Emily Goldberg ’12
Web Sports Editor
Over December break I racked up about 27 hours in the air during my trip to Argentina. With 5 flights throughout the country, I was pretty much guaranteed one of the following scenarios: a delay for hours on end, a cancellation, we would miss a flight, or make it with less than a second to spare but with much more stress than any of us needed.
All in all, we did pretty well. Only one flight was affected, and I was just lucky enough to deal with scenario number one, a delay for hours on end.
The lovely El Calafate, Argentina airport I was stuck in, was about the size of a football field. It had one shop with no books or any magazines in English; there was one café that had a limited menu consisting of muffins, coffee, and variations of ham and cheese sandwiches or empanadas.
As I waited somewhat patiently, I did find a few things to do
1:00 – 3:00 p.m. – The first two hours blended together, and went by faster than I thought they would; I wish I could say the same for the rest of my wait.
After we walked back and forth across the tiny airport, my family and I settled for the only three seats we could find…for the four of us.
I pulled out my laptop with the greatest hopes of getting a successful Wi-Fi connection, only to find my computer was dead. Out of boredom, my Dad decided he would make it his mission to find an outlet in the airport after I assured him there were none.
Much to my surprise after searching for a few minutes, he actually found an outlet in a remote corner of the building. I read my book as he fiddled with my computer charger trying to successfully plug it in. Since my dad isn’t the most patient or technological person it was slightly comical to watch. Turns out my dad’s major motivation for finding an outlet was so he could charge his iPhone.
3:00 – 4:00 p.m. – I continued to watch my dad fiddle with his phone and my computer, until my Mom suggested her and I go for a walk. With a lack of anything else to do I agreed.
We walked outside and around the entire airport, back inside no more than five minutes later. I’m not kidding when I say this is the smallest airport I have ever been in.
After coming back inside I turned to my iPod and watched an episode of my latest obsession, The O.C.
4:00 – 5:00 p.m. – Still watching The O.C…
5:00 – 5:50 p.m. – With much sadness I watched the battery life on my iPod die. So, I decided I would go to the miniscule café and get a coffee. Normally I would happily fall asleep to pass the time, but due to the uncomfortable metal chair I was in, this was not a possibility; caffeine was definitely needed.
Given I was in Argentina, I decided to give it a whirl and order my coffee in Spanish. I did so successfully and even helped one man who clearly knew little Spanish even to order a muffin.
5:50 – 6:00 p.m. –I did another lap around the airport to stretch my legs and once again started to read my book. This didn’t last long as my patience was growing thin. So I moved on to nag my brother to play cards with me.
6:00 – 7:00 p.m. – My brother and I had played just about every card game known to man. Then we started a new game… staring at the clock. Its objective: hopes of making the clock move faster. WARNING: this game does not work and is not advised, and it will only make you want to pull your hair out.
7: 20 p.m. – I was saved; the P.A system had called our flight to the gate. It might as well have been an angel saving me from dying of boredom. Despite my momentary happiness, we didn’t board for another 30 to 40 minutes after getting to the gate.
Needless to say we learned our lesson: always have the hotel concierge confirm the flight before leaving for the airport.
