Fine... you guys that were comparing me to Steakbellie with our promises to write blogs... can stop now... I did it... Steakbellie still has three to go! I get away with one.
This was one of the most amazing days in my life in terms of travel that it requires an entire blog. I want to preclude the entire thing by stating that if any one of these things went wrong, the entire trip would have been cancelled.
We had reservations for the 7 am direct flight from Newark to San Francisco for about 4 months now. We were excited about the trip and couldn’t wait to go… then… the weather predictions started to roll in. They were predicting ice and snow up to and including our take off time.
We have flown from a snowstorm before and weren’t really sure how the addition of ice or rain would affect us. It began the day before when we were told that our flight was cancelled and we were rebooked on a 4:00 pm flight. That let us down a bit because we were supposed to do some wine tasting with our friends that afternoon.
We made an executive decision and decided the night before to still go to the airport at 9:00 am and be put on standby for the 11:45 am flight.
The night came and went and we met our car at 9:00 am in front of our house. He was a new driver we had never had before, but seemed ready to drive us to the airport even though the weather wasn’t ideal. The road in front of our house was somewhat clear, so we had NO idea what to expect when we got on the main road.
It was a HORRIBLE ride to the airport that involved slipping and sliding around on the Turnpike. We had to pull over at one point while the driver scraped the ice off the windshield wipers.
Shaken and visibly upset, we walked into the airport ready to check in for our flight and get put on standby. We made our way to the gate for the 11:45 flight and set up shop. Time passed and we were eventually promised that we would be put on the flight. That’s when the time for the flight changed accompanied by the following announcement, “Ladies and gentleman, the ice storm has prevented the flight crew that was supposed to handle your flight from arriving in Newark. They are still in Cleveland and anticipate being here in a couple of hours. We anticipate boarding the plane maybe around 2 pm. We’ll get back to you soon.”
Now… feeling like crap about getting out, we set up a more permanent shop, but ready to leave if we were going to make it for the 3:55 flight as originally planned.
Then… 12 minutes later… this announcement was made. “We found this flight crew who will be happy to take you out.”
PHEW!
On the plane and after 1.5 hours of de-icing and checking for problems, we eventually left the Newark Airport and flew to San Francisco.
(I AM NOT GOING TO WRITE ABOUT THE ABSOLUTE WORST TAKE OFF I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED EXCEPT THAT I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT THE PLANE WAS FISHTAILING ALL OVER THE PLACE).
We made up some time and arrived at 4:30 – only 35 minutes late, BUT 6 hours later than we wanted/were supposed to be there.
Lessons learned – Things often end up working out for the best.
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2 comments:
Check out this blog which a woman created in December after being stranded in Texas and getting to her destination several days later wtih minimal compensation from the airlines until she wrote to complain!
I participated in the Bataan death march. That was pretty bad, too, but clearly not as bad as your jouney. Sorry if it seems I was drawing comparisons between our ordeals. I must also admitt that flying isn't as inconvenient for me as I lost my legs during the hellish 80-mile walk in sub-tropical weather with neither food nor drink and a wicked case of malaria.
Lastly, I too miss wine tastings, but the Japs beat the taste sense out of me while I spent 3 years as a POW at Cabanatuan.
I enjoy your blog and rteading about the hardships you endure. Keep reading your books. I'd ask you to read aloud and pod cast the readings, but the Japs cut off my ears in '44 to punish me for getting Typhoid.
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