"" Writer's Wanderings: Dublin or Bust!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Dublin or Bust!


In all our 25+ years of traveling the world, we have only occasionally experienced delays in getting from one place to another and never more than a few hours or a day at most. After two years of planning and anticipating our trip to Ireland, the last thing on our minds that would keep us from going was a hurricane. Don't those just happen in the Caribbean?

Hurricane Lee wrecked such havoc with our East Coast, that flights were delayed and canceled from the Carolinas to Massachusetts. As the announcements kept making our flight to Philadelphia later and later, we started wondering how fast we could run. Ever the optimists, we figured if flights into Philly were delayed surely flights out would be to thereby giving us enough time to make that flight to Dublin. Wrong.

At the time when we should have been boarding the last scheduled delay, US Airways announced that the flight was canceled. No problem. We would certainly be rebooked for the next day. Wrong again.

While Bob talked with one rebooking agent on the phone, the ticketing agent searched for flights. We could get to the East Coast, but flights from there to Dublin were all booked for two days. How could that be? To add insult to injury, Bob's brother who was flying out of Columbus was rebooked on a flight that got them to Philly albeit late, but they were able to get a flight to Manchester, England, and from there Dublin and arrive only a half day late.

We collected our luggage and the rebooking slip that the ticket agent had given us. She at least was kinder than the agent at the 1-800 number and got us on a flight and in first class! Even though US Airways belongs to the Star Alliance, they were unwilling to book us on one of their partners because it would cost them money and the fine print reads, "Cancellations due to weather. . ." You get the idea.

And so we spent the first two nights of our vacation in quite comfortable surroundings very familiar to us--home. First class seating would have to compensate for our delay. But would the next hurricane, Katia, right on the heels of Lee interfer as well?

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