Never Give Up

"Holy sh#t, I made my flight!"  

I'm seated in 31D at 30,000 feet flying back home to San Diego and I still can't believe I made it, and I wasn't even the last person to board.  Right on!

Last night was one of those typical post-conference boozathons where me and a hundred or so of my closest friends drank our way through New York City until 4 in the morning.  By the end of the night, the group had whittled down to 7 or so of the hard core drinkers and we found our way to some college bar in mid-town.  You know you're in a college bar when a fight breaks out over god-knows-what, some kid is literally passed out in the middle of the bar and the paramedics show up.  A grade A night in my book.

The night ended like any other scotch induced escapade, the world was spinning ever so slightly and I all I wanted to do was get some rest before my 10:50am flight out of Newark the next morning.  

I can operate fairly well on only 3 hours of sleep so I figured this would be easy:

- Cab at 4am
- Back at the hotel by 4:15am
- Pack by 4:30am
- Sleep till 7:30am
- Showered and on the street by 8:00am
- Arrive at the airport by 9:00am
- Check in, through security and in line at Dunkin' Donuts by 10:00am

My only obligation to my wife on this trip was to pick up 2 dozen donuts.  Sorry babe, you'll have to wait until next time.

The plan started to unravel when my drinking cohorts jumped into the only cab on the street and promptly drove off leaving me cursing the fat f#cker in the backseat for not making room for me.  I guess I looked like I wanted to take a stroll by myself through Times Square at 4am.  So, off I went.

It was a beautiful night and I actually loved seeing the city that quiet.  I bummed a smoke off some girl on Park Ave, grabbed a hot dog in Times Square and suddenly felt like a "real" New Yorker.  Hell, I was even walking with authority and purpose.  Ok, I may have been skipping and whistling the whole time but no one can confirm that.  The walk probably took an hour or so but I still have no idea since my cell phone was totally dead.  I could care less; I never had so much fun walking by myself.  

I love New York!

Fast forward to my hotel room where I wake up completely dressed, shoes still on, wallet in my pocket, TV blaring, lights on and me feeling like I'm on a Tilt-a-Whirl.  I roll over and then reality starts to set in.  

"Wow, what the hell happened last night? Wait, where am I?  Oh, that's right I'm in New York for a conference.  Cool.  Hold on, what time is it?  Holy, sh#t it's 9am!!!  My flight!!!  Ah, f#ck me!!!"

I knew Newark was at least 45 minutes away by cab but it was rush hour and I hadn't even packed yet.  It was time to start smiling and dialing loved ones, co-workers and the airline to break the news that I may or may not be coming home today because I was too drunk to set an alarm.  Those are not the calls I like to make, especially to my wife who is all too accustomed to my antics.

I walked over to my laptop, flipped it open and began to type in www.continental.com when it hit me - wait a minute, why am I giving up that easy?  I know there is little to no chance that I'll get to the airport by the time my flight leaves but I'll never know for sure if I sit here and cry in my Cheerios.  I looked back at the clock which now read 9:08am and said "f#ck it, I'm going to make that plane!" 

Cut to me grabbing everything off the desk and dumping it into my backpack, throwing everything on the floor into my suitcase and then dashing out the door.  

Time on the clock: 9:12am - chances of being screwed: 99.9%

Down the elevator and out on the street.  Hailed and caught a cab in record time and was now slowly heading down 8th Avenue towards the Lincoln Tunnel.  

Time on the clock: 9:15am - chances of being screwed: 99.5%

When you are in a hurry, traffic always seems slow but when you are in a panic, traffic actually starts to move backwards.  I think Einstein wrote something about that but I still need to cite the source.  

Traffic to the tunnel was as you would expect, totally jammed.  Surprise, surprise.  Oh well, it was now out of my hands.  I then fire up my phone and send a couple of messages to my peeps on Twitter (all 6 of them) and to my wife.  I was on my way home but not likely today.  Such is life.

For what seemed like an eternity actually turned out to be 60 minutes door to door.  

Time on the clock: 10:15am - chances of being screwed: 85%  

I grab my bags, pay the cab and walk to the ticket counter to check my bags and to work on plan B to return home.  I didn't even bother to run since I saw the line at the counter was going to take forever.  I approached the agent at the front of the line who asked what time my flight was.  I told him it didn't really matter since I was going to miss it but he insisted.  My boy Paul checked his watch, looked at departure kiosk and said, "No you won't, I got this."  Bam, to the front of the line and officially checked in at 10:19am.  A full minute before the mandatory 30 minute cut off!  On to security.  

Time on the clock: 10:22am - chances of being screwed: 75%

I don't know why but the airport was totally dead and only had about 10 people in line for security.  Even better - everyone seemed to know the process by heart.  Shoes off, bottles out, laptops in bins, keys in trays, go, go, go.  Maybe it was an east coast thing.  I'm usually stuck behind the 80 year old chinese woman who is still trying to figure out why the planes aren't falling from the sky.  Not this time, nothing but pros.

Time on the clock: 10:30am - chances of being screwed: 50%

My pace picked up a bit as I headed to Gate 92 which is of course 4.3 miles from security, but it's all good, I've got the people movers to double my speed.  I arrive at the gate and jump in line behind 4 other people who looked much more put together than I do but this was like golf, it didn't matter how I got there, I was 6 feet from the door and I had a putter in my hand.  

I made it with time to spare!

Not that I ever want to go through this experience again, it did remind me of a good lesson in life; no matter how bad it looks you always have to try.  Sure you may fail miserably and miss that flight, lose that client, or have a drink thrown in your face, but a 0.1% chance of success is still better than a 100% chance of failure.

The best of the best learn from their experiences and don't think that even the most successful people haven't failed, they have.  Donald Trump nearly went bankrupt but now owns half of New York, Apple failed miserably with the Newton but now has the iPhone, iPad and iPod in the hands of millions of raving fans, and even top comedians like Chris Rock bomb at local clubs while honing their jokes before filming for HBO and Comedy Central.  The difference is they never give up.  More importantly, they learned from their mistakes, made improvements and tried again, and again, and again, until they got it right.

Remember, never give up or else you might be stuck in Newark for the unforeseeable future.  And, trust me, nobody wants that.

Now, where's that flight attendant; I need a drink.