Sleeping at the Airport

Thanksgiving break! Everyone knows I have been looking forward to this week for quite some time now. I decided to go home early because most of my classes were canceled, except two, one which attendance was optional. I left Milwaukee for Minneapolis at 4:00 pm on Saturday. I was super excited to go home and see my family. I was even more excited that I got my megabus ticket for ONE dollar! As soon as our bus pulled into the Twin Cities it started to rain… and in Minnesota in November rain only leads to one thing… ice. We got stuck! The bus literally would not move! After about five minutes of sitting there, and doing tailspins, and 360’s (which could have been awesome under different circumstances), we finally started moving and drove about 5 mph all the way to our stop.

I got off the bus and tried to walk… it was nearly impossible because of all the ice. Even a tiny incline that would otherwise go unnoticed took a lot of effort to get up. I called my dad on the phone and he asked me if I was running, “Nope, just trying to get up a tiny slope,” I told him. My sister was on her way to get me so I just had to wait until she could get there. She called me and said, “Bad news, I just got in a car accident. I’m fine but they closed down the road because there are too many spin outs and accidents.” All of the major highways were shut down, and as I kept telling my friends and family who didn’t know what was going on, “Nothing in, nothing out.”

So there I am, standing on the side of the road, in the middle of an ice storm, wearing nothing but my pajamas and a spring jacket. I decided that the best thing to do would be to get on the lightrail (sort of like an above ground subway). I was really cold and my hands were starting to turn purple so I needed to get somewhere. I knew that the lightrail stops at the Mall of America so I figured I could sit in the parking garage under some heat lamps and eventually someone could come get me.

I called my dad and he told me that I should go to the airport because if I couldn’t find a ride home there, at least I could spend the night in the warmth. My sister called me to tell me that everyone on the freeway is at a complete standstill. People are getting out of their cars and fighting with other people. They just sent S.W.A.T. in to control the situation.The last reports I read said that there are "dozens" of accidents, but I am starting to think the final number will be in the hundreds. My sister has finally returned home, but without me.

I am currently sitting on the airport floor in front of security with about twenty other people. I just want to get home. I’m hungry, I’m cold, and I’m not even supposed to be in the airport because I’m not flying. People are complaining and workers are getting frustrated. I’m starting to think that my one-dollar megabus ticket wasn’t such a great deal after all.

Sweet Dreams from MSP International Airport.