I’m not looking forward to the trip to D.I.A. Wenesday to pick up my son who is flying in for the holidays. Normally it’s a ritual I enjoy and eagerly anticipate. But this year the media is telling us to be prepared for the worst of delays. Between the expected snow and the flight delays around the country, from LA to Dallas to New York and in between, I’m trying to figure out the best plan. Do I check the airline’s website for projected arrival time and then hope there’s a spot in the 45-minute waiting area to wait until I get his call that he’s outside door number X? Or, do I wait at home until he calls me from the plane to say he’s landed before driving to DIA? Or, do I just go very early hoping for a parking space so I can welcome him the traditional way….standing by the fountain, watching for his face to emerge from the throngs of inbound travelers making their way up the escalators from the concourse train? The Rocky Mountain News has a reporter assigned to cover the DIA travel beat, blog-style with running updates. Latest entry as I write this:

8:45 a.m. The airport is eerily quiet, and the crowds have simply not materialized yet. Lines at security are almost non-existent. Same story at the check-in counters.

It may be OK now, but there’s no point being in denial. Things are going to get bad.

A front brewing in the Northwest is forecast to spread severe weather from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico and east to Vermont on one of the highest-volume travel days of the year, said Tom Moore, senior meteorologist at The Weather Channel. “Wednesday is going to be a nightmare over a lot of the country,” Moore said. “Although it’s not going to be a colossal storm, there’s going to be so much rain and low clouds, I would say there are going to be significant delays over large parts of the country.”

The good news is that eventually we’ll get home with our loved ones and the airport hassle will be forgotten….unless the luggage doesn’t arrive.