Wake-up call at 5 AM! We had our bags in the hall for loading on the bus by 5:30. We picked up our sack of breakfast items the hotel provided for us, and boarded the bus at 6:30 to head to the airport. (You can imagine what tempting “treats” were in the breakfast sack!?) We all boarded the plane with optimistic thoughts about how we would be in Atlanta, USA in only a few hours…but that schedule was not meant to be.
The first departure from the timetable was the two-hour delay once we boarded the plane. We sat in the plane parked at the gate in Rome for two hours while they checked and double-checked one of the engines. I can’t complain about safety measures, and the pilot assured us that he could make up most of the time, so we should have no problems making our connecting flights in Atlanta. (Yeah, right!)
Enter the next schedule change. A major storm system passed through Atlanta, and they delayed our landing about an hour and a half. (TV reports referred to the rains as “torrential” with “massive flooding” in some areas of Atlanta. Schools were closed for two days.) To delay the landing time we flew in a circle somewhere over North Carolina. The end result was that nearly all of us missed our connecting flights. Therefore we were all involved in the process of changing tickets, standing in lines, etc. and there was not time for proper “good-byes” with our travel companions. This probably saved us some sad moments (but we traded the “sad” moments for “frustrating” moments!).
The Atlanta airport was an absolute zoo! Apparently we were “lucky” that the flight we eventually got on actually landed in Atlanta, as the storms had caused them to redirect 43 or so flights that were scheduled to land in Atlanta to go to Birmingham. However, we stood in long lines, were frustrated by even more-frustrated Delta agents, and eventually got on another flight headed for Huntsville that was delayed almost three hours. We passed through all the grief stages….denial, meltdown, and eventually humor, which displayed itself in the form of uncontrollable giggles, thereby irritating other passengers who were still in one of the earlier stages. We attempted to figure out how many hours we had been up, but with our exhausted brains, the time-changes and delays to figure in, we were unable to come up with an answer we could all agree on. However, we know that by the time we reached home it was close to 26 hours.
Watching "Roman Holiday" in the Atlanta airport
The first good sign was when we all got on a flight as a “standby”; the second positive event was when Brittany C. located a Starbucks.” (That one discovery lifted her spirits considerably!) We spent several hours of “quality” time in the terminal at Atlanta. Margaret had brought her DVD player in her carry-on so Brittany C., Margaret, Fran and I watched part of “Roman Holiday” while we waited. (For those of you who are too young to be familiar with this movie, it is a black-and-white classic and shows many of the places in Rome that we saw.)
While we were waiting, I took my computer out of my carry-on to give it one more chance to work, and it worked beautifully. I can not explain it, and I am always scared of electronic items that mysteriously “cure themselves” because my experience has been that sooner or later they are going to “un-cure” themselves…just about the time you begin to depend on them again. However, I was thankful, and started playing “Blog Catch-Up” while waiting for our plane. Perhaps it was something Chasity did a few days ago, because I have not touched it since that time. (Thanks again, Chas!) I guess I will just accept my good fortune and be thankful.
I don’t know the travel frustrations of many of our group, but Fran, Margaret, Brittany C., Katherine, Harriet, Steve and I arrived in Huntsville about 12:15 (That would be Tuesday morning.) The best we could figure was that we had been up since that wake-up call, 26-hours earlier in the “day”. I can imagine others may have even worse tales to tell.
So that is it. We looked forward to this trip for months…planned for it…studied about it…packed for it…thought about it. Suddenly, as if in the blink of an eye, it is all over. It was a wonderful adventure, and I would be hard-pressed to pick out my favorite event or place. The places we visited were all different, and each special in their own way. I would do it all over starting tomorrow if I could…only this time I would enjoy having my Olen beside me to enjoy these things.
To all of you who shared these special days with me…thank you for the kindnesses you showed me, the laughs we shared, and the memories we made. We have each other’s e-mail addresses, so let’s stay in touch, and maybe someday we’ll get to do something like this again.
Until it is time for another “Journey with Jane”, I’ll sign off.
Arrivederci!
Jane--What a fabulous trip. At least yot air connection problems were at the end, so I assume you had your luggage the rest of the time. This is a great journal. I wish i had the patience to do that. I do take a lot of pictures, and rely on that to tell the story. Take care. Dan
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