A trip to nowhere 2

This afternoon I was supposed to fly to Ohio to see my parents and some other family members. My flight was scheduled to leave at 3:30PM. I left the house at 1, and got to the airport 2 hours early like expected.

I had checked in online, but I still had to get a tag for my wheelchair, and that went smoothly. Going through security went smoothly, too. It took a long time, but there were no issues. The woman who patted me down was very kind and always told me before she touched me. She also made sure to grab my bags before patting me down so no one could steal them! All in all one of the best security experiences I’ve had!

While I was being patted down, I got a text that my gate had changed for my flight. No big deal, since I wasn’t there yet. I made my way to the gate, which was the furthest gate down in the C terminal. It was super crowded, but we made it. I found a spot to park, Felix curled up on my lap, and we started waiting. I got a picture of him on my lap. He is a sable and white Japanese Chin wearing a purple vest, and my dress is hot pink. He is almost crossing his front paws.

I saw two service dogs while going to and waiting at the gate at this point. One was a Golden, and the other a Frenchie. The Frenchie was on a flexi leash, which was not a smart idea in the crowded gate area!

Not too long after I got there, I got a text that my flight had been delayed. But it wasn’t by much, so I wasn’t too worried. I waited some more, and my flight got delayed twice more. At this point, my flight was supposed to leave at 5PM (which is when I was supposed to arrive in Ohio!). So I figured since it was 3PM, I would take Felix to the relief area and get a snack.

Unfortunately there is no relief area in terminal C. There are only three in the whole airport. Terminal A, D, and E. Terminal D was closest, so I wove my way through all the crowds of people (mind you, I have to hold onto Felix on my lap and I have one arm looped through my carry-on handle!). When I got there, another service dog was in the relief area, so I sat outside and waited.

Eventually they came out, but for some reasons they didn’t have a leash on their dog! Their dog was a doodle who was probably only 4 inches taller than Felix. It had a standard Amazon vest on—the kind with the rubber handle. And the person was holding onto it by the handle! She had to bend over so far to do this, I was shocked! Who goes to an airport with a small dog and doesn’t use a leash but only a handle on a vest?!

Anyway, the room was now free, so I went in with Felix. I got a picture of him peeing while sniffing the red hydrant on the astroturf of the relief area. That’s normal, right?

Luckily I had a gift card to Starbucks, so that’s where I headed next. I got my drink, but since my drink holder is in my suitcase and not on my wheelchair at the moment, I couldn’t carry it anywhere while holding Felix and my suitcase. They had a waiting area for people to stand (no chairs) and drink their drinks. Surprisingly, the 6 inch wide “table” for people to rest their drinks on was at wheelchair height! So I had no problem hanging out there for half an hour, drinking my drink.

I got a selfie of Felix and me with a Starbucks drink! I am wearing my new glasses which are silver small ovals with triangles on the sides.

While I was there, the gate changed, and the flight was delayed twice more. So I went to the new gate when I was done. The flight was delayed twice more while we were at that gate, and then the gate was changed back to the gate we had been at before!

On my way to that gate, I passed another doodle service dog. And I also passed a mini poodle pet who was out of their carrier. The pet was really well behaved and didn’t pay any mind to Felix, unlike the service dog.

At some point in there, I went to the restroom and both accessible stalls were occupied. There was a woman who didn’t appear disabled standing in front of the stalls, acting like she was waiting. I asked if she was waiting for the accessible stalls, and she said yes but I could go in front. I assured her that I had no need to cut in line, and that she had every right to use the accessible stall if she needed it! She seemed surprised that I didn’t even mention that she didn’t look physically disabled.

The people who came out of the stalls also didn’t appear physically disabled. One was a middle-aged woman. The other stall had a mom and her older teen daughter. I know a lot of people would probably have gotten mad at all the people who didn’t appear disabled using the accessible stalls. But I was not upset. I know that many people who don’t look disabled actually need the accessible stalls. They might have colostomy bags and need some extra space to care for them. They might have OCD and have to clean themselves more the more parts of the bathroom they touch. They might have an invisible mobility disability and need the handrails in the accessible stalls. Or they might be in need of assistance in the bathroom for whatever reason, and need someone else in the stall with them.

I’m not sure about the middle-aged woman, but I can guarantee that an older teen doesn’t use the same stall as their parent just for the fun of it. And there were plenty of stalls open, so I can only assume the other person waiting in line ahead of me had real need for the accessible stall. I just wish they had more accessible stalls! They had probably 20 regular stalls and only two accessible ones!

We went back to the gate for a while, and we were both starting to get really uncomfortable. My feet were swelling and my hips were hurting. I need to have my feet up quite a bit for those things not to happen. And Felix was getting more and more tired of being in the airport. But he hung in there! He was such a good boy. I got a picture of him curled up asleep in my lap at that gate.

Our flight got delayed a few more times, and by now it was about 5:45PM. Then the gate got changed again. I went to the new gate and started thinking about my options. I had pulled up to the new gate and just picked a random aisle to sit at the end of. I didn’t even notice that there was a super well-behaved Min Pin pet in that aisle, out of his carrier. He definitely saw Felix, and Felix saw him, but they just ignored each other.

A few times the Min Pin had to walk past us, and both pups were so good! That dog was behaving better than all the service dogs I saw!

So like I said, I was thinking about my options as I was noticing the dog stuff. At that point, our plane was supposed to leave at 8PM. That would have us landing at 9:30, probably I’d get my wheelchair and leave the airport at 10, and get to my parents’ house at 10:30. Now my dad normally goes to bed at 7–8PM. So I’d have to take an Uber (which is EXTREMELY difficult with a wheelchair and service dog!) to get to my parents’ house. And I start to get nauseous if I go to bed any later than 10:30PM. So this was already pushing it.

I decided to look into my options, and found there was a flight leaving the next morning. There weren’t a lot of seats left on that flight. So I made the decision that if my flight was delayed again, I would change my flight to tomorrow.

And wouldn’t you know it? My flight was delayed again! To 8:45 departure. So I wouldn’t get to my parents’ home until 11:15 at the earliest. I knew I’d be feeling super nauseous, my hips and feet would be killing me, and I’d still have to feed Felix (he won’t eat in public) and potty him before getting in bed.

So I noped out. I changed my flight to tomorrow morning, and texted Brad to come pick me up. While I was waiting for him outside, I called the special assistance desk and got my wheelchair and service dog added to my reservation, and got the aisle seat right behind bulkhead (my preferred seat). One thing I really love about American is that while you do have to fill out forms for your wheelchair and your service dog, they assign your wheelchair and your service dog numbers and store the information in their system. So if you need to fly at the last minute, all you have to do is make a quick phone call, tell them your ID numbers, and your info is all linked!

I got a picture of Felix while we were outside (we were at departures, not arrivals, since arrivals is a huge noisy mess and departures is open and airy). He looks weary of the world.

Unfortunately, I’ve found at airports no one pays any attention to the accessible spaces when dropping off and picking up people. Everyone just uses the spots regardless of abilities. I don’t mind too much if there’s no one obviously disabled right there waiting, as people generally are pretty quick.

But I was tracking Brad, so I knew he’d arrive in the next 2 minutes. I parked my wheelchair in the middle of the accessible space, letting everyone know I was reserving this space for my ride. Of course a big SUV full of abled people pulled up right next to the accessible spot and spent like 5 minutes getting all their bags and people out and hugging goodbye etc. The whole time Brad is behind them with his turn signal on, and I’m sitting there in my wheelchair waving at Brad. Ugh!

Eventually I got loaded up and we headed home. I am SO happy I am not still at the airport. And you know what, I just checked… The flight I was supposed to be on is now not even departing until 10:15PM!!!!!!!! And of course they’re now in a completely different terminal. I am SO glad I decided to cut my losses and head home. I get to relax tonight, sleep in my own bed, and wake up refreshed for tomorrow.