Planes, AirTrains and Automobiles
The story I’m about to tell you has everything: laughter, suspense, tears… it even has neon signs. It starts in the United Lounge at Newark Airport when we were doing what you usually do when your flight is delayed: we settled in, sipped some free wine, and bonded with strangers over the shared travel experience. As we were talking about the delays with the young woman sitting next to us, I relayed my experience from when I used to travel every week for work. I told her that I learned there is no point in going to the gate until you get the It's time to board text message. She had already gone there once and came back when it was delayed another hour; just stay here I told her, I never go until the app updates. They always tell you when they're boarding.
It was in that moment when the universe decided to one-up Allanis Morrisette and delivered the mother of all ironic moments: the app that I had my eyes glued to for the past 3 hours suddenly changed from delayed to departed.
Not Now boarding.
Not Final call.
As the words I had just said were still dangling in the air - they always tell you when they're boarding - my plane decided to do no such thing.
It just left.
One moment we were laughing and having a great time and the next I was standing at the United desk with tears streaming down my face, trying to understand how they could board and leave without updating any of the monitors or apps. Our weekend plans which were carefully crafted and joyfully anticipated evaporated in seconds.
I wanted to yell at the guy behind the desk, but I knew it wasn't his fault. I also knew that I could dwell on the problem that could not be changed, or I could take a deep breath and try to move toward a solution. So that's what I did: what can we do I asked. He quickly typed away on his computer trying desperately to help us but every flight over the next few days was booked. I sobbed harder and was ready to call it quits, but Andrew was already in motion, scanning for any possible route to Louisville. It was then, at 11:30 PM, when we decided to hop on an AirTrain and headed to the car rental place with nothing but wishful thinking.
Avis turned us away - no cars left - but National came through and so with unhinged optimism and a can-do attitude that rivaled John Candy, we hit the road.
After a 1 AM Wendy’s, 6 AM McDonald’s, a sunrise somewhere in Ohio and a detour to the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati (because if your weekend has already gone off the rails, why not add neon?) we rolled into the Louisville Airport where our bags were already waiting for us. Our weekend went from perfect, to ruined, to something else entirely: an unexpected adventure.
Research shows that people who adapt quickly experience significantly lower stress during disruptions; not because the situation is easier, but because they shift faster from Why me? to What can we do? Positive emotions also expand our ability to problem‑solve, while frustration narrows it. In the end, I realized that the story we tell ourselves shapes the experience. If we had framed this as the weekend that fell apart, that’s all it would have been. Instead, it became the weekend we made happen.
Life will always hand us delays, detours, and moments where it just doesn't go the way we expected, but the one thing all those moments have in common is that we always get to choose what happens next. We can give up… or we can get on the AirTrain. We can mourn the plan… or we can make a new one. We can stay stuck… or we can start driving.
