I left Ballard about 10am for a 2.30 flight. Metro got me there in plenty of time. The Southwest flights were moving, although our flight ended up delayed several times -- aircraft problems, terminal problems, runways closed. We made it out around 6 or 6.30pm. No one was making their connections in Denver, and staff were suggesting going home if possible. Some people were being offered flights on Christmas day, and not many were happy about that. I was lucky -- the plane I was on was headed to Austin, close enough to my San Antonio destination to make it worth it. I'm feeling pretty lucky I got out. People who were staying in the airport had limited options, as many vendors were closed and lines were long and testy.

Trying to take my son on a Christmas trip to visit his favorite auntie and cousins. It was amazingly easy to get to the airport via KC Metro bus - and super easy check in on Virgin America. Just as easy to get through security, ominously no lines there . . . just as we approached our gate, gearing up for the 2 hour wait since I'd left plenty of time for long waits . . . heard the announcement that our flight was cancelled. And I had checked many times online before leaving the house. Oh well. Luckily it was easy enough to quickly go back out to the VA check in desk - where an agent quickly rebooked us for flight to L.A. for tomorrow. Poor agent then announced all flights cancelled and suddenly there was a huge crowd. We got home quickly on another metro bus. But no online I see my flight south tomorrow is with a stop over and there aren't any seats available on the connecting flight. Cannot get through to the airline on the phone, no surprise. Hoping so much to get there by Christmas. But no matter what, it was actually a good experience for my son to learn some more ins and outs of travel, since he's such a great traveler and I expect to take him many more places, that probably won't be as easy to get to. All in all, it was no big deal for us - but there were a LOT of stranded passengers being told to take care of themselves AND not to bother with hotels because ALL area hotels were booked. I feel like I should go back with cases of snacks and bottled water for everyone. That might make a good mission for a philanthropist. It IS still snowing heavily - so this will be a good lesson also in learning how to just 'go with the flow'. Happy holidays to all, no matte where spent.

Left the house in Phinney at 9 a.m. for SeaTac. Made it there via two buses by a respectable 11 a.m., glided through security, and hung around for about three hours, only to find out my flight (and hundreds of others) had been canceled. Getting back home was a disaster and took about 3 hours, all told. Rebooking has been even more of a nightmare, which is to say, impossible -- The line was about 3 miles long at SeaTac itself, and the reservations phone number has yielded a busy signal for the past 5 hours. At this point, I'm pretty much resigning myself to staying here over the holidays, thousands of miles away from my entire family.

This is why I don't travel for the holidays anymore. I'm just as happy to visit folks in July.