Travel Trials

Overall I appreciate the ease with which we travel the world, but it can be trying at times. Case in point: As if a 24 hour trek from Chennai to Seattle wasn't daunting enough, try this on for size. I get to the airport in Chennai at 11:30 PM for my 1:45 AM flight to Frankfurt. At about 12:30 we learn there's a plane stuck on the runway, that caused our plan to be diverted to Bangalore. 3 hour delay (that's 4:45 AM) to depart - and at this point I know I'll miss my connection in Frankfurt. Assurances by the crew that we'll be rebooked on the earliest possible flight held true for many passengers, but my requests for information about my situation were met with "you'll be rebooked". After waiting for 1/2 hour at the first travel desk, I'm told they actually can't help me (would have been great to know), so they sent me to the next desk 15 minutes away. Oops, it's now too late to catch the next flight to London that would have got me home at 3:15, a mere 4 hours later than planned. So here I sit in Frankfurt waiting for my flight to Toronto, then a 2 hour layover, then another 5 hours to Seattle. If all goes well I should be home by 8:30 PM, making my 24 hour flight a total of 35 hours. We'll miss the party we were eagerly awaiting, I miss a day with my wife and daughter, and I'm in the midst of extreme frustration at the moment, in case that wasn't obvious.

This is all just payback for how smooth the trip was on the way over - the on-time departure, the nice drive from Frankfurt to Luxembourg and back, the time with Nigel, Chuck and Ross in Lux (who I hadn't seen for over 2 years) and the great weather.