At 5:10 this evening I discovered that my 8:30 flight to Orlando was not an 8:30 flight at all. It was a 5:55 flight and I only had 45 minutes to make it to the airport. My friends and I piled into the van throwing my stuff into the back seat.

On the way to the airport I called JetBlue to find out if there was anything I could do to get through check-in and security more quickly. We had a 30 minute drive to the airport, and I knew it was unlikely that I would make my flight, but I had to try. The phone agent said the flight crew would most likely not let me board since I was supposed to be there 25 minutes before departure.

Still Hanging On To Hope!

I did not want to wait in the airport for 2 more hours ... so I was still hanging on to hope. It was 5:35 when we pulled up to the airport. The agents said that my gate was closed and that I would not be permitted to board the plane. I asked a few more times if there was any way I could still make it, and they would not budge on their answer. They issued me a ticket for stand-by on the 8:05 and offered no encouragement that I would leave Orlando tonight at all, as there were 15 people on stand-by for the 8:05 already.

I grabbed my ticket and proceeded to the security check. There was no line, something I have never seen in the Orlando airport before! I thought I'd breeze through, but of course they wanted to check all of my bags and pat me down with the security wand. After all of that, I still made it onto the air-tram by 5:42. I decided I was still going to attempt to make my 5:55 flight.

Do You Think I'll Make It?

When I exited the air-tram at the terminal, my gate was right there. I walked there quickly and the staff at the gate was looking at me, "flight 42?" "Yes ... that's me!" as my belongings began to pour out of my bag onto the floor (thanks to security).

Would you believe they let me on that flight?! They closed the doors behind me and I got to take off to a beautiful blood red sunset. :-)

There are a million reasons why I shouldn't have had hope to make that flight, but I just kept moving forward, even in spite of the ticketing agents telling me that boarding had closed.

What "flight" are you trying to catch even though circumstances look bleak and others are telling you it's not possible? Don't give up hope. Keep trying! You just never know when tide will turn in your favor!

xoxo and Goodnight!