The blog this month is not what I expected or wanted it to be.

At the end of September, I was supposed to be on the Central Coast of California, back in my old stomping grounds, attending the Central Coast Writers’ Conference. Instead, I spent three days stuck at the Phoenix Airport.

What was meant to be a simple connection turned into a blur of flight delays, heat, and hotel nights I never planned for.

It started with an American Airlines flight that simply could not get off the ground. First the captain was delayed. Then it was “mechanical issues.” Then they said the paperwork proving those issues were fixed had not been filed yet. We boarded, deboarded, switched gates, boarded again, and then sat in a sweltering plane with no air conditioning in 100-degree heat. After an hour of people sweating and getting sick, we were deboarded again.

By late that night, the airline announced the flight was rescheduled for the next morning, only about seven hours away, leaving almost no time to rest. A gate agent promised hotel vouchers and another line formed, but I was tapped out, the heat is what did me in.

I was overheated and lightheaded after the hot plane ordeal, so I high tailed it to the hotel and slapped my credit card down (that’s what credit cards are for, I told myself). The airline never did reimburse me for the hotel. Although I’m in the process of a claim with Faye travel insurance.

The next morning, I awoke to a message from Amercian, they were offering refunds through the app, but only if passengers chose not to fly. I accepted, thinking I would just go home instead. That plan did not go smoothly either. Monsoon storms rolled in, grounding every flight out. So I spent another night at the airport hotel, in front of the AC, watching the desert sky pour.

My small commuter airline, Advanced Air, finally got us out the next day, (after another 7 hour delay from it’s initial scheduled departure) jumping a gap in the clouds while the rest of the airport descended into chaos.

As a West Coaster living in the desert for the last few years, being cooked alive in a vehicle or structure of some sort has always been one of my top fears, and American Airlines managed to make that nightmare come true!

I have now vowed to never fly American again or out of Phoenix.

I actually do have some relocation plans in the works, as this girl is just about done with the desert and needs to return to a more suitable habitat. But that is a story for another post.

I will be taking a short break from travel for the next few months, but I do have a trip planned for January. God willing, I will actually make it there this time, and I will be back here blogging in February.

Thanks for sticking with me. Tell me your worst travel nightmares in the comments below!

Until next we travel!

<3 Skye