Wednesday, July 21, 2010

guatemala trip- day 1

day of travel.
we drop the kids off @ kim's @ 8:30 (thx kim!) and head to the airport
our plane leaves at 12:40, and for international, dad always likes us to be there 3 hours early

a half hour before we land, the pilot interrupts our nap over the intercom.
he's loud
he rambles on, i think it's kinda weird. just get to the point.
pilot:
"... and because of severe weather, we are going to be in a holding tank and can't land at dallas fort worth (dfw). now, they did give us some extra gas back in phx, so i'm not too worried." (i am at this point. i hadn't thought of having enough gas
until he mentioned it).
"we can circle for a half hour to an hour without any trouble".
we continue to circle. turbulence.
gar's face is white. he puts headphones on.
pilot:
"we are getting low on fuel so we are going to land at dfw now. prepare for landing."
10 seconds later:
pilot:
"dfw air traffic control changed their mind, the storm is bad and all air traffic is on hold. we will continue to circle." ( i see another plane not too far off circling, it makes me a little uncomfortable. then we are both engulfed in clouds. nice.) turbulence.
20 minutes later, pilot:
"i just got off with air traffic. we are getting low on fuel and truthfully, i'm not very optimistic about our fuel situation." not very optimistic?? who is this guy? "we could either land in oklahoma, or an air strip over in louisiana, but i don't think w
e'll make it that far." fine, just do what you need to do. make a decision! gar's face is green, knuckles white. he's praying.
pilot:
"we have been routed to wichita falls where we will refuel and wait
until further notice." (this is up by the panhandle of oklahoma, 3 hours driving distance from dallas. a fellow passenger showed us the map on his ipad, along with the storm system. those things are so handy!)
pilot:
"no, we will just land in dallas now. prepare for landing.
they have stopped all traffic. we are headed to wichita falls." really?
pilot:
"we are first in line for refueling. we should be outta here ver
y soon. i do want to let you know you have the right to deplane now, if you choose."

that's all g needed. he wanted to get 0ff, rent a car, and DRIVE home. we were 18 hours away. he wasn't going back up into that storm system. i really didn't want to
drive home. then he said he would just drive to dallas if i wanted. sigh. i said we were just minutes away from refueling, we could just stay the night, wait out the storm and take the next flight out to guatemala tomorrow. maybe even see rob (his bro), melissa and kids. we've never visited them in the 5 years they've lived in dallas. he was very reluctant. but we did just that.

by the time we landed, over 3 HOURS late, our connecting flight had left us. because it was weather related, the airline didn't put us up in a hotel, but gave u
s a discounted rate. as we were off to take the hotel shuttle, we called rob & melis to ask them if they wanted to meet for dinner. rob just came and picked us up. we stayed at their house, borrowed pj's and toiletries, (our luggage was checked to guatemala!), had a hot shower and a soft bed, and an awesome visit!! it couldn't have been a better layover. it was very serendipitous. we laughed that it took a missed connecting flight to get us out to visit
family! i'm so glad it happened. we talked late and slept in. ahhhh. the next day, they took us to a nearby mall that had a WAVE inside the surf shop. rob and g paid for a 1/2 hour and surfed while we watched through the window. so cool!

then rob dropped us off @ the airport and we caught the plane to guat city where mom and dad greeted us. we were sad to miss the first day of the tour, but it was ok. then off to our hotel, vista
real. it was heavenly!!

thanks rob and melis!! it was so much fun!


7 comments:

Melis said...

So, so, sooooo much fun!!!

And wanna know a secret... the next couple of days after you left, I was a bit out of sorts & kinda weepy. It took me a few days to realize {since it all happened so fast} that I had gotten homesick from the visit!!!

Love you guys tons!!!

Wanna know sumpin' else... I secretly pray that the reason you had were diverted here was so that you could fall in love with Tay-has & somehow end up moving here.

LOL!!!!

We just love you guys & we were so happy to see you!!!!!!!!

Melis said...

And I can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip... eeeeeee!

Rhonna Farrer said...

oh my...are you kidding me????
wow!
what an adventure. glad you are home safe & sound. call me!
love you!
xo

Anonymous said...

OMGosh, Aim!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You left out a few minor details when you told me your flight was delayed because of weather!!!!!!!!!!! HOOOOOOOOOOOOOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Of course, when I found out you had spent the time with Rob and Meliss I was happy that you had been delayed. Now I'm giddy that you spent the time with them because it was "healing time" for Gar and no doubt made the difference of you coming to Guate --OR NOT!!!!! Can't wait for Day 2!

linda said...

I would have white knuckles too. Hope the rest of the trip was wonderful, I bet it was great to see your parents.

Jill said...

Oh, My Seriously.....Where did they get that pilot??? I am so sorry you got off to a rough start, but I am sure the rest of the trip was wonderful!! I can't wait to hear :)

amy said...

melis, i would love to live in tayhas!!