I'm so sorry for leaving people hanging! But kudos to anyone who actually reads this, a week after our return, to find out the end to our epic tale.
Where we last left off, Libby, Alisha, and I were heading out of our Chicago hotel at about 2:30pm Monday, to catch our 4:55pm flight out of Chicago. Since we didn't have any bags, and we had already gotten our boarding passes, getting to our gate on time was no problem. We got there plenty early.
And surprise, surprise! It was futile for us to get there early. We had a few gate changes, and then at about 4:30, they informed us that our flight would be delayed by an hour. Another gate change. Another delay. Finally, we overheard some people apparently in the know who were saying that we were changing gates one final time because our first plane was broken, but they had managed to track down another one that we could use.
Alas, we finally boarded and had an uneventful flight to Detroit. About 9:30pm, eastern standard time, March 2, 2009. (Reminder, original scheduled arrival: Saturday, February 28, 11:30pm.)
Upon landing, at baggage claim, of course our bags didn't come out on the conveyor belt, since they had been there for at least a day. We went to the baggage office and told the woman there that we thought our bags may have arrived before us.
"What's the last name?"
"Egle and Floyd."
"Oh! You finally made it!"
She didn't even have to check her computer or anything. We were infamous already.
Neil, who had driven his girlfriend's car from Chicago, beat us to Michigan by several hours. His luggage was sent on to Flint, since that airport is closer to his parents' house. We later found out it arrived filthy and damaged. A nice punctuation to a fabulous trip, eh?
That is the story of our 9-hour trip that really took 55. We were compensated a grand total of $300 in voucher form, but that was technically only for agreeing to arrive 6 hours late. So, since we really arrived 46 hours late, at a rate of $50 an hour, we should be eligible for a total of abrst $2000 in vouchers, right? We'll send letters to American Airlines and let you know if they agree.
We missed our first day of our current med school rotation. That's a big deal because more than two days means you fail the rotation, and since we are so close now, it would mean a delayed graduation. So, needless to say, we weren't pleased about the delay, and neither were our preceptors. But as long as we don't get sick this month and miss more days, we should be ok.
Thus comes to an end our delightful trip. It really was quite wonderful, all said and done, and we had many adventures... and just when we thought we had had our last, God decided to throw one more surprise at us.
Stay tuned for a blog for our upcoming April trip to Malawi, Africa (assuming that we get occasional Internet access there)!
Monday, March 9, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
Jonathan - Mar 2 - One last aventura...
Why am I still posting to the blog? Our trip ended a few days ago. We posted our comparisons of the different cultures we've been exposed to. The end, right?
Don't I wish. As I write this, we still haven't made it home. American Airlines should be looking forward to lots of friendly emails to their customer service department, as we will be arriving, optimistically, 44 hours after our scheduled time. Although, as I sit in our Chicago hotel watching snow fall, I'm not letting myself get too helpful.
Original plan, for your reference, was leaving El Salvador at 2pm Saturday, stopping in Miami, and arriving in Detroit just before midnight Saturday night.
So, the plane to take us from San Salvador to Miami apparently had some engine problems, and it took them about three hours to get a replacement. By the time we made it to the USA, we were too late to catch our Miami to Detroit connection. Night in Miami.
The next available MI flight was via Dallas (logical, right?) the next day. Checking in for our Dallas flight, we were told that two of us hadn't been rebooked successfully, but thankfully we had arrived two hours and fifteen minutes early, which ended up being just enough time for them to get it sorted out, and to get us on the plane.
We were told we had to get our seat assignments there for our Detroit flight. They didn't tell us, though, that when we got there, we would have to deal with the fact they were overbooked by 18 people. We didn't have seats. The supervisor said he'd "try really hard to get us on the plane," though. That made us feel a lot better.
We were given the option of giving up our non-existent seats for a $300 voucher, and we would get guaranteed seats on flights to Chicago and then Detroit, arriving at midnight Sunday night. There were only a few seats left, though, and if we didn't take that option immediately, there were other people in line who were asking about it at the same time as us, and if they took it, the next available flight wouldn't arrive until Monday afternoon. Since we didn't have seats on our flight, we decided to go for the guaranteed seats via Chicago.
Since I'm in Chicago now, you've probably figured out things didn't go according to plan. But here's the scoop. Our flight to Chicago was a bit late, and they had closed one of the runways there due to fog, but we made it to the gate about 10 minutes late. Not too bad.
We went to the gate for the Detroit flight and they told us we'd board in 15 minutes. But then they announced boarding for Flint, MI. It turns out, there was a flight to Flint before ours leaving out of the same gate. No problem, they promised. It'd be a quick turnover, and we'd made it out, arriving at about 12:30am instead of 12am, and they were sorry for the inconvenience.
Flint passengers boarded. But the plane sat there. And sat there. And sat there. For two hours, they waited to get de-iced (oh how I felt for those passengers on board!). We sat at the gate, waiting for them to leave. We were finally told that our plane was on the ground, waiting to take us, but it didn't have a gate to pull it. It was next in line, though. Finally, it got assigned to a gate, and we were able to board, now about 3 hours late, getting on board about 11:30, Central Time, 12:30am Eastern Time.
I'll finish this saga later with a dramatic end later, but it's time to catch an airport shuttle!
Don't I wish. As I write this, we still haven't made it home. American Airlines should be looking forward to lots of friendly emails to their customer service department, as we will be arriving, optimistically, 44 hours after our scheduled time. Although, as I sit in our Chicago hotel watching snow fall, I'm not letting myself get too helpful.
Original plan, for your reference, was leaving El Salvador at 2pm Saturday, stopping in Miami, and arriving in Detroit just before midnight Saturday night.
So, the plane to take us from San Salvador to Miami apparently had some engine problems, and it took them about three hours to get a replacement. By the time we made it to the USA, we were too late to catch our Miami to Detroit connection. Night in Miami.
The next available MI flight was via Dallas (logical, right?) the next day. Checking in for our Dallas flight, we were told that two of us hadn't been rebooked successfully, but thankfully we had arrived two hours and fifteen minutes early, which ended up being just enough time for them to get it sorted out, and to get us on the plane.
We were told we had to get our seat assignments there for our Detroit flight. They didn't tell us, though, that when we got there, we would have to deal with the fact they were overbooked by 18 people. We didn't have seats. The supervisor said he'd "try really hard to get us on the plane," though. That made us feel a lot better.
We were given the option of giving up our non-existent seats for a $300 voucher, and we would get guaranteed seats on flights to Chicago and then Detroit, arriving at midnight Sunday night. There were only a few seats left, though, and if we didn't take that option immediately, there were other people in line who were asking about it at the same time as us, and if they took it, the next available flight wouldn't arrive until Monday afternoon. Since we didn't have seats on our flight, we decided to go for the guaranteed seats via Chicago.
Since I'm in Chicago now, you've probably figured out things didn't go according to plan. But here's the scoop. Our flight to Chicago was a bit late, and they had closed one of the runways there due to fog, but we made it to the gate about 10 minutes late. Not too bad.
We went to the gate for the Detroit flight and they told us we'd board in 15 minutes. But then they announced boarding for Flint, MI. It turns out, there was a flight to Flint before ours leaving out of the same gate. No problem, they promised. It'd be a quick turnover, and we'd made it out, arriving at about 12:30am instead of 12am, and they were sorry for the inconvenience.
Flint passengers boarded. But the plane sat there. And sat there. And sat there. For two hours, they waited to get de-iced (oh how I felt for those passengers on board!). We sat at the gate, waiting for them to leave. We were finally told that our plane was on the ground, waiting to take us, but it didn't have a gate to pull it. It was next in line, though. Finally, it got assigned to a gate, and we were able to board, now about 3 hours late, getting on board about 11:30, Central Time, 12:30am Eastern Time.
I'll finish this saga later with a dramatic end later, but it's time to catch an airport shuttle!
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