By the time thanksgiving or fall break rolls around, everybody is ready to be home. To sleep in their own bed, to eat home cooked meals, to relax in the comfort of their own couch. I was definitely one of those people counting down the days ‘till I finally landed in LAX.
I soon realized however, that traveling during the winter-ish months from State College is no easy feat. If it weren’t for my partner in Spanish class telling me about the snow storm, I would probably have been stuck in state college for days.
My flight was on Thursday evening, a nice 28 minute flight from State College to Philly, and then a five and a half hour flight from Philly to Los Angeles. (Philly and LA airports are probably the worst ones to ever be built in America, just a little FYI). Well, it turned out that State College was about to be hit by a massive snow storm, the likes of which would most definitely cancel any flights going to or from the rinky dink University Park airport.
I called my mom in a panic and told her about the storm. She displayed two options, one: I could hitch a ride with my friend to philly on Friday and take a five am flight on Saturday morning, or she could rebook me for a flight that was slated to leave two and a half from that current moment. I decided fast: I’d be leaving that Wednesday night before the blizzard hit.
Unfortunately, I had only a 40 minute layover, and my flight from State College was delayed so I had exactly 7 minutes to get from gate to gate, a feat that usually is a thirty minute walk. I was in a panic. I sprinted to and from the bus and made it just as they were closing the gate, utterly winded.
Once I got home I had an amazing break. I saw everyone I wanted to see. I had the best time. I was lucky to have made my connecting flight and to have been able to change my flight so last minute. I thought this whole getting home experience was pretty wild. Never have a run that fast through an airport before. Little did I know that this would be nothing compared to my struggles returning.
Of course I wished I could have stayed home and relaxed longer in the warm southern California weather, but I knew I would be returning soon. And to be honest transitioning from school to home and back again feels much more natural than you might think. So when I got to LAX the Sunday before school started back up again, I was confident that their wouldn’t be any problems. No more snow storm, I was cool as a cucumber.
My flight left ontime and landed early in Philly. I ate chipotle during my three hour layover and caught up on some reading. I boarded the flight to State College ready to knock out in my dorm room after a long day of travel. “30 minutes to State College,” the pilot said even before we took off.
25 minutes into the flight, the pilot comes on the intercom and says, “Hello everyone. Unfortunately, the visibility in State College is very poor right now, so we are going to have to turn and head back to Philadelphia. We apologize for the inconvenience.” Soon after he made a flying U-turn. We were headed back.
50 jaws dropped simultaneously, most of those 50 being Penn State students. Chatter grew throughout the cabin as we learned that the next flight to State College would be going out on Tuesday and it was already fully booked. The flight attendant handed out free beer to those who wanted it.
We were left with only three options, stay the night in a hotel with indefinite plans, take an Uber, or rent a car. By the time we landed in Philly, the entire airport was closed. It was 11 at night, and fifty people were stranded. Soon, groups started forming. I allied with 6 total strangers. All girl students, and we decided to rent a car.
We hiked to the other side of the airport in the cold, suitcases in hand, packed all our stuff up, squished into the rental car, and hit the road. On the way we encountered a sleepy driver and almost got in an accident, and we drove through some crazy fog. We had no idea who the people sitting next to us were, but we trusted one another completely. We had to.
By the time I got back to my dorm it was 4:30 in the morning and I was preparing to wake up at 8:30 for my 9 am. To say I was exhausted after all that is an understatement.
For my first passion blog post I wrote about how everyone asks me why I chose to leave California to come to Penn State. And I mean literally everyone. Stories like these justify their curiosity. I know this wont be my last travel struggle, it is the first of many. But the thing is, I wouldn’t change a thing. We out-of-state students may not have tailgates every weekend, or a family line of Penn State Alumni, but we bleed blue and white just the same. We love it enough to run through airports and travel for over fifteen hours to get back to happy valley. I am where I am supposed to be, even if that means living in the center of Pennsylvania. I love Penn State, and for that, I will sing my love and loyalty to dear old state.
