so instead of posting this from the beautiful alps, i am writing from a nice (albeit very humid) hotel room in atlanta. how did we get here? well, let me tell you...
monday morning dawned bright and early for the blasers. waking up at 5 a.m. is not a favorite pastime, but we had gone to bed extra early sunday night knowing full well we had a very long day ahead of us. by 6:30 we were all checked in and in the security line at the airport. everything went very smoothly, no problems to report, and we had plenty of time to spare before our 8:55 flight was scheduled to leave.
at the gate everything was marked on time, but as we got closer to what should have been our boarding time and our plane was still not at the gate i started to wonder and worry a bit. no major panic, though, because we had given ourselves 3 hours in atlanta to catch our connecting flight. i figured that would be plenty of time. hmmm...
the plane finally pulled in to the gate at about the same time we should have started boarding, and they then announced that there would be a delay because the plane had been sitting out in the sub-zero temps all night long, and they needed to warm it up before we could board. okay, no big deal. i was happy to wait a bit to avoid freezing in the plane. (as many of you know, i do NOT do well in the cold!)
about 15 minutes went by and they announced that it would be at least another hour because the water lines had frozen and they needed to thaw them out. at this point irritation began to set in. my biggest question was (and remains): if they knew this plane was going out at 8:55 a.m., why the heck didn't they start warming it up at about 6 a.m.? seriously, wouldn't that make sense?
we waited and waited for updates, and when they finally made another one it was that it would take another 2-6 hours and we all needed to re-book. super.
so, because we were international travelers, we luckily got top priority in the re-book line, and that process went smoothly. they got us on the 10:55 to atlanta, which would land in atlanta around 3:30 if all went well. it would be a tight connection, but we would have an hour to make the plane to zurich. we tried to think positive and keep a smile on.
as it turned out, the 10:55 was at the gate right next to ours, so we just stayed where we were and kept our eyes on both planes. time went by, and the flight going to jfk from our new gate was delayed.... which meant the plane we were supposed to be boarding was delayed getting to the gate.... which meant the smiles faded just a little more each minute....
we finally got on the plane, hoping beyond hope that it would just get off the ground, and then the electrical system shut down. seems they had been on shore power too long or something. so they had to hook up the jumper cables (or whatever they do with airplanes) and get us started back up. by the time we finally got in the air it was 12:30. with a 2 1/2 hour flight, that put us in atlanta at 5 p.m.
our flight to zurich left at 4:45.
the next flight is today at 4:45. 24 hours to wait. without luggage, toothbrushes, jammies to sleep in (note to self: never, ever, ever go anywhere without one clean pair of underwear, your meds and a toothbrush in your carry-on!!!). but delta put us in the crowne point hotel, gave us toiletries and 3 free meals each, and it's just adding to the adventure that is travel. and on a positive note, my kids have been pretty darn good sports through it all. a new hotel room is always fun for them, and they've really stayed pretty happy. we were all a little frazzled by the time we got to the hotel last night, but a nice, relaxing dinner and a very early bedtime helped immensely.
you know the worst of it, though? the original flight- the one that froze up and was delayed and caused all the drama- was thawed, boarded and took off about 45 minutes before we even pushed back from our gate. so if we hadn't been told to re-book, i would be writing this from beautiful alpenland.
oh well. there's always tomorrow...
12 years ago
