So, my son drove me to the airport this morning. If the latest plan had held, I would be over the Atlantic Ocean on the way to Dubai (United Arab Emirates, top right corner of the map in UAE) and then to Nairobi, Kenya tomorrow. Didn't work out that way.
I received an electronic notice during the night that my flight was going to be delayed one hour. Not to worry since I had a 2 ½ hour layover at JFK. I got to the Charlotte airport to discover that the plane was to leave around 7:30 am. Still okay.
Then the plane before mine, still at my gate, got stuck because the tractor couldn’t get enough traction (why do they call it a tractor then?) on the ice to push the plane away from the gate. More delay until Delta decided to pull my plane into a nearby gate. Then my loaded plane needed to wait until it was sprayed with a de-icer. More delay.
We finally rode over crunchy, ice covered paths until we reached the clear runway, taking off immediately. Finally! The steward filled me in on how to get from our arrival gate to the international terminal (the other end of the field, of course), assuring me that we’d arrive in time for me to get to my 10:40 am flight. Whew!
We landed at 10 am. Along with two other travelers, we raced to the airport train, arriving at the next check-in desk by 10:10. Bomb shell! We were told that we could not board because passengers had to be processed onto the plane 1 hour before takeoff time. Can you imagine how we felt?
Then I found out that the next flight was at 11 pm (only two flights per day), that I’d arrive at 8:30 pm tomorrow night and that there was no connecting flight to Kenya until the NEXT day. At least they gave me a choice: stay overnight in NYC or overnight in Dubai… at my expense (because the delay was attributed to weather). (Well, at least Delta gave me a couple of meal vouchers and an emergency overnight kit.) And I found a truly free Internet access for me to share my story.
Do you know how “due to bad weather” is classified? An act of God.
Keeping things in perspective, I have a married niece living in NYC so I called and left a message about my choices and began waiting for a return call. I obviously also had been keeping Julie abreast of my tripping (literally). She told me a good friend from Vermont “just happened” to call and, when told of my (lack of) trip progress, provided us her brother’s name, email address and phone number… who “just happened” to live in Dubai.
I was able to called the brother from my cell phone and he graciously invited to pick me up tomorrow night, squeeze me into his home, and drop me back at the airport the following morning. Who would have imagined the adventure I’m in the midst of… and I haven’t even gotten to Kenya yet!
Maybe I’ll still get to talk to/see my niece this afternoon.
So, keep praying for me to see God’s hand in EVERYTHING that comes my way. Stay tuned!
I received an electronic notice during the night that my flight was going to be delayed one hour. Not to worry since I had a 2 ½ hour layover at JFK. I got to the Charlotte airport to discover that the plane was to leave around 7:30 am. Still okay.
Then the plane before mine, still at my gate, got stuck because the tractor couldn’t get enough traction (why do they call it a tractor then?) on the ice to push the plane away from the gate. More delay until Delta decided to pull my plane into a nearby gate. Then my loaded plane needed to wait until it was sprayed with a de-icer. More delay.
We finally rode over crunchy, ice covered paths until we reached the clear runway, taking off immediately. Finally! The steward filled me in on how to get from our arrival gate to the international terminal (the other end of the field, of course), assuring me that we’d arrive in time for me to get to my 10:40 am flight. Whew!
We landed at 10 am. Along with two other travelers, we raced to the airport train, arriving at the next check-in desk by 10:10. Bomb shell! We were told that we could not board because passengers had to be processed onto the plane 1 hour before takeoff time. Can you imagine how we felt?
Then I found out that the next flight was at 11 pm (only two flights per day), that I’d arrive at 8:30 pm tomorrow night and that there was no connecting flight to Kenya until the NEXT day. At least they gave me a choice: stay overnight in NYC or overnight in Dubai… at my expense (because the delay was attributed to weather). (Well, at least Delta gave me a couple of meal vouchers and an emergency overnight kit.) And I found a truly free Internet access for me to share my story.
Do you know how “due to bad weather” is classified? An act of God.
Keeping things in perspective, I have a married niece living in NYC so I called and left a message about my choices and began waiting for a return call. I obviously also had been keeping Julie abreast of my tripping (literally). She told me a good friend from Vermont “just happened” to call and, when told of my (lack of) trip progress, provided us her brother’s name, email address and phone number… who “just happened” to live in Dubai.
I was able to called the brother from my cell phone and he graciously invited to pick me up tomorrow night, squeeze me into his home, and drop me back at the airport the following morning. Who would have imagined the adventure I’m in the midst of… and I haven’t even gotten to Kenya yet!
Maybe I’ll still get to talk to/see my niece this afternoon.
So, keep praying for me to see God’s hand in EVERYTHING that comes my way. Stay tuned!
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