Make things happen

Just when I though my airport arrival worries were over, I received a call from Julia, who was experiencing an adrenalin-pumping race to the airport story of her own. For her, it all began ironically by arriving early. She reached for her wallet to pay the Cab driver when she realized it was sitting on her kitchen table.  It wouldn't be a typical track trip if everything went smoothly and nobody has missed their plane yet. Would Julia be the first statistic? 

While I was checking in, Julia was racing the clock. She had one hour to make it to her place and back. Time was most definitely of the essence but luckily we train to race the clock everyday. 

To help speed things along I completed Julia's customs forms and asked to leave them at the check-in counter. This is when I learned Julia had one minute to print her boarding passes. I thought she was done, but in a seemingly futile attempt I dramatically explained our situation. What would Brit Townsend do? I literally begged the ticket agent to please print her pass. The response, you need to be there in person. I immediately called Jules while again stressing the online check-in option.

By some great gift we had a very understanding ticket agent. She actually printed the passes as Julia was relaying her information over the phone. I couldn't believe it! 

But there was one final problem. The plan was to leave the tickets at the check-in counter. The counter that was closing and they're not allowed to leave tickets unattended.  So what to do? My only option was to wait with the tickets but then I risked missing my flight.  In one final last ditch effort we placed the tickets "by accident" in a pay-phone phonebook (first one on the left) and hoped for the best.

I went through security and stopped at Starbucks for a non-fat latte! As I meandered to the gate, coffee in hand, there was Julia beaming! She made it, we’re off to Iowa. Long story short, we chose to keep believing and we chose to make things happen for us!

Take action, choose your path or just remember your wallet ;)