Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Toothbrushless Night

The final leg of our trip was interesting. We'd heard so many war stories about airport problems, but we'd not had any trouble until...we left Portland, Maine headed for home. We would only have a 40 minute layover in Atlanta, and we watched the Delta agent continue to change the time of the arrival of plane that was to take us to Atlanta. Finally, it became clear that we wouldn't arrive in Atlanta in time to catch our connecting flight to Portland. The Delta agent assured us that they would do everything in their power to get us on another flight or they would put us up in a hotel. In Atlanta, we were run all over the huge Atlanta airport to finally end up at the counter of a very stern black man. Although we were exhausted and discouraged, we were determined not to lose our cool. The agent spoke not a word as he checked many flights and then booked us a hotel. As we thanked our cheerless assistant, Dad mentioned how much he hates flying, and the man broke into a smile. He confided that he'd vowed when he left Korea that he would never fly again, and here he was, a Delta employee. He wished us well. Later, we learned that over 25 flights had been cancelled, so he'd had a long, long day.
Being the intrepid travelers we are, we had no toiletries with us. No cell phone, etc. The hotel was full, inundated with grumpy travelers who also had no toiletries, so they could offer us nothing. Too funny.
We arrived at the Institute on Tuesday with ten minutes to spare for Dad to teach his class. Our director and the secretary had made us a lunch--so sweet. We hurried home, showered, etc. and returned to Portland to teach our evening class which was a sweet experience. Life is so rich and full.

1 comment:

Susan said...

I'm glad you guys made it home safely. Sounds like you had quite the adventures! The photos are absolutely beautiful.