The Joys of Travel
Greetings from Sahuarita, Arizona, just a prickly pear's throw south of Tucson. We arrived here for our week's vacation a day late and about fifty dollars' worth of airport food and drink short, deciding that the AW of America West Airlines must actually stand for Always Waiting.
Our journey started with a relatively quick drive to Milwaukee, where we were to catch a 4:35 PM flight to Phoenix.
At about 4 PM, the gate agent spoke over the intercom, saying, "For all of you heading to Phoenix, we are looking for a mechanic for the plane."
We thought maybe she was asking if any of us wanted to give jet repair a go, but as it turns out, she was informing us that airplane mechanics are apparently in very short supply at Mitchell International. At about 5 PM, she let us know that a mechanic was on his way--from Chicago. He was due to arrive at 6:15 PM.
By 7:15 PM, we were boarding the plane. But at 8:15 PM, we were still sitting at the gate, with airline officials debating whether our big, fat, heavy plane laden with people and fuel could get to Phoenix and circle long enough to dodge the thunderstorms that were plaguing the area, bringing the rain that they hadn't had in six months.
The officials hemmed and hawed long enough that they booted those of us with connecting flights out of Tucson off the plane. With the rain and spring break, there were no hotel rooms to be had in Phoenix, so we would have been sleeping in the terminal until we could have caught a commuter flight to our final destination.
Off we headed to a Sheraton near the airport, arriving a good two hours after the kids' bedtime. It took an hour to get them to sleep, which wouldn't have bothered me that much--except that we were due back at the airport around 5:50 AM the next morning for our 7:10 AM flight. Ouch.
The 7:10 AM flight, it turns out, became a 9 AM flight. We had already taxied out to the runway before those crazy airline officials determined that headwinds and the plane's weight would forbid us from taking off. So back to the gate we went, where they ordered standby passengers off the plane and then sought volunteers to take a bump. But after pulling 600 lbs of fuel and apparently a whole bunch of cargo, they put all these folks (who by then looked extremely unhappy) back on the plane, and off we went.
By the time we arrived in Tucson (just making our connection after the two-hour delay), we had not eaten a meal that wasn't dry cereal, tortilla chips, or a muffin in more than 24 hours. I was having vegetable withdrawl.
But, ultimately, we made it! And the kids were great, considering we sat on various airplanes for almost nine of 12 waking hours.
So today we're headed to a cavern, since the temperature isn't expected to top about 62 F (the cavern is warmer at a constant 68 F). When we woke up this morning, it was 29 F! But we'll hit the high 70s F by week's end...I hope. :)
Our journey started with a relatively quick drive to Milwaukee, where we were to catch a 4:35 PM flight to Phoenix.
At about 4 PM, the gate agent spoke over the intercom, saying, "For all of you heading to Phoenix, we are looking for a mechanic for the plane."
We thought maybe she was asking if any of us wanted to give jet repair a go, but as it turns out, she was informing us that airplane mechanics are apparently in very short supply at Mitchell International. At about 5 PM, she let us know that a mechanic was on his way--from Chicago. He was due to arrive at 6:15 PM.
By 7:15 PM, we were boarding the plane. But at 8:15 PM, we were still sitting at the gate, with airline officials debating whether our big, fat, heavy plane laden with people and fuel could get to Phoenix and circle long enough to dodge the thunderstorms that were plaguing the area, bringing the rain that they hadn't had in six months.
The officials hemmed and hawed long enough that they booted those of us with connecting flights out of Tucson off the plane. With the rain and spring break, there were no hotel rooms to be had in Phoenix, so we would have been sleeping in the terminal until we could have caught a commuter flight to our final destination.
Off we headed to a Sheraton near the airport, arriving a good two hours after the kids' bedtime. It took an hour to get them to sleep, which wouldn't have bothered me that much--except that we were due back at the airport around 5:50 AM the next morning for our 7:10 AM flight. Ouch.
The 7:10 AM flight, it turns out, became a 9 AM flight. We had already taxied out to the runway before those crazy airline officials determined that headwinds and the plane's weight would forbid us from taking off. So back to the gate we went, where they ordered standby passengers off the plane and then sought volunteers to take a bump. But after pulling 600 lbs of fuel and apparently a whole bunch of cargo, they put all these folks (who by then looked extremely unhappy) back on the plane, and off we went.
By the time we arrived in Tucson (just making our connection after the two-hour delay), we had not eaten a meal that wasn't dry cereal, tortilla chips, or a muffin in more than 24 hours. I was having vegetable withdrawl.
But, ultimately, we made it! And the kids were great, considering we sat on various airplanes for almost nine of 12 waking hours.
So today we're headed to a cavern, since the temperature isn't expected to top about 62 F (the cavern is warmer at a constant 68 F). When we woke up this morning, it was 29 F! But we'll hit the high 70s F by week's end...I hope. :)
posted by Lisa Strandberg at 8:34 AM
1 Comments:
Hi all!
What a travel nightmare! I must say my packed food comes in very handy on travel days. I got a later flight home from Cleveland and got a $300. voucher. Glad you made it and the kids were good. They are pretty seasoned travelers at their ages. Good writing!
Post a Comment
<< Home