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7.30.2007

Travel Nightmare

We finally arrived in Nantucket after more than 24 hours! Yesterday there were some thunderstorms in the NYC area which caused major flight issues. We left our apartment at 2PM yesterday headed to JFK airport for our flight to Nantucket. We are going to meet friends (Patty Murphy and her family) who are visiting from London and taking a vacation in Nantucket for a month.

On the way to the airport, we picked up Girlie at her house in Elmhurst/Queens. Girlie was excited to show you off to her roommates and friends. I was worried because you fell asleep in the car, but she woke you up so that you would perform. At first, you cried a little because you were sleepy and were tossed in front of strangers - after a few minutes, you sang 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' and 'ABCs' for everyone. They clapped when you were finished. Before leaving, Girlie also showed them how she taught you a few words in tagalo. One of Girlie's friends (Biali, a retired nurse) was so impressed that she gave you $10 as a reward for your performance.

The traffic to the airport was terrible because of the rain; I was not too worried but we left early. It is the first time traveling with two kids so I added some extra time for checking in and going through airport security. After we checked into JetBlue, we ate some pizza as an early dinner while waiting for our flight. The flight to Nantucket was already delayed by an hour due to the weather. One hour later, JetBlue delayed our flight again by another hour. Luckily I brought a DVD player so you were fine watching videos to pass the time. Another hour passed and then they cancelled our flight. Unfortunately our flight was the last one (and the only nonstop) to Nantucket, so they reconfirmed our seats on another connecting flight via Boston in the morning. At this point, I decided to book a room at a hotel near the airport rather than waiting hours for a cab home and then having to take another car service to the airport early in the morning.

Everyone was exhausted so we crashed in the hotel room and skipped dinner. Luckily Caden was also sleepy and did not make much noise all night long; Caden fell asleep easily after each feeding so that everyone could sleep for a few hours. In the morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel and went back to the airport - what a zoo! There were long lines everywhere - luckily, we were able to skip the long line because our flight to Boston was leaving in a hour.

After passing through security, we waited near our gate; close to the estimated boarding time, I checked the monitors and noticed they changed the departure gate for our flight. I thought we were going to miss our flight to Boston! On the shuttle bus to the new gate, Girlie and I were talking and she said 'No more flying JetBlue!' One of the JetBlue crew responded by saying 'Go Home! You are already a pain in the ass!' It was quite shocking to see an airline personnel act so rudely to its customers! On the shuttle bus, there were two other women who were complaining since their flight was also cancelled the night before - they cursed 'Fuc&%$# JetBlue.' Girlie repeated what they said to me. After we got off the bus, the same JetBlue employee said to me 'Your mother is charming!' I responded 'She is not my mother!' Then he threatened Girlie by saying he could probably get her taken off the flight (though he was not working on our flight to Boston). Girlie was so angry but I stepped in to stop the altercation. Minutes later, Girlie noticed the JetBlue employee also accosted the two women who were complaining on the shuttle bus - that guy should not work in the airline industry!

We finally boarded our flight to Boston at 10:15AM (we were supposed to leave JFK at 9:45AM) - once we boarded, we waited nearly an hour to takeoff because there were 20 planes ahead of us waiting for the runway. We finally took off around 11AM and landed at Boston Logan airport at noon. Our connecting flight to Nantucket on CapeAir was scheduled to leave at 12:10PM; when we checked in at CapeAir, we found out that they were still working on the 8AM flight due to fog issues around Nantucket. Since Nantucket airport was closed for several hours in the morning, we had to wait hours for three flights to take off and return before it was our turn. Bummer!

Since we knew we had several hours to wait, we walked through the terminal and ate a nice lunch at Johnny Rockets - Girlie was so happy because she loves the burgers and onion rings at Johnny Rockets. You continued to watch your videos. After lunch, we found a place to camp near an electrical outlet. As the hours passed, I started to worry that we would be forced to spend the night at Logan airport. As four o'clock neared, I started think of our options - fly to Martha's Vineyard (and crash at my friend Jill's house for the night and take the ferry the next day), drive home or wait it out. I went to our gate to check on the status and found out the 12:10PM flight was next. . .only to find out there were two sections and we were on the second half. The first half took off and then we had to wait for an hour because there were no more planes available. Finally around 5:45PM, we boarded a small 10-passenger Cessna and were on our way. . .as we reached Nantucket, the pilot notified us that they temporarily closed Nantucket airline due to the fog again; the pilot mentioned he had two hours worth of fuel and we would circle until we were cleared for landing. However, if the fog did not lift, then the pilot suggested flying to Hyannis so that we could catch the last high-speed ferry at 8:30PM. I wanted to cry but was hopeful that we would find an opening to land within the first hour. Luckily Girlie and you were napping during this whole ordeal. Approximately 45 minutes later, we were cleared for landing - it was a close call. We were the LAST flight to Nantucket tonight! It took 30 hours to reach Nantucket from the time we left our apartment - next time (if there is a next time), we will drive and take the ferry.

To make matters worse, CapeAir lost one of our checked luggage - luckily it was the least important bag with a stroller, diapers and other items that were replacable. We took a cab to our rental house - we are finally here so that our vacation can begin now!

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