Blog #3 — I Thought I Was an Expert Traveler
Well, it didn’t take long for me to have my first humbling experience during CSC. Especially since I began traveling for work, I’ve considered myself a great traveler. I roll my eyes at people who leave for the airport hours before their flight, grow impatient when travelers don’t know the rules at TSA precheck, and can even give you food recommendations for any of the Delta terminals in New York airports. (If you’re ever on a morning flight out of LGA Terminal D, don’t miss Harry’s bagels). But the nightmare of my last 40+ hours has made me rethink how I see myself as a traveler.
To make a very long story (somewhat) short, here are the highlights:
-I got notified that my first flight from Newark to Atlanta was delayed, so I switched my flight to leave from JFK for a better shot at making the connection
-Even though I left right away, I missed the JFK flight. Luckily, after an hour of searching for options, they were able to rebook me on the next flight to Atlanta for no additional charge
-While we boarded the flight, it began thunderstorming so we sat on the plane for three hours
-After taxiing our to the runway and waiting in line for another hour to takeoff, the pilot hit his hourly limit so we went back to the gate (I should mention, the passenger in the seat in front of me watched an entire Lord of the Rings movie… that’s how long we were on the plane)
-I was able to rebook a direct flight to Buenos Aires for the next day, and was reassured my bag would make it too, so I went home at around midnight
-My bag was sent to Atlanta at 7am the next morning, so I spent all day on the phone trying to track it down. I was unsuccessful — I still don’t have any luggage or information on when it might arrive
-When I finally arrived, our connection to Santa Fe left from a different airport so it was a huge rush to make that connection (I was also told that if I missed that connection, the next flight to Santa Fe isn’t until Monday. Luckily, this did go well and I just barely made the flight!)
Despite seeing myself as an experienced traveler, I did NOT handle the situation well. I should publicly thank my fiancé, mom and brother for putting up with many panicked phone calls throughout the ordeal. It is still too fresh to truly find a silver lining or a lesson learned from the experience, but at the very least I know now that the way I see myself may not always be accurate. Clearly, I still have room to grow in an area where I previously presumed I had expertise. I will definitely keep this lesson in mind as I start my project. I am one of the few members of Argentina6 with previous experience in strategy. However, that alone will not be enough to make me successful on this project.
Finally, the last potential “silver lining” was that the situation forced me to use my Spanish. As I went to purchase necessities (underwear, shoes, clothes for the next couple days, etc.) I found myself explaining my situation to the salespeople and engaging in real conversation in Spanish. I even got a compliment from a saleswoman on how great my Spanish was after she heard me talking on the phone in English!
They say a bad dress rehearsal makes for a great show. Here’s hoping that the trip down was the dress rehearsal, and it only gets better from here.


