Sometimes you have good days. Sometimes you have bad days.
Today was a bad day.

My Vietnam trip was a total high.
I met up with locals, flew kites, rode on a motorbike, and so much more. I was sad to have to leave on Saturday morning but I knew I needed to head back to Hong Kong. Plus, I was going to get to see my high school classmate, Jennie Chan, who was coming to visit that day. Everything seemed to be going right as planned on my way to the airport. I woke up on time, my motorbike was outside waiting for me, and my bags were packed. I thought I was smooth sailing because I had a 6:05am departure time which meant that the airport will practically be empty. Plus my flight over to Vietnam was not anywhere near full.

The airport was a total low.
I walk up to the boarding pass counter and hand over my passport. The United Airlines worker then starts to talk to her co-worker in Vietnamese. She then looks at me and says, "Miss sorry your flight is now closed. You must be here 45 min. prior to departure. WHAT?! I get out my cell phone and check out the time. 5:30am. Argh! I underestimated how long it takes to get to the airport. I'll openly admit it- I begged. Please I know there is a 45 min. policy but I'd really like to take this flight home. "Sorry miss, please go to counter two."

At this point I'm thinking, ok chill out you can catch the next flight out to Hong Kong. I mean it's Hong Kong surely they'll have flights to one of the biggest hubs in the world.

Counter #2:
After waiting about 20 minutes in Counter #2's line (which seemed like an eternity) I approach the desk, "Hello my name is Becky Lovell I just barely missed my flight.I was hoping I could catch the next flight out to Hong Kong."
No response, just typing.
"Miss, the next flight out available is on March 17th."
WHAT?!
"Oh my goodness, that is a week from now. Are there any other flights? I really can't miss a week of school. I'm flexible I can connect to other hubs then to HK or even fly into Maccau."
"Sorry Miss. The rest of the flights are booked full."
"Well could I squeeze on a flight with another airline?"
See Counter number 3 miss

Counter #3:
"Hi my name is Becky Lovell and I just missed my flight. Is there anyway I could catch a flight to Hong Kong?"
Typing...
"$375 US dollars."
WHAT?!
"Oh my. wow. And that's the cheapest??? There is no way I can pay for that. I've barely got enough to cover my $14 dollar departure tax. Plus, that is twice what I paid for my round trip ticket."
"Sorry miss."

Ok Becky just weight the possibilities. You made the mistake of misjudging time and you need to pay the price. Suck it up.
I was helpless. I decided that I'll have to wait around and standby for the next United flight that was going to head to Hong Kong and pray that someone will cancel or not show. The problem was...the next flight was Sunday at 5:05am.

Long story short, I spent the ENTIRE DAY IN THE VIETNAM AIRPORT. Mind you, I had sparse cash for food and was in no way prepared to do 'The Terminal' camp-out in the airport.

If the day didn't get any worse around 2:30 pm (after about 9 hrs. in the same location) I'm bored out of my mind and decide to play around on the special features of my camera. I then realized that I accidentally deleted ALL OF THE PHOTOS I TOOK OF MY TRIP ON MY MEMORY CARD. No words can describe that kind of anger. I had high hopes for my video footage too. People, I got video footage of the tunnels used in the Vietnam War, pictures with children flying kites, live tapes of my riding and then driving a motorbike. But go me- all gone.

Someone please just help me.

Then (oh it keeps getting better) I'm one hour away of finding out if I can take the next flight and I strike up a conversation with a United pilot who is also on standby. Nice guy, ok, way older, professional looking with business attire, and friendly. He told me about how he got into aviation, his travels, and his children ("I've got a son thats your age."). Good conversation, no flirting, no real heart-to-heart just casual 'I can't wait till they tell us we can get on the plane' filler talk.

Well this (insert insults) looks at me and says, "Well if we aren't allowed on this flight maybe we could book a hotel together."

By this point, I'm over the edge. GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE. Someone must have been praying for me because I held back on spitting in his face and destroying him with my "knuckle punch" THEN (he must have seen the shock on my face) he says, "Don't worry, I'm a gentlemen."

(Speechless) Is this guy serious??? Wait, he's old Western man and in Asia. Fits the profile. Don't know what I'm talking about, go to the Philippines for one day. You can visually see where all of Americas negative stereotypes come from.

After the way awkward conversation, we were both informed that Hey you're SOL because the flight is full.

Sorry miss.
Now I'm back in my original hostel (NOT with that creep-a-zoid) and wondering what to do next. In the wise words of my fellow red-head, "The sun will come out tomorrow."

I need sleep. I'll blog happy thoughts after I return from a much needed nap.