Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Held hostage at JFK for 36 hours!

I'm finally back after spending the past weekend in Las Vegas for Slightly Dangerous. I've got plenty of pictures and stories but I definitely need to recover from all the chaos from these past few weeks (or months).

Lets rewind back to Monday, August 3rd when I was still in New York at JFK airport trying to catch an early flight back to SD for my 6PM final. For those of you that follow me on twitter and/or facebook, I'm sure you all saw my status updates from my 36 hour fiasco at JFK.

Basically, there was a bomb scare at LaGuardia airport a few days before, so there were tons of people trying to fly standby. Since I fly free, all the paying customers have priority over us. At one point the standby list was over 100+ people... DAMN!

It really wasn't as bad as it sounds. Yes, I was bored out of my mind at times, I slept in Terminal 4, I didn't shower, but I was able to bond with a bunch of strangers. The best way for me to describe it is, its like a movie where everyone gets held hostage, and eventually they build a lifelong bond. I'm not sure about the lifelong part but we all made the best of it!

I am so glad I have this Sprint wireless card because I would have gone nuts without internet access.
Spending 36 hours at the airport you see some random shit...
My new BFFs: Marissa x Leslie
We tried getting on every flight to either SF or LA, but they were all full!
Tristan (United) even came by to lend some moral support.
Damn 109 people on the standby list...
We kept searching flights via the internet but we didn't have any luck... :(
I ended up bonding with a group of people: Tony x Mauricio x Marissa x Mary x Monika
We all ended up sleeping in Terminal 4 along with everyone else... Wanna see a dead body?




The next day we were back at it again at 5AM trying to get on any flight we could... I had a few close calls but I didn't make it. I was the next one on the list but there were zero seats remaining.
I had already missed my Final, which I got rescheduled, but I was trying to make it back Tuesday for the Cool Kids video shoot in the Hills but I didn't make it.

I made the 2nd to last flight of the night back to LAX. Everyone was cheering for me when I finally got my ticket, but I felt bad because I wasn't sure if the others would make it...
But somehow all 12 standbys made it onto the flight, including a girl whose been at the airport for over 6 days. It was a great feeling especially flying 1st class! So great that we all took a photo together outside the gate once we landed. HAHA
Thank you to everyone who help make this 36 hour disaster as enjoyable as it was. I ended up offering Leslie, who was originally suppose to go on vacation to SF, a place to stay in LA. After 36 hours at JFK, the both of us just wanted to make it to the West Coast. So that was the start of her spontaneous vacation with a stranger began... Next stop My House (the club) in Hollywood!

Imagine being her mom and having your daughter say, "Hey mom! I'm going to go to LA instead with this stranger I met at the airport, and stay at the stranger's friends house!"

To be continued...

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