Off The Deep End

We left Ken and Su's house at 7 am on Friday morning to catch a 9:30 flight and Raleigh-Durham Airport. About 30 minutes before the flight the loud speaker informed us that due to weather at our destination - Legaurdia - the flight was canceled. Needless to say it quickly became a madhouse as all of our fellow passengers and ourselves scrambled to get seats on other flights. Due to the supposedly bad weather in New York many flights were being canceled and the rest were filling up rapidly. We managed to get seats on a 1:45 flight connecting through Washington, D.C. Faced with a four hour wait for our flight we began planning for contingencies in case we couldn't get a flight out of D.C. We got reservations on a 4 pm Amtrak train. Here's the thing, the flight we were confirmed on was also at 4 so we didn't know how long to wait before heading for the train.
As it turned out the problem was moot. We landed in D.C. at 3 pm, after landing the pilot informed us that due to a lack of gates we would just sit on the runway for 20 minutes or so. After about half an hour we were taken to another place on the tarmac and transferred to a bus and driven to a side entrance of the terminal. Our cushion time had faded to about 40 minutes when we got into the terminal. As we walked in a voice on the loud speaker began listing canceled flights and for the second time that day we were grounded.
We were reduced to sprinting through the terminal to the metro to try and make our train at Union Station. Needless to say navigating a strange metro system while in a rush is one of life's most stressful endeavors. After figuring out how to buy a ticket we ran afoul of the one ticket per rider policy, as opposed to New York's system which allows multiple swipes from the same card. This wrinkle slowed us down enough that we missed the first yellow line train and had to wait 8 minutes for the next one. Longest 8 minutes ever.
One transfer to the red line and another few stops later led us to Union Station. Here we discovered another little quirk of the D.C. metro system. Certain stops feature exists only reachable by a single escalator causing long lines and delays at rush hour. Ordinarily I don't like being rude to strangers, but I was desperate so push to the front I did. One last sprint and the Amtrak ticket counter was within sight.
There were two agents on duty one at the Amtrak window and one labeled Ancela Express. I knew we didn't have tickets on the express, but sometimes to get ahead you have to fudge the details. Feigning ignorance and desperation (i guess the desperation was real) we convinced the Ancela agent to help us get our tickets. As we ran off toward the platform she chided us "Next time you have to wait in the right line!"
We made the train with only moments to spare. As we settled in with beers purchased on board we reflected on the efforts sometimes needed for the seemingly simplest journeys. In three hours we would be in NYC and no weather could stop us from here.

My advice always take the train.