Leaving...

Monday - Tuesday, January 17-18

Our Australia adventure if off to a rocky start and rather than being on a plane someplace over the Pacific right now, we are currently in an airport Marriott. After getting to the Philadelphia airport nice and early and boarding the plane on time, we sat on the runway as they struggled with a problem with fueling. First they tried shutting off the plane and turning it back on, then they tried a different fuel truck and finally, they got us off the plane, re-routed us to another gate halfway across the terminal and re-boarded us on a different plane. We knew we were headed to L.A, when the woman sitting behind us had a “service animal” that was an “emotional support dog.” So, when the plane arrived in L.A. twenty-five minutes before the flight to Australia was supposed to leave, we made a mad airport dash. We needed to take a shuttle from Terminal 1 to Terminal 4, go through security, and missed the doors closing on the flight by five minutes. There is nothing more frustrating than seeing the plane sitting at the gate and being told that you can not get on it. So, we spent the night at an airport Marriott and hopefully, we will be on the flight tonight. This morning has been all phone calls trying to re-arrange our plans once we arrive and confirm that we will be on tonight’s flight. Hopefully, our luggage will re-appear.