Weary But Cheerful Travelers Headed Home

Well, you know how all year long I've been bragging about all the amazingly good weather we've had on every trip? I think that streak may have come to a screeching halt with hurricane Sandy! However, in another strange way, our tremendous "luck or good fortune" stayed with us!

Now, I'll be the first to admit we weren't "roughing it" -- the Chatwal is a far cry from that!! We were only 5 blocks away from where all the power outages for Manhattan started! The actual night that Sandy came ashore with all her destructive might, we were in a very insulated bubble. Our little section of Manhattan had very little rain and less wind! I think the position of all the buildings in our area shielded us tremendously! We all were thinking that there was an awful lot of "over reaction and hype"! Boy were we wrong! But, you have to understand that where we were, there were still several restaurants open and we were fine outside walking around. When the news stations began to show all the damage in the first light of day we were amazed and dismayed! There is tremendous devastation. Donations to the Red Cross would be a great idea and I encourage all who read this to text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10.00 to the relief fund.

After much scrambling and a lot of different plans our "SUPERWOMAN" travel agent, Arlene Feen, managed to get us on a flight out of Bradley Field in Windsor Lock, CT! She secured a car and driver to pick us up at 5:00am at our hotel and drive us to the airport. Now, as we wait at the gate, we are hoping all goes smoothly in Atlanta! We are trying to get Grant's friend, Mike, home in time for his daughter's first Halloween! His son and daughter are going as Batman and Batgirl-- something he didn't want to miss!! Looks like he will make it!

We have been scheduled every day since Monday on a flight out of LaGuardia. LaGuardia remains 2' underwater. We think it's going to be quite a while before air traffic will be going in or out of there. We considered trying to rent a car and drive back to Florida, but ultimately rejected that idea because of the blizzard hitting south of NY and not knowing how bad the roads were going south. We were briefly booked out of Philadelphia, but better flights became available in Hartford so here we are!!

I do have to add one other piece of information to show you how our "luck" continues to hold. Though its embarrassing to admit, this experienced traveler left her drivers license at home!! I had taken it out of my purse and put it in a fanny pack to go to the football game and I forgot to put it back in my purse. Once again, our trusty travel agent saved me by faxing a copy of my passport to me. We were concerned TSA would give me a hard time, but with the faxed copy of my passport, my Medicare card, and photo id from Woodfield and the Boca Resort, it was no problem at all. It probably helped that I'm a registered GOES traveler!

Our flight from Bradley is showing a 20 min delay which will make our Atlanta connection really tight, but we remain "hauntingly hopeful"! Happy Halloween to all!!