"Farewell for A While"

"Where did the time go?"
"Has it really been nine days?"
"Did we do it all?"

We said our good-byes, gave our hugs in our little apartment and drove Nicole, Tiffany and Rachelle to JFK for their 7:20pm flight Sunday night. We dropped them off at the curb with one hour 20 minutes before the scheduled flight. Little did we know JFK would be a disaster, the kiosks would not print boarding passes, the ticket counter waiting lines were delayed 4-5 hours and all they heard was "I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do."

No compensation, no apology, no ticket voucher from the airline or the airport - nothing! And our girls were the lucky ones. They, at least had someone to call and somewhere to sleep. Two hundred or so others, including international fliers, did not! They were first told they could not get a flight out to SLC until Tuesday, then were later booked on a Monday morning flight from LGA through Boston, with a 6-hour layover before arriving back in in SLC.

This sounds more like stand-by travel than confirmed travel, doesn't it? We do fly standby, thanks to our daughter, Angela, and we have never had this much trouble - including travel to France, Hawaii, India and Brazil! By the way, in Boston, the same situation began to happen with congestion, overbooking, long lines, etc. and Delta did offer $400 travel vouchers, meals and hotel accommodations. Hm-mmm!

They were scampering to call husbands, children, numerous piano students to re-schedule and, in general, adjust about one hundred other people's lives because of airline/airport inefficiency.

At 5:30 am Monday, we headed this time for Laguardia Airport for the girl's flight that would leave at 9:30. Things went well. They even grabbed a city bus and took a short excursion to the center of Boston. Six hours in an airport is not a great way to end a superb vacation. They made it work:-)

Bottom line is that everything worked out just fine. The reality of a flight delay, a temporary inconvenience, or even possible mistakes by others cannot taint a memory we want to hold dear. We are the ones who color our own world.

Nicole, Tiffany and Rachelle arrived home to happy children and adoring husbands - who all loved their gifts and were so happy to see their favorite travelers:-) They're back home heavy into their schedules and we are doing the same here in the mission field.

We just love it here! Our Institute classes are just wonderful.

PS: Now children...what are your plans for Christmas?
Our mission has been extended to May 15, 2009:-)