The Dramatic Finale!

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)!