Airport Chaos, A Cinnamon Roll and Conversations

The plan was simple: Tampa to Cincinnati with a quick hop through Charlotte. Then came the cascade—late pushback, mysterious reroutes, a gate occupied, and a connection that closed two minutes early. What followed wasn’t just a scramble for rebooking; it was a reminder that travel is made of people as much as planes.

I walk you through the airport chain reaction every traveler knows: the long customer service line, the gamble between an all night drive and a dawn departure, and the consolation prize of a hotel voucher and a sleepless room beside roadwork. And then the tone shifts. A brief, tense exchange at the front desk leads to an unexpected moment of grace: meeting Jean, an older passenger with a bad knee, a big heart, and a flight to Akron. We team up to secure a wheelchair, navigate the terminal, and trade stories over a cinnamon roll at Dunkin’. She shares a grandson’s wedding and a life in education; I share family memories and the habit of helping. It turns a wasted morning into a good one.

Importantly, we explore how small kindness travels farther than any itinerary. The story ends with a surprise thank you—a box of Akron chocolates and a handwritten note—that seals the lesson: when plans fall apart, connection can still come together.

If you’ve ever watched a plan unravel, this one’s for you. Press play, share it with a traveler who could use a smile, and leave a quick review to tell us about the best stranger you’ve met on the road.

Chapters

• 0:02 Setting The Scene
• 0:30 The Travel Plan Unravels
• 1:45 Delays, Reroutes, And Fuel
• 2:37 The Charlotte Connection Melts Away
• 5:26 Rebooking Maze And Tough Choices
• 7:10 Hotel Vouchers And A Sleepless Night
• 9:05 The Rude Desk, The Kind Driver
• 10:40 Meeting Jean And Choosing To Help
• 12:05 Wheelchair Assist And A Long Walk
• 13:35 Coffee, A Cinnamon Roll, And Stories

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:02

Welcome to Dan the Road Trip Guy. I'm your host Dan, and each week we'll embark on a new adventure, discovering memory and life lessons of our incredible guests. From everyday travelers to thrill seekers and everyone in between, this podcast is your front row seat to inspiring stories of passion, resilience, and the pursuit of happiness. So buckle up and enjoy the ride. This episode today is just me, and it's about travel and how sometimes your plans for travel can change. Now, if you've traveled at all, and I don't care if it's by air or car or train or bus, there is always the chance of a delay and a change in your plans. A couple of weeks ago this happened to me. My wife Linda and I were visiting family in Florida. She was going to stick around for a few more days, but I was going to fly home on a Sunday evening. I was flying out of the Tampa Airport. Unfortunately there were no direct flights other than on Frontier. I like Frontier. We like Frontier. But the problem with Frontier is if the flight didn't take off on Sunday evening, I might not get home till Tuesday. So I opted for, let's just say one of the major carriers, American Airlines, let's just say. But that flight took me through Charlotte. Now, the Charlotte Airport is super nice, but I really don't like to fly through there because it is super busy and a lot of American planes go through there. So I'm thinking, well, if I miss the flight, there'll probably be another one. Now I was scheduled to leave Tampa around 8 PM and arrive home shortly before 1 AM. Not terrible, and hey, I would be able to make it to work the next day without a problem. Linda drove me to the Tampa Airport. My plane was listed as being a little bit late, but not terribly late, so I'm thinking, okay, I could still make this connection in Charlotte. Well, then we get on the plane and there's more delay and a little more delay. At one point I think they actually mentioned the government shutdown. Could be an issue. Then they decided they were rerouting us for some reason. And they're supposedly communicating with somebody in Dallas. And I think Washington, DC even came up. So they're rerouting us. And now all of a sudden, we're going to need fuel because they're changing our route. Like changing our route. Charlotte's kind of a straight flight out of Tampa, but hey, I'm not a pilot, gonna stay in my lane. Still looking okay on that connection. We get to Charlotte, we land, I look out the window and I can see the terminal. It doesn't look that far away. I'm like, okay, we're going to make it. And by the way, my connecting flight, two gates away. So now I'm not even gonna have to run very fast or very far. Then all of a sudden it seems like we took the long way around to the terminal. We kept going and going and going, and then the terminal just kind of disappeared from sight. Now maybe that's the only way to get there. I have no clue. I'm not the pilot. I didn't look at the airport, so I don't know. We're finally near the terminal. I can see it, looking at the watch, still okay. And then the flight attendant came on and she mentioned some cities, she mentioned Cincinnati, she mentioned other cities, and then she made the statement, these flights are either on time or delayed. I'm like, well, okay. Be nice to know if mine was delayed, but I guess we'll find out. So we get closer and closer. The pilot then comes on and says, I'm sorry to say, but our gate is occupied. And you could hear the groans in the cabin. And I'm thinking, a lot of these people have a connection. I'm thinking, didn't they know we were coming? Couldn't they have found us another gate? Still got time. And then the flight attendant announces, If this is your final destination, please remain in your seat because we have a lot of people trying to make connecting flights. Well that was great. But then I realized about 80% of the planes stood up, and now we're all hoping to make our connection. We managed to get off the plane. Oh, I should say this. Early Sunday morning, I was checking in on the app and it said, Hey, you want to upgrade to a first class seat for$50? I'm like, okay, it's a short flight. I really don't need a first class seat, but I would have been one of the first people off that plane. Several of us run two gates away to the Cincinnati gate, and the display says, Flight is closed. I look at the app, it had left two minutes early, and we were one minute past when it was supposed to depart. So we all missed that plane. My first thought was, with all the technology, couldn't they have simply seen that there was a whole bunch of us trying to get to that plane? But they left. We asked another person at a counter where we should go. He directed us to this customer service counter just down the way. I ended up in line with a young college student from the University of Cincinnati, and he's like, I have got to get home. My instructor does not like anyone to be absent from his class. I looked at him, all my years of wisdom, and I said, I hate to tell you this, you're not getting home tonight unless we rent a car and drive. Now he was 19 and I'm thinking, I'm very tired, and I cannot possibly drive through the night. And for those who know me, that's a little bit unusual because there's a little bit on me that wanted to go rent that car and drive home. While I'm standing in line, and it was a long line, because there was a lot of people rebooking their flights, they rebooked me on a flight. Now get this. The flight would take me from Charlotte the next morning at 7 a.m. to Washington, D.C., where I would remain for nine hours, then catch a flight home and be home by around seven. Now I am thinking, I'll rent a car and drive home. But then I thought, hey, my daughter Lauren's in Washington, D.C., and I could spend the whole day with her. But the more I thought about it, and I love my daughter, I just wanted to get home. So I wait my turn in line. The young fellow from UC is scouring the internet, trying to find a flight, and I've said, There are no other flights. It's 1130. This is where we're going to be tonight. And I could just see by the look on his face, he was bewildered. They sent us some hotel selections while we were waiting in line. One was Red Roof Inn, one was MicroTel. Now I've stayed in some bad hotels, motels over the years, and I'm like, okay, that's fine, whatever. So I get up, I tell the gentleman behind the counter my situation, and I would really like to get home a little sooner than 7 PM tomorrow night. He's clicking on his keyboard, he's rubbing his eyes, he's telling me how long he's been at work, and I just continue to thank him and encourage him, and he's clicking away, click, click, click. It felt like forever. I glance over, my young new friend from UC, he's doing the same thing, and they're trying to get him on something. Don't know where he ended up. So my guy, he prints out some things and says, I did find you a flight, and he goes, I got you a really good flight. He said, You'll leave in the morning, direct flight to Cincinnati. You'll be home by lunch. I'm like, thank you very much. He then tells me he put me in the embassy suites, and I'm thinking, okay, better than Red Roof or MicroTel. He also gives me a voucher for an Uber. It's a$55 voucher, but I look at it and it says you can only use it once. He does tell me there's a shuttle, gives me a gives me a food coupon, and I'm on my way. I go out, the line for the embassy suites van is very long. So I'm thinking, okay, I'll use my Uber voucher to get there. I'll take the shuttle back in the morning, and that's exactly what I did. I had a great Uber driver, got me there. But as we turned into the street by the hotel, there was all night road construction going on, it appeared. I'm like, hmm, maybe it ends at midnight. I walk into NBC Suites, the line is very long, obviously a lot of people miss their flights. Finally I get to the front of the line. By the way, I checked my bag, I don't know why. So I have no toothbrush, no toothpaste, no razor, no nothing. She checks me in, I ask her for those items, and she gladly hands them to me. I make my way to my room. Let's just say throughout the night I constantly heard the construction noise outside and the sound of beep beep beep. I didn't sleep much. I booked the shuttle for 630. It gave me some time to do some work. I thought I'll get up, I'll do a little work here, I'll catch the shuttle, and then I'll be to the airport. I go downstairs, it's 530. Well, it's actually about 520. The shuttle's coming at 530. I walk up to the young man at the desk and say, hey, I'm booked on the six thirty shuttle. Is there any chance I could go ahead and get on one now? And not such a nice tone, nor body language, you will go when you signed up. I'm like, okay, fine. There's a nice table in the lobby. I'll go over, get my laptop out, and I'll do some work. I'll sit here for an hour, and then I'll catch the shuttle when I booked it. I'm guessing I was about ten minutes into my work and I see this older woman approaching the table where I'm sitting, and her immediate comment was that is the rudest young man over at that desk, and I don't want to talk to him anymore. And I said, I couldn't agree more. Then for some reason she thought I was the manager of the hotel. I said, Nope, I'm just a guest who missed his flight last night. I think the manager had walked behind me and maybe the young man pointed in my direction. She said, I just can't deal with him. I have a really bad knee. I'm supposed to have a wheelchair from the curb to my gate, and I just want to get over to the airport to get that squared away. About that time the shuttle bus driver walked over, and he said he was kind of questioning us, and she again went through her story of the young man and how rude he was, and that we shared we had signed up for the shuttle at six thirty, but we would like to get on over to the airport so she can get squared away with her wheelchair. He leaves, he comes back in a couple minutes, and he says, Hey, I've got a seat on the shuttle. Well, she says, I'm not going unless he goes. I said, Well, do you have two seats? And he says, as a matter of fact, I do. And I said, Well, off we go. Now remember, she has a bad knee. She had been to her grandson's wedding in Orlando. She had been on two planes that had malfunctioning doors, so it had not been a good trip for her back home. She was headed back to Akron. So I put my arm out, as every gentleman should do. She grabbed my arm and we walked to the bus. We got off the bus, we proceeded into the airport. Now, I really don't know where you go to get a wheelchair, so we walked over to a TSA agent, and she quickly directed us over to a counter, where some very nice young people proceeded to help her get her wheelchair. As it turns out, I went through the airport with her, along with her wheelchair assistant, and she and he had a great conversation all the way to the gate. She did ask him, where is this gate? And I think we must have been at the very end because it took us a good while to get there. I just figured I'd drop her off there and be on my way back to my gate. But she said, Would you like to have coffee? And I said, Sure. And so we walked back to Dunkin' Donuts. I had seen a Dunkin' Donuts on the way, and that's the only coffee place I'd seen. So we walked there. We got in line, and I have to say, all I could think about during this whole time, I'd thought about my mom. My aunt Betty, who I had the honor to fly with on her very first flight. And I had guided her through an airport in Lexington and in Houston, Texas. So those are the people that kept popping to my mind. What if this were my mom? What if this were my grandma? What if this were my aunt? I would want somebody to help them. So here we are back at Dunkin' Donuts. We're in line. She orders her coffee, and we also decided we'll have a cinnamon roll. And she asked me, What kind of coffee do you want? And I said, Well, I don't really drink coffee. And she said, I thought we were going to have coffee. And I said, Well, we'll have a cinnamon roll, and you have your coffee. And that's what we did. We sat there for about an hour, just sharing with one another about our families, about what she had done for a living, which was an educator. We shared about her grandson's wedding. We shared about her other sons, one being a Navy fighter pilot. We were basically sharing a conversation and building a relationship in the Charlotte Airport. I then walked her back to her gate. If you look on the cover of this episode, you'll see a picture of myself and my new friend Jean. We said our goodbyes. Bottom line, when your travel plans change, whether you get stuck in a traffic jam for hours, whether you miss your bus or your plane or your train, maybe just strike up a conversation with somebody. You know, it really makes the time go by more quickly. I do hope you've enjoyed this. I hope it's made you reflect on times that you had conversations. I recorded a lot of this for my own benefit. I just didn't want it to be a story that I forgot. I did make it home, I did make it to work. I'd wondered why Jean asked me for my address. About a week after we got home, we received in the mail some chocolates that I suppose are famously made in Akron, Ohio. She also shared a thank you note. She addressed it to both Linda and I, because I had talked about Linda with her. We shared that chocolate with some very dear friends as we played Euchre one night. Let's just say that box of chocolates was gone. I hope this episode gave you a little time to think back on some memories. And I do hope if you're stuck somewhere that you take the time to get to know someone new. That's it for today. I'll see you next time. Thank you for tuning in to Dan the Road Trip Guy. I hope you enjoyed our journey today and the stories that were shared. If you have any thoughts or questions or stories of your own, I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to reach out to me anytime. Don't forget to share this podcast with your friends and family and help us to spread the joy of road trips and great conversations. Until next time, keep driving, keep exploring, and keep having those amazing conversations. Safe travels. And remember, you can find me on the internet at dantherroadtripguy.com.