Late Flight... Late Post... Long Post!

Like my flight out of San Juan, my final post of our March 2012 vacation is late.  Better late than never they say (but perhaps in your case of having read these many posts the never was rattling around in your head at that last comment)  Anyhoo... here it is... the wrap-up!

The morning of March 19th was a perfect morning as were the previous 17 before it.  Hubby and I enjoyed a delicious breakfast in the outdoor restaurant where we dodged crazy black birds vying for our delectable goodies.

While Hubby went back up to the room to rest before our 11am departure to the airport, I grabbed my Beth Moore "James" study book, my Bible and head down to the beach to savour the sand, surf and warm sunshine one last time.

It is so hard for me to leave the ocean, whether it be in Myrtle Beach or a glorious Caribbean beach.  Something about the sand, crashing waves and vastness of the water captivates me and draws me to God and I never want to leave.  But leave I must... and so I packed up my books and wandered ever so slowly back into the hotel and up to our room.

Bags packed and tickets in hand we were off to the San Juan airport where Hubby was flying home on a Delta flight, connecting at JFK before heading home to Toronto.  Me?  I was on US Airways, connecting through Philly on my way to T.O.  Why two carriers you may be asking?  We're royalty of course and can't fly together- ha ha.  No!  Nothing like that.  Simply put - Hubby had his ticket through work and that was the carrier he had to fly home on after changing his ticket for our vacation add-on and I wanted to go through the "Star Alliance" so I could get Aeroplan points for my flight.  In hindsight... perhaps not worth the points!  Read on and you'll understand why!

So... we got to the airport with gobs of time for Hubby's 1:20pm flight and my 2:40pm flight.  Our bags were put through the agricultural scan before we head to the Delta counter to check in Hubby.  Once he had his boarding pass in hand (and bags headed towards his plane) we wandered over to the US Airways counter.  We had done early check-in from the hotel so we thought all would be easy at this point but oh boy were we wrong.

Our first indication that the tides had turned on our day was when I tried to enter my info into the little computer.  It inferred that there was something amuck with my flight so we found an agent at the counter to help us.  She informed us that my flight was delayed and there was a chance I might not make my connection.  She told me to keep an eye on the updates on my phone (which started racking up $$ on my phone as the messages came in every minute).  Time was ticking as Hubby's flight time was nearing and I was overwhelmed on what to do.  What if my flight doesn't make it?  What do I do if I can't get my connection in Philly?  Being still a rather novice traveller (in terms of travelling without Hubby) my stress levels were escalating as a "stranded" feeling came over me.

Hubby encouraged me to go back out of the secure area and speak to the flight agent again before he left for NY.  I did go back out and asked the woman I'd spoken to earlier and she assured me that I would most likely have time to get my connection.  "Don't worry until you get to Philly" was pretty much the tone of her response.  Feeling not much more confident than before, I got back through security and found Hubby.  We walked him to his gate and he gave me a last minute pep-talk before waving good-bye at the Delta gate.  

Don't cry!  Deep breath!!  You can do this!!!  JESUS HELP ME!!!!

Okay... I know on the grand scheme of things (especially after hearing the horror story from our new friends Gord and Barb and the stress of their trip home) this was not as tragic as I'm making it out to be, but living in the moment it was brutally stressful.  The entire relaxation of the trip was slipping away as the hours passed.

I wandered around for awhile trying to figure out which gate I needed to be at for more information on my flight.  I finally found the gate at this remote corner of the terminal and again, I went to the ticket agent to inquire what I do if our flight doesn't make it to Philly in time for my connection.  AGAIN, the lady assured me I should have time to make it between arriving and my departing flight.  At the gate I met a young couple also on the Toronto flight.  I felt a little better having someone to keep an eye on so when we got to Philly I could see where to go.  At one point, a ticket agent announced that our flight to Philadelphia was overbooked.  They offered anyone interested in staying in San Juan for the night, a $400 flight credit and hotel/taxi chit.  Hmm...  if Hubby were here I would have snapped that opportunity up lickety-split but under the day's circumstances, I opted to stick with my flight.

Finally, at 4:30pm I sat down in my window seat, stressed and weary.  A guy sat down next to me and immediately asked if I would give up my seat so he and his girlfriend could sit together.  Having done this on my flight down to Charlotte, (and being crazy stressed) I immediately said "no" but after I started thinking about it, (both the Golden Rule & how I like when someone does that for me and Hubby when we fly... plus her seat was 3 rows ahead on an aisle so I could escape faster for my connection).  I turned to the guy and said, "Let's make a deal"... and I offered to him that I would sit in my window seat until we left San Juan and somewhere over the ocean I would change seats.  He agreed and thanked me and once the seatbelt sign came off I got up and moved forward.

During the flight I had mentioned to a flight attendant my situation with my connecting flight and although she couldn't do anything about it from the air, about 30 minutes outside of Philly, an announcement came over the speaker.  A kind voice said boldly, "Anyone whose final destination today is Philadelphia, if you would kindly stay seated when we arrive at the gate.  We have 53 passengers needing to get to connecting flights. "  To that announcement I almost burst into tears.  Jesus... you are here watching over me!!


We made it to Philly minutes before my connecting flight was to leave for Toronto.  My fellow T.O. travellers and I high-tailed it from our gate, down two, to the check-in counter.  Once there, the stressed out lady at the gate informed us that we didn't have seats on this flight.  Apparently, unbeknownst to me, they had bumped us off the Toronto flight in San Juan when they thought our plane wasn't going to make it in time.  GREAT!  Now what?!  I called Hubby (who by this time was at JFK in NY, waiting for his connecting flight that was now delayed) telling him I might actually be stuck in Philly for the night, but while talking to him (trying NOT to bawl my eyes out), the lady kept tapping away on her keyboard.  A few minutes later, after the last and final boarding call was announced, she took me and the other couple into the gangway where she checked our passports and handed us our boarding passes.  PHEW!  I was on my way home!

I walked down the gangway and into the plane and right into my seat... 3A... FIRST CLASS baby!!  I was blown away and beyond grateful for this little mercy from God!  The flight attendant offered me something and while I unwound from a hideously stressful day, I sipped on my free glass of white wine.

Back in Toronto, I now had oodles of time to get over to Terminal 3 to meet up with Hubby when his delayed flight was to arrive.  Having more than an hour, I lugged my suitcase into the lobby of the Sheraton hotel inside the terminal, grabbed a Coke (by mistake instead of a Diet Coke) and caught up with "life" on my iPhone.

Just as Hubby's plane was making it's way into the airport I got down to the gate to wait for him.  While I was waiting, a couple from church walked into the arrivals waiting area... then another church friend... and others from a sister congregation.  Our youth missions team from church was arriving on another flight on their way home from St. Lucia at the same time as Hubby's flight.  How cool was that!

Finally Hubby walked through the sliding doors about 90 minutes later than originally planned and we were on our way home.  Man... what a day!  Had we really been in paradise for two weeks?  After that travel day I barely remembered it!

So... there you have it!   I can't believe it's already been a month since we got home.  Thankfully we took tons of pictures (as many of you already know from my gigantic FB albums... and that barely touched the surface of the entire amount!) and thankfully I journaled each night so it remained fresh in my mind.  Hopefully this year we'll get back on another ship to finish off the trip we missed from our "Cruise to Nowhere".

And now back to our regular blogging....