said, “Our flight to Hawaii was today.”
“What?” I said in a tone of disbelief, “It can’t be I thought it was on the 25th?”
“No,” she said, “Look it says today at 6.30am, we missed our flight.”
I snatched the laptop and began reading myself. I couldn’t believe it. How could we have forgotten that our flight was today, we had it planned for months, and my lady checked it every day? She was right; our flight had left this morning while we were carrying on with our lives like nothing had happened.
“How did we not see that our flight was today?” I asked in disbelief.
“I don’t know,” She said, “We must have gotten it mixed up with our other flight.”
“I can’t believe this,” I said.
I left the cooking and went into the bedroom to sit down and try to digest the fact that we just missed our flight to Hawaii. I was always so humored when I hear that people had forgotten their flights. I found it impossible to believe that people would forget about their holiday flights. Now, I’m one of those silly people.
“What are we going to do,” My lady asked.
“I don’t know,” I said with my hand in my head, “we can try and call the airline and see what they can do for us.”
I looked up the contact details on the laptop and dialed the number in desperation that someone could help us. Of course I had an agonizing task of trying to work my way through the ridiculous calling menu of an airport. After maneuvering through the options, I managed to get hold of a representative of the airline
“Hi there,” I said, “I had a flight this morning and I missed it, is there a chance that I could get on another flight?”
“Of course sir,” the representative said, “Not a problem.”
“Thank you very much,” I said
The representative put me on hold for another ten minutes, which was nice of him because I got to listen to some great music on the phone. I hate that annoying music they play while they keep you on hold for half an eternity.
“Hello sir,” The representative said, “We can put you on another flight for an additional $800.”
My heart sunk. I couldn’t believe what I just heard. Maybe I misheard him; maybe he said an additional eighty bucks.
“800?” I asked, praying I heard him wrong.
“There is no way I can pay that, is there anything else you can do for me, please?” I asked.
“Let me look again for you sir,” the representative said.
A couple of minutes later the representative got back to me and offered a deal for the two tickets, which ended up costing the price of a whole new ticket. I couldn’t believe that I was now one of those fools who forgot their own flight.. Never again will I forget this tortuous moment, and I positively wont forgot the beauty of Hawaii.
What’s Been Said…