Escape from New York: If I could offer one piece of advice to anyone planning on traveling anytime soon, it would be to make sure you don't miss your flight. That's probably the worst thing you could do to begin or end any trip.

On a recent vacation to New York, my buddy and I did just that: We decided to go for one last dinner in Little Italy and ignored the airline's advice to arrive two hours prior to our flight. As we were riding the subway to JFK an hour before our flight was to leave, and nervously looking at our watches, the realization hit us -- we were going to arrive too late.

A taxi ride, rushing to check in, throwing away a suitcase because it was too late to check luggage, hurrying through security and running down the Delta terminal to the furthest gate possible (of course) all proved fruitless. Even though the flight was delayed a half-hour, they had already given our seats away when we hadn't shown up. How come in the movies ("Home Alone," for example) running through the terminal always works, but never in real life?

Luckily we didn't have to pay any fees and the lady at the desk put us on standby for a flight at 6:30 the next morning. By the time 5:30 rolled around, after being in the airport all night, my friend and I were both tired, cranky and just wanted to get home. To our dismay, we didn't get on the 6:30 flight. Or the next flight at 9:30.

After complaining to customer service multiple times and waiting in line for hours, we finally got confirmed seats on a plane leaving at 7:30 p.m., 24 hours after our original flight. Delta was nice enough to give us taxi vouchers so we could get out for a little. We arrived home in Salt Lake City at 11:00 p.m., tired, hungry and ready for a shower. It wasn't the ending I had anticipated, but it sure made our trip unforgettable. And from now on, I'm showing up two hours early.

-- Spencer Flanagan

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