Day 10 - Home

Up at 5 a.m. to drag our bags down to the lobby, flag a cab and head out to the airport. We're trying to think positively but... LaGuardia cancelled 550 + flights yesterday, there is major flooding and wind all along the coast. We manage the check in process and wait for the (fully booked) flight to be called. We board and have two delays on the runway (what a disheartening sound when those engines are shut down) of 45 and 30 minutes but we're finally in the air. At some point in the flight we realize that we have a female pilot - a first for both of us. My travel mate states "you know she has to be twice as good as any man, she can multitask and be flexible" so this is a good thing we're with her. I couldn't agree more. I speak to the flight attendant about possibly making our connection (at this point we're only 15 minutes out of time) and shes says that with all the delays we might be ok. We have an amazingly smooth flight to New York, a bit of a delay getting down due to the mess on the runways and then the fun starts...

As we land there is an announcement that flight 4797 to Halifax is leaving late, they're sending a bus to pick us up at gate D1 to make the connection. We get out, scramble to find the gate - long lineups, impatient passengers who have been stranded for over 24 hrs, and agents on ignore. We're being paged on a final boarding call as we frantically search for the gate. Desperate to make that flight (I HAVE to be at work in the a.m.) I make eye contact with a passenger in a lineup "where is D1? that is us they are paging!" he points to the right and I make an aerobic sprint for the gate. No room to manouver with the terminal bulging with passengers - full speed ahead with my chair hammock from Belize in hand to fend off the oncoming pedestrian traffic - I'm dressed for running with my jeans and sneakers my more fashionable travel mate on platform sandals is bringing up in the rear. No problem, it will only take one of us to get a foot in the door to hold that flight. I sprint to the gate where two agents are serving a long line of disgruntled passengers. I make eye contact with the more approachable of the two and say "you were paging us, we're here for flight 4797" so she phones, makes the bus turn around and pick us up and we are personally escorted through private security and onto the plane. I say to my partner "we are going to be as popular as ants at a picnic if they've held that flight long" as I can already feel those pairs of eyes following me as we make our way down the aisle. The loaded passengers are just relieved to be finally leaving after almost two days stuck in NY and they've had to wait for a pilot as he was flooded out at home and had to be picked up. We thank everyone for their patience and are rewarded with grins and sink into our seats. What a great feeling that is until.... my partner says "you realize our luggage didn't make it with us don't you?" We make good time with a strong tail wind on the very turbulent flight and actually arrive on time. We are dismayed to see remnants of snow near the airport. I'm holding my chair hammock (my only luggage) as we clear customs and the officer asks if I have any wood products? The wooden frame extends above the counter but I make eye contact and say "no" in a tone that clearly indicates this is the hill I am willing to die on if he should consider confiscating my article. He sighs, looks down and says "get going" as I thank him and move on to file a lost baggage claim and find daughter # 2 with the car. No one can believe we made it home through this major nor easter.

P.S. Our bags were driven down the next morning as soon as they arrived from LaGuardia completely intact - great service from American Eagle.