So I've alluded in the past few posts to John's big trip. Some of you were able to follow the ups and downs via Facebook, but here's the lowdown.

Late in the summer, he received an invitation from the city of Krakow, Poland to come for a literary conference the last weekend in October. They would pay his travel expenses, and those of the representatives from all the other Cities of Literature, who were also invited. Krakow would like to join the Creative Cities Network and thought they might gain some insight by inviting the current members to participate in this regional conference.

Expenses-paid trip to Europe? Why, yes please! And since it's a little silly to fly all the way to Poland just for a two-and-a-half day conference, why don't you go early and spend two days in Edinburgh, the first City of Literature? Good plan! (Too bad the boys' schedules, our house construction, and of course, finances, prevented me from joining him!)

It turned out to be kind of a complicated itinerary with arriving in Edinburgh but departing from Krakow so John enlisted the assistance of a travel agent. (This detail is important later.) He ended up with a United/Lufthansa ticket from Cedar Rapids to O'Hare to Duesseldorf to Edinburgh; return ticket Krakow-Duesseldorf-O'Hare-Cedar Rapids. He bought a one-way ticket on Ireland's RyanAir from Edinburgh to Krakow.

As luck (and Murphy's Law) would have it, a tremendous thunderstorm rolled through Eastern Iowa headed toward Chicago the between 7 and 8 a.m. the day of John's departure. His flight was not until 1 p.m. though, and as we left Iowa City for the airport at 11:30 a.m. it was still listed as "on time." By the time we got to the airport and I kissed John good-bye at noon, however, it had been canceled. There was no way to fly to Chicago in time for the Europe-bound flight. As I was on my way back to Iowa City (for a much anticipated haircut!) John called to say he was stranded so I turned around to go back and get him. (Poor sad, shaggy hair!)

I waited in the "cell phone lot" for about 45 minutes while he worked with United and then Delta to try to get himself re-booked for the same day, later flights. We left with a new ticket, this time on Delta, departing at 6:30 that evening. (And to chalk one up in the "good luck" column, my stylist had a rare same-day opening due to another cancellation and was able to get me in after all--woo hoo!)

The boys were surprised, though basically unfazed, to see John after school despite having said good-bye to him for the week at school drop-off.

In the late afternoon, we all headed back to the Cedar Rapids airport, where this time, we parked and went in with him to ensure he was checked in and ready to fly before we left. This took a while and there was still some uncertainty about whether he'd have enough time to make his connection in Detroit. As we waited and the dinner hour approached, the boys were getting antsy and complaining that they were hungry. As there is limited food service in the Cedar Rapids airport and I actually had dinner at home, I tried to buy some time with a trip to the vending machine. If you ask them about Dad's trip to Edinburgh, I can almost guarantee they'll start with, "We got to eat POP TARTS at the airport!" Two bucks and two strawberry pop-tarts later, they were in seventh heaven.

Once the ticket agents assured us that John was booked through with time to connect, the boys and I said good-bye again and headed for home (and dinner!) About 15 minutes later, my phone rang. You guessed it: John's flight to Detroit had just been delayed, now leaving no way for him to connect in Detroit. As I was in the geographic middle of the route from the airport to our house with two very hungry and increasingly tired boys, we had to call for back-ups. John's parents hopped in the car to head to Cedar Rapids to pick him up. They ended up becoming quite familiar with the cell phone lot as it took about an hour to find a route for John the next day.

He came home extremely frustrated and demoralized, but somehow exhausted enough for a solid night's sleep, waking the next morning refreshed and ready to try again. This time he refused to let me drive him, saying the (very cheap) long-term parking rate was well worth not screwing up my entire day again. He got out on a Cedar Rapids-O'Hare-Newark-Edinburgh route with only a slight hiccup at O'Hare. So he lost one day of his Edinburgh time, but never fear, he would regain it in Krakow.


Edinburgh photos

Krakow photos


For you see, in all the re-ticketing, it seems no one had bothered to re-confirm his return route, so when he showed up at the Krakow airport the following Monday, having had an excellent trip, but fully ready to return to the loving embrace of his family back in Iowa, the gate agents said they had no record of his arrival and therefore no authorization to clear his departure. He was, once again, stranded. Six hours ahead of his sleeping U.S. advocates. And Hurricane Sandy was bearing down on the East coast, closing airports, canceling flights, and causing mass re-booking for those with travel plans in or through New York, Washington D.C. and other Eastern hubs.

He went back and forth among United, Lufthansa, and Delta to determine who was responsible for the screw up and they all pointed a finger at one another. Delta finally at least conceded enough to issue a new return ticket, but not until Friday (it was currently Monday.) Once again demoralized, he left the airport to wait and see whether his travel agent could improve upon that plan once he opened for business at 8 a.m. Central Time.

I was first alerted to the situation by text message at 4:30 a.m. Normally I wouldn't receive such a message until I woke up as I'm not in the habit of sleeping with my cell phone, but I was in a Milwaukee hotel room with the boys as we decided to distract ourselves from Dad's long trip by visiting my sister and her family.

Nothing I could do until 8, but as soon as I could I was on the phone to the travel agent, who was shocked to hear what had happened. His read on John's travel record showed no reason he should have been denied in Krakow. (As of this writing, it has still not been determined fully, why and how this happened.) He stared working the various routes to try to find empty seats on flights the next day. By 1 p.m. our time, he'd found and booked a ticket from Krakow-Munich-O'Hare-Cedar Rapids, arriving home at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, one day later than originally scheduled.

John's Krakow hosts were quite solicitous, arranging another night in the same hotel, and promising to set up additional meetings if he were in fact stuck there all week. In the end, he did get out the next day and flew the   entire route without a single delay, arriving back at home (though he hardly recognized it!) by 11:15 and falling, exhausted, but happy into his own bed. He reports that other than the air travel nightmares, the trip was a huge success. (To quote my father, "Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how'd you like the show?") However, I doubt he'll be eager to stamp his passport again anytime soon.