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Oops! I missed a flight. To Colorado. From Philadelphia. To meet my dad for a birthday ski trip.

Well, technically I was on time for the flight; I just forgot that you need to be there 45 minutes early to check bags. These past twelve months off from air travel have really gotten to me. And I probably need to stop parking in the cheapest lot where the shuttle only comes once every 20 minutes. You live, you learn…

Luckily I went to the University of Delaware, so I have a few friends who still live in the Philadelphia area. Two of them were kind enough to give me refuge (and homemade pizza!!) for the night. It was fun to spend my birthday eve among friends.

Can you believe I’ve only missed one other flight in all my years of traveling and maybe 100 (not sure) flights? We were in Barcelona taking too much time for sight-seeing and ended up taking the train in the wrong direction away from the airport. That was a lot stress, reprinting documents from budget airlines, and trying to sleep on the chairs/floor of the Barcelona airport where the guards definitely don’t allow you to sleep.

My Philadelphia friends live fifteen minutes from the airport, so this time was slightly less hectic. I rebooked on a flight for the morning, waited forever for the shuttle back to get my car, and made it to their house by dinner time. We popped champagne and had a short sleep, then early in the morning I was on my way.

The airport treated me to a sunrise view, and I remember one other time that I spent my birthday in that same airport in 2008, when it snowed and our flight to volleyball nationals was canceled. Again, this was much less hectic so I couldn’t complain and could only be mad at myself for missing a day of skiing. Or so I thought.

The transport from the Denver airport got me to the mountain with enough time to take a few runs in the afternoon sun, so I didn’t have to miss an entire day. Keystone Mountain is warm and welcoming in the spring, and by 3pm the snow had softened up a lot to make for some enjoyable April skiing.

My dad and I were pretty exhausted from the car, airplane, shuttle, plus half or full day of skiing, but we powered through and celebrated with birthday dinner and drinks in Breckenridge. Most things were open with capacity restrictions (at least outdoors) and it was exciting to experience such a popular ski destination. We had a nice time bar hopping up and down Main Street. You can definitely feel the altitude, coming from lower ground, but we must have had a second wind from the adrenaline of a new adventure.

More skiing to come on day two!