Weather, emergency landings, and unexpected trips
Trip Start
Apr 08, 2010
1
10
Trip End
Apr 19, 2010
Paris, Île-de-France, France
Friday, April 9, 2010
Well, this trip has certainly had an interesting start!
I am sitting in the Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris France, a very nice, big and new airport, but a city I had not intended to visit, heck, it is on a continent I had not intended to visit. But before I go there, perhaps some background is in order.
Like, for example, why am I even traveling right now in the first place? Well, in February, Frank and I traveled to the MAGIC show in Vegas again. We went to the same show last year as well. Both times, we met several members of the Southern African Business Hub, a coalition that promotes fabric and garment manufacturers in southern Africa nations. This past year, they informally invited us to a business to business event and after some paperwork back and forth, we received a formal invitation.
Although we were invited, I figured this was actually more of Frank's project than mine and I was not going to come. Besides, I had just taken off time to travel to Vegas. However, shortly after our invite, I received an email from the Southern Africa Business Hub’s logistics coordinator. Turns out this trip is subsidized by USAID, so a significant portion of my travel costs were to be reimbursed. So….at this point, really, how on earth do you say no to that? Basically, I didn’t, and now you see why I am heading to South Africa in the first place.
So, we booked our trip and Frank and I were set to meet in Johannesburg. The conference is in Cape Town, but most overseas flights arrive in Johannesburg. I found a direct Delta flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg, as I had to fly a domestic carrier to meet the terms of the USAID reimbursement. The conference starts on Wed April 14, but we decided to come a bit earlier so that we could possibly see some other parts of the country. After all my research, I found a 3 day trip to Kruger National Park out of Johannesburg leaving on Saturday, April 10, 2010. This got us back to Joburg in time to head to Cape Town before the conference, but now I am getting ahead of myself.
Back to why I am currently in Paris…
I went to work on Thursday, April 8 until almost 2 pm and then headed to Tampa Airport for my 4 pm flight to Atlanta. All was well as I headed over to my gate and just as I made it though security I saw that there had been just a 15 minute delay on my flight. No problem, I had over two hours in Atlanta, I can handle fifteen minutes….but, as I sat waiting to board, we heard more and more delays were happening with flights headed to Atlanta (two from that boarding area were going that direction). So of course everyone in the immediate area with their laptops and PDAs and cell phones become immediate weather forecasters, predicting that the weather has passed and that there should not be any significant delay. Regardless, they went ahead and lets us board…and then just as we pushed back from the gate, there was a hesitation, and then a stop, and then we sat on the aircraft for two hours on the tarmac – in sight of the gate at TIA. Finally, after several updates from the flight crew, and an apparent disagreement between TIA and ATL, they finally let us take off. However, by the time we arrived in Atlanta, my Johannesburg flight was scheduled to take off. Now, this did not mean I did not have hope. Alas, the flight status update on my phone told me the JNB flight had been delayed…and so I ran my little heart out. All the way from A1 (at the end of the A concourse) to the middle and the tram and then off the tram and up to my gate at E12…just in time to see them closing the jet way doors. The plane had just pulled away from the gate…Of course! The Delta rep looked like a sad puppy – there were about 15 of us (from several flights) that showed up at the now empty gate E12 over the next 10 minutes. He told us he held the flight as long as he could, that they knew we were arriving and were at the airport, but that it had to leave so it could get its flight plan and clearance to land in JNB. So, I was stuck in Atlanta – or was I?
Now, the industrious gal that I am, and being given the ability to use our cell phones while we were sitting on the tarmac in Tampa, I had called both Delta and my travel agent Terry. Delta had originally scheduled me on the next direct JNB flight, leaving 24 hours later from Atlanta. However, there were several options of flights leaving later on Thursday and going to different gateway cities on the way to South Africa. The biggest issue was that I had to be in Johannesburg before they came to pick us up for our Safari on Saturday morning. I was almost excited about one going through Lagos, Nigeria, and then there was one that went through London, one that stopped in Frankfurt, and one that went through Paris… The ones that went through Lagos and London did arrive in Joburg very early in the morning, but there were some issues there. I am apparently not Nigerian, so I guess I needed a transit visa for Nigeria. The British Airways (London) connection had some code share issues and the Delta gate agent could not reissue the ticket himself. Regardless of where I was going to go, I was pretty sure that my luggage was not going to come with me. So, at this point, I had done a mental calculation of what I would really miss. The result, tennis shoes for the game walks. But, I can buy shoes, so no worries. I have my camera and a full change of clothes, and toiletries to get through, so I can deal without luggage. But I digress!
Now, keep in mind, I am out of breath, running, and desperate to get on a plane. The wonderful gate agent (Glen from Delta) got me on the BA flight, but he could not reissue that ticket so he sent me over to the long line to get that. I had been there about 10 minutes when I heard my name called back to the gate. The agent had found room on a flight through to Dubai and on to Johannesburg, but it arrived in Joburg at 11:00 am on Saturday. Now, although I had already emailed our tour director for the Safari, I did not yet have a response, so I had no idea if 11:00 would work (and highly doubted it would). So I asked for anything earlier – specifically the Paris connection – because it arrived at 945 am, which, while still late, is better than some other options. Well, the Paris portion was booked solid…not to mention already boarding and leaving in a matter of minutes. As Glen is trying to get me on something, he hands me a package of tickets and says "GO NOW – Gate E11 – it’s boarding, you are on," referencing the Paris flight. So I ran over, got an actual boarding card issued and was quite literally the last person on the plane.
Let me compliment Delta here because although there were problems to this point, Delta went above and beyond to get me on a plane, and the agent at the counter when I was boarding told me (although it has yet to be confirmed) that my luggage actually made it on the plane. The biggest issue was that this was a full flight, and I was stuck in the middle of the middle. I was a bit cramped…but it was ok. And, later in the flight, there actually was another empty seat, the attendant, Dina from St. Petersburg (small world), let me move up there for the last two hours. But anyway…
Here is where things got interesting (as if the trip thus far was simple) about an hour into the flight, the captain comes on and says, “Is there a Doctor on board?” Let me tell you now, you never want to hear that when you are on a plane in flight. About two hours later (just after we had passed the NYC, Boston area and were heading out over the North Atlantic) the captain comes on board again to tell us that we have officially be rerouted to Bangor Maine as we need to make a medical emergency landing to evacuate this patient. I later learned the patient himself was an OB/GYN doctor, and there had also been an ER doc and an Oncologist on board. The diagnosis was a ruptured appendix and it became clear that he was not going to make it across the Atlantic, so we had to get him to a hospital immediately. So, when we landed in Bangor, I called my mother, who had left me an absolutely hilarious text on my phone – something about not understanding how I could possibly be rerouted so much on a single day. But I digress! I did try and sleep, to no avail, but I had taken the sleeping pill that I had, so I was totally out of it for a couple of hours, but sadly, I was in so much pain in my legs, that it was just not worth it.
After our three hour detour, we were headed back towards Paris. We arrived…late of course…and I was able to confirm that I was ON the Paris to JNB flight – WOO HOO, AND…..that it was a brand spankin new Airbus A380, and that I had a bulkhead seat. Yippie!
Now, Paris. Luckily, I have been to Paris before, because if all I had ever been able to do was a 6 hour random tour lugging around my carryon bag, it would have broken my heart. This is why it was probably a good thing that I did not go through Dubai, the six hour layover would have killed me, not enough time to do anything, and it was completely in the middle of the night. But, even with the medical delay, eight hours in Paris is actually some time. After taking care of some business, like getting a power converter, some Euros, and replacing the chapstik that I apparently ate earlier in the day (it disappeared), I took the train into the city. I got off and walked around the Louvre, along the Seine, on both the left and right banks, through part of the Latin Quarter and took some great shots of the front of Notre Dame. The worst part was that I was arriving just as the evening rush hour traffic set in so it took a lot of time to navigate around the terminals (especially pulling my bag). I found a small creperie by Notre Dame, and people watched as I had a chocolate and banana crepe and cappuccino. I did a very small amount of shopping (yes mom, I got you socks), and then I had to head back to the airport. However, as I walked back and forth across the Seine, I watched the sun setting behind the Eiffel Tower. For an unexpected, unplanned, unprepared trip to Paris – all in all – not a bad way to spend a day.
So, I am now standing at the bar in the self service area, on the back end of the first floor of the A380 plane, with my laptop actually plugged in and charging. I was able to charge my cell phone quite a bit at the Paris airport. This is all good because I anticipate that I will be hitting the ground in Johannesburg running. I hope to make the connection with the tour, but if I don’t, they will arrange for a private car to catch me up to everyone else – for the whopping price of 500 Rand (that is about $75 US). Of course, I may even have luggage when I arrive in JNB. I will post this entry whenever I get the chance…even if it is likely after I return to JNB after our safari. Toodles for now (said in homage to my brother in law).
