Vegas Trip

Flew in to Vegas last Wed night, and tried to fly home on Sat (more on that later).

My nieces are getting so big! It's hard to believe how much they have grown since I saw them last August. They are just so adorable and fun to be around.

Getting to Vegas was a breeze. Getting home was not as easy. The 4-hour direct flight became a 30-hour journey via airports and plane rides. I tried to get on an earlier flight on Sat (4pm) to avoid the problems that the nor'easter that slammed the East Coast on Sunday was sure to cause. When I got to LAS, found out that the direct America West flight home was canceled, as was my later flight at 10pm that night. Why, when it had not started snowing yet in Boston, I still do not quite understand. The earliest flight that America West could get me on was a 4pm on Monday!

After thinking things through a little, I got talking to the US Airways folks - after all the 2 companies are now one no? They could get me on a flight to Philly that left Vegas at 11pm and then I could connect to Manchester, NH the next morning at 7pm. Wishful thinking? Maybe, but I was ready to try anything.

While waiting at the airport and losing hope as flight after flight got canceled, a man sitting 3 chairs away from me suddenly started drooling and not breathing. Several people tried to revive him and called for airport EMT help. He was lowered to the floor and an airport staffer took out a Rambo-like serrated knife (!) and started to saw away at the man's undershirt. He neglected to tell anyone else of his plans, and the cardiac nurse who was performing CPR on the man got her hand sliced open - now there was also blood everywhere! Finally the EMT folks arrived and took over - while the nurse calmly walked to the Starbucks stand and asked for napkins to stem the bleeding. The area was cleared, and as I walked away, I suddenly did not feel too bad about canceled flights - puts things in perspective.

Inspite of all airports being closed on the East Coast, and most other airlines canceling their flights, our flight to Philly took off after a small delay. We had a maintenance problem that turned out to be antifreeze fluid and not hydraulic fluid as initially feared. An uneventful flight later (are not those the best kind?), we started our descent into Philly. Nothing to see out the windows - thick dark clouds everywhere. The pilot comes on and tells us that due to heavy icing and strong crosswinds, we cannot land in Philly and were being diverted to Charlotte, NC instead. OK. The descent was so rocky that I was beginning to think that the late Monday flight might not have been such a bad idea after all!

An hour later we land in sunny Charlotte. All flights to Boston and Manchester continue to get canceled for the next 9 hours. Good thing I had a good book (The Shadow of the Wind), my iPod, and snacks. I got to know the different terminals rather well. By the luck of the draw, the flight I was confirmed on to Manchester took off on time, and landed without a problem on time. There was a weather window and we just dropped in.

Susan who had gotten a call from me almost hourly as the flights got canceled and re-directed, shoveled out and drove up to Manchester to get me - a scary ride as the roads had not been ploughed. It took her 1.5 hours to drive a distance that would normally take 30min (almost as long as my flight from Charlotte). We arrived at the ariport at the same time. Was I ever glad to see her and get home.
Home again, home again, jiggity jig!