June 17, 2008
PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES
Well midnight arrived and I was buzzing
around the hotel room and both of us were
somewhat watching the movie about Marshall
University while also doing some last minute
details. Little did either of us know that the
day would almost be a repeat of the previous
day.
Well it is 4:42 am and as it stands right now
we are to leave at 6:48 am and amazingly
enough...we have first class seats. We are
rested and ready for this long flight and just
can't wait to get there. Keep us in your
prayers and our little Ellie Lu too! More
later...Right
after I posted this I checked the flight
status again and it showed...CANCELLED! At the
time I had curlers in my hair and wasn't
dressed at 5:10 am I was standing in front of
the Continental agent informing him the flight
was cancelled...he did not know. Once again
they acted so slowly we missed the only chance
to get to LaGuardia and then take a cab over
to make our flight to China...different day
same story.
Well they decided to route us thru Cleveland
and either hope we might stand by and get an
earlier connection to Newark or at least get
there and be waiting for a Wednesday flight to
Beijing.
We arrived in Cleveland around 9:30 am and we
rushed to the gate hoping to stand by for an
11:55 am flight that would get us to Newark
with a little time to possibly make the China
flight since it was delayed. We were made
aware in Cleveland …after we were forced to
check in for our China flight even though it
was unlikely we would make it that because our
ticketing was not all together for our
domestic and international that we would have
to claim baggage in Cleveland and then check
it and check in and still try to make the
flight. The odds were pretty stacked. I even
asked the gate agent if I could pay someone to
give us their seats…”no deal”.
Meanwhile I become concerned that since the
agent checked us in for our China flight that
it would be cancelled and we would be totally
messed up. So I went to the gate agent (not a
nice lady) and she said your travel agent
needs to fix this. Well finally I had had
enough I called our agency and explained that
we had about enough stress for 10 people and
we needed someone to advocate for us with the
travel agency they don’t even open until noon
eastern. The emergency number had been
disconnected. It was at that time that I wrote
my letter to Continental while sitting in the
floor of the Cleveland airport “sobbing”. It
was not supposed to be this way. I would put
my letter here, but it was a little “spicy”
and I don’t know if I want to relive it
anytime soon. Mel said I shouldn’t send it as
he was afraid it would make it worse. My
thoughts it could not get any worse, however I
still held my breath.
We went for a quick bite to eat and just as I
was taking a bite a piece of plastic bread
wrapper dropped from my quesadia…the server
was not happy to have it re-made. I am sure
Cleveland is a nice town, and the airport
employees are not the best ambassadors for the
city but let me tell you…they were something
else. It was after lunch that I told Mel I
need ice cream, so ice cream it was as we
walked to yet another gate hoping to get on a
stand by list for another flight. This flight
would only get us to Newark earlier and since
the weather was not great we needed to get
there. I approached the desk to ask for stand
by and he said “Mam the flight is full we are
not taking anymore standbys, he took our 4:45
am tickets and then presented us with tickets
for this full flight. I couldn’t help but
think someone had gotten the letter. There
were at least 7 others on the list prior to us
standing by and they didn’t get on this
flight…we had to wonder. The flight was
delayed but we boarded in about 20 minutes and
backed away. They then had us packed in like
sardines and waiting on the runway for 1
hour…hey but we were on a plane and I just
didn’t want to them to go back…our new saying
is “yackity yack don’t turn back”.
The flight took off just after 4 pm and I
slept most of the way…wonder why could it be
lack of sleep? We arrived at 5:20 and were
just thrilled. We found our luggage that had
arrived on the 11:55 am flight and then we
found the P4 train that took us to the shuttle
for the Courtyard. Thanks sister for making us
a hotel reservation that really worked out
well. I believe the clock said 6:41 pm when we
arrived at the Courtyard and Mel worked on
getting dinner and I washed the clothes we had
been wearing for 2 days.
As far as getting to China goes at this minute
we are on the flight tomorrow in COACH, I have
asked that if first becomes available to give
Mel a seat first and if they have two then
both of us. So far his neck has held up, but I
don’t want to push it. I was able to download
some pictures and journal a bit, but mostly I
just needed sleep…we both did. Here’s hoping
tomorrow is the day our journey truly begins.
Love,
Em and M |
On our way to Cleveland, OH
We landed in Newark
On the P4 train in Newark
Glad to be in Newark
Mel relieved to be in Newark
My lunch laced with plastic |
