After a recent series of events, I’ve discovered that I have a love/hate relationship with winter.

Generally, I don’t mind the cold weather and snow. I mean, living in Canada you kind of have to

Nevertheless, my wife and I enjoy skiing and as a kid I always loved snowmobiling. However, I recently discovered why there are more songs about the California sun versus the Canadian winter!

Here’s what happened…

I was traveling home from two back-to-back seminars in California. I had purchased a more expensive plane ticket just so that I could get back in time for a soccer game I had that night (I love my soccer - yes this was an indoor game).

People think I’m crazy because I routinely travel 2.5 hours round trip to play a 40 minute game every week but when you love soccer as much as I do, I think it’s worth it.

So, everything looked good and the flight was on time.

The game was scheduled for 10:15pm and my plane was to land in Buffalo at 6:30pm. Since the Buffalo airport is roughly 2+ hours from where I play I figured there was plenty of time… or so I thought!

Since this was NOT a direct flight from L.A, I needed to fly into Newark first and then on to Buffalo.

The first leg of the flight was great. I had a window seat and slept most of the flight.

Then, after landing in Newark I went and grabbed a bite to eat since I had roughly an hour between flights.

Suddenly, a thought came over me… maybe I should just check my flight just to be sure.

The ticket I had received when I originally checked in gave the time and the gate I was flying out of so I decided to head directly there and wait. That’s when I noticed something out of the ordinary…

In big red letters, the screen above my gate read:

CANCELED

What the?

BOMBSHELL #1: Buffalo Flight Canceled

I quickly went up to the counter and sure enough, all flights to Buffalo had been canceled.

The first thought running through my mind was, “I’ve got to fly out tonight… I can’t miss soccer!”.

So I immediately asked when the next flight was going out.

The lady replied “9:25pm”.

That wasn’t going to work since my game was at 10:15pm and the flight wouldn’t arrive in time.

Then she hit me with…

BOMBSHELL #2: Flight Times

She said “but it doesn’t look like that flight will go out tonight either so would you like me to book you on the next flight which would be tomorrow morning at 8:00am”.

Here’s the deal…

That meant I would need to spend the whole night in the airport since they weren’t going to cover any hotel costs. Plus, that meant I would miss soccer!

There were all kinds of people freaking out and I even witnessed a couple “temper tantrums” from full grown adults!

At that moment my inner voice kicked in.

“Stay calm Stu… you can figure this out”.

I then asked if there were any flights going into Rochester (which is about 60 miles from Buffalo).

“Yes, we have one leaving in 20 minutes” said the lady.

“I’ll take it” I replied.

Then…

BOMBSHELL # 3: The Luggage

“Well we can put you on that flight but there’s no guarantee that your luggage will make it.”

TRANSLATION: Your luggage ain’t gonna make it!

At this point I felt like I was in an episode of the “Amazing Race” and it was my mission to get to my game on time. So, I decided to go for it anyway figuring the luggage wouldn’t make it but I could figure that out later.

So off I go to Rochester.

As soon as I landed I knew I didn’t have time to mess around so I ran down to the car rental area and got myself the “cheapest” ride available.

$100+ later (geez… I only needed the car for like 70 minutes!) I’m heading to Buffalo.

In the car I was excited because at this point I really was treating it like an episode of the Amazing Race. Instead of being all angry about the situation I wanted to make it an adventure.

So I was singing my heart out as I flew down the highway. Then in record time I arrived in Buffalo.

After a smooth “drop off” transition, I jumped on the airport shuttle which then took me to my car.

TIME CHECK: 7:21pm
(less than 3 hours to game time)

Well, that’s when the fun began…

BOMBSHELL #4: The Car

 

I quickly jumped off the shuttle to find my wife’s car buried in about a foot of snow.

If this was my Mini… who knows how long it would have taken me to get out!

After a deep breath, I cleared off the snow, scrapped off the ice, dug out the tires and after 5 minutes of spinning, I finally got going.

At that point I remember saying to myself… “Old Man Winter… you ain’t gonna stop me… I’m getting to my game no matter what it takes”

TIME CHECK: 7:43pm

After crossing the border around 8:10pm I realized that I had made pretty good time and shouldn’t have any problem getting there on time. So when I was about 30 minutes from the field I decided to stop and grab a bite to eat.

According to the clock in my car, it was 8:52pm.

I shut the car off and went into Subway knowing exactly what I was going to get… a toasted BLT (mmmm, my favorite) .

As I walked in, my jaw hit the ground…

Standing there like a deer in headlights, my attention was immediately drawn to the clock on the wall.

Instead of being 8:52pm, it said 9:52pm!

Doht!

Since the time change had happened while I was away, the clock in my car wasn’t updated properly.

They must have wondered what the heck I was doing because I just turned around and ran out to my car without saying a word to anyone.

TIME CHECK: 9:54pm
(roughly 20 minutes until game time)

I was flying down the highway praying that I wouldn’t get caught for speeding (I don’t think the “I’m in my own episode of the Amazing Race” would have gone over well!).

As I got closer to the field, all the street lights seemed to be on my side and I whisked around the corners and through intersections until I finally pulled into the parking lot of the field.

TIME CHECK: 10:16pm
(1 minute over)

I ran down to the field to find that they were slightly behind. This was perfect because I had some time to quickly get changed and join my team - and I didn’t miss any of the game.

YAHOO!

After turning it into a “race”, I really felt like I had accomplished something just getting there on time - especially considering that I would have otherwise spent the night in the airport.

Well we played a great game and finished with a 1-1 draw. Although it wasn’t a win, I was satisfied.

As I drove home I couldn’t help but smile.

It really made me realize the importance of “attitude”.

My canceled flight to Buffalo could have been a real downer. It could have ruined my night - especially since I really wanted to get home and play soccer.

Feeling on top of the world for “beating the travel odds” I was once again singing my heart out as I was driving home from my game.

Then “Old Man Winter” decided to throw me one last curve ball…

BOMBSHELL #4: The Driveway

It appears that we had quite the snow storm while I was away and at the end of my driveway was about 2.5-3 feet of snow. At that point I had 2 options:

1. Park the car on the side of the road and clear the driveway in the morning… or….
2. Shovel it now

TIME CHECK: 1:12am

I had to smile.

After all the events of the last 6 hours, Old Man Winter knew he had that last trick up his sleeve the whole time!

That’s when I knew there was only one thing to do.

Shovel it there and then.

After all, I couldn’t let Old Man Winter win could I?

So an hour later I had cleared away most of the drive so that I could at least get the car in.

It was an exhausting night but I’ll tell you this…

Turning it into an “Amazing Race/Battle Against Old Man Winter” made it bearable and even a little bit fun.

Plus, I knew it would make a fun blog post!

Looking back I couldn’t help but think about all the other people who missed their Buffalo flight. I remember hearing one gentleman in particular that was yelling and screaming at the people behind the counter.

We both had a different approach to the situation and I’m not saying mine was better than his but I definitely think I had more fun with a canceled flight than he did

Moral of the Story: Attitude is Everything

Life is too short.

Next time you are put in a crappy situation try and turn it around. Make it an adventure. Have some fun with it.

Who knows, you may just be the star of your own “Amazing Race”

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About The Author
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Stu McLaren is a sought after marketing consultant for small business owners. He specializes in helping entrepreneurs leverage the internet in their marketing activities and is well known for his expertise in building and managing highly profitable affiliate programs.

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Other Websites of Interest:
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IdeaSeminar.com
MarketingWebGraphics.com
GetStartedWithInternetMarketing.com
GetStartedWithInfoMarketing.com
BasicListBuilding.com