07 April 2008
And an Even Longer Day
The flight from Costa Rica left on schedule. I thought about my girl sitting on that plane, finally on her way home. Two hours later I'm trying on pants at the Gap and my phone rings. It's the phone tree. The bus that was supposed to take the group to the airport never materialized therefore they missed their flight to Dallas. They are now scheduled to fly to Miami this afternoon on a flight that is already delayed 4 hours due to weather in Miami. They will spend the night in Miami, fly to New York the next morning then onto MSP. Seems quite convoluted, but with a group of 18 I suppose the logistics are complicated. The word through the grapevine is that they are "viewing this as just another adventure." Katherine's a trooper, so I think she'll be as fine as anyone could be in this situation. I just hope everyone's luggage makes it through.
I'm no stranger to travel difficulties. In fact, this provides me with the perfect opportunity to tell my own tale of woe. In 1990 my bargain-basement fare from Athens (if you can call $1000 round trip bargain basement) included an overnight layover in Brussels and a catching a connecting flight in New York to MSP. All that with a one-month-old kitten in a carry-on pet bag that the tender-hearted FizzyLizzy had to save from certain death in Greece. Aside from an uncomfortable night in the Brussels airport, everything was going pretty well until the flight from New York ran late. Somehow at JFK I ran into a kind airline worker who whooshed me through customs and called ahead to the Northwest Airlines ticketing agents who were ready to catch my bags as I ran past. No exaggeration. However, when I got to the gate the plane was ready to depart and they had given my seat to a stand-by. They ended up holding up the flight...for my bags. My bags made it to Minneapolis but I was stuck in New York. It all becomes a blur after that point but the rest of the story involves a shuttle to La Guardia, sitting in a chair in the terminal next to some unsavory characters (only feeling safe because there were maintenance workers cleaning the floors nearby), flying to Chicago the next morning, then finally home. Whew. Top that one, Katherine.
I'm no stranger to travel difficulties. In fact, this provides me with the perfect opportunity to tell my own tale of woe. In 1990 my bargain-basement fare from Athens (if you can call $1000 round trip bargain basement) included an overnight layover in Brussels and a catching a connecting flight in New York to MSP. All that with a one-month-old kitten in a carry-on pet bag that the tender-hearted FizzyLizzy had to save from certain death in Greece. Aside from an uncomfortable night in the Brussels airport, everything was going pretty well until the flight from New York ran late. Somehow at JFK I ran into a kind airline worker who whooshed me through customs and called ahead to the Northwest Airlines ticketing agents who were ready to catch my bags as I ran past. No exaggeration. However, when I got to the gate the plane was ready to depart and they had given my seat to a stand-by. They ended up holding up the flight...for my bags. My bags made it to Minneapolis but I was stuck in New York. It all becomes a blur after that point but the rest of the story involves a shuttle to La Guardia, sitting in a chair in the terminal next to some unsavory characters (only feeling safe because there were maintenance workers cleaning the floors nearby), flying to Chicago the next morning, then finally home. Whew. Top that one, Katherine.
