Travel Day - August 13, 2004 - Hurricane Charley
I wake up at 6:00 a.m., not only because I cant believe were finally leaving, but also because I have to pack the last minute things I couldnt pack the night before. We immediately turn on the Weather Channel. Things dont look good, although our flight from Buffalo is still on schedule. I am worried that we will get stranded in the Pittsburgh airport.
This being Friday the 13th, of course, my husband informs me in a somber tone that he has a very bad feeling about todayhes never felt like this before he is afraid something bad will happen now hes scaring me because hes getting so paranoid. Theres too many 13s, he says. (After we had booked our trip, our travel agent had changed our flight because the fares had dropped. Naturally, what row did he assign us for our flight? You guessed it 13. Even our cabin number on the ship (6052) added up to 13.) He was right about all of the coincidences, in fact there were even a few more, but I try to dismiss this as silliness.
Our flight to Pittsburgh left on schedule and was extremely smooth and (happily) uneventful. As we were waiting to board our flight to Orlando, I notice on the Arrival/Departures board that the two later US Air flights into Orlando had been cancelled. My heart droppedour friends were supposed to be on one of those flights. I call DF from my cell phone and tell her to call the airport; I think her flight is cancelled. We are about to board, so I tell her Ill call her as soon as we land in Orlando.
Our flight left perfectly on schedule and was really, really smooth, much to my surprise. As we are landing in Orlando, you can see sunshine streaming in the left hand windows of the plane, and an ominous black sky through the right hand windows. The pilot says at this point that the outer edges of Hurricane Charley are about 10 miles away. He predicts that by the time we get off the plane and begin to get our luggage the storm will begin to hit. About 10 minutes later (around 2:25 p.m.) it starts raining very hard and thundering and lightening. I am thankful that we are staying at a hotel in the airport and dont have to leave.
There are people everywhere. There is a huge board listing all of the Arrivals and Departures, and a man is on a scaffold changing everything to CANCELLED. I call my DF and she is heading to the Buffalo airport. They have decided to keep their flight into Philadelphia, but instead of connecting and flying into Orlando, they have decided to fly into Miami and drive to Port Canaveral. I am amazed at their ingenuity and their perseveranceI dont know if I would have tried that, especially with my loving husband, who this morning was the epitome of Mr. Pessimistic. DF says shell call when she arrives in Philadelphia. I am very worried about her and her family.
We get our luggage and walk over to the Hyatt and there is a line a mile long. All of these poor, stranded passengers are looking for somewhere to stay. I feel blessed that we have a room. We check in, go to get something to eat, and walk around the airport. My heart breaks for these stranded peopleso many with children or infants. How hard that must have been!! I speak to DF again and she has made it to Philadelphia just fine. They are heading to Miami and will call when they arrive.
By around 8:00 p.m. the wind is howling loudly and it is absolutely pouringit is so windy it looks like its raining horizontally. Every few minutes there are these scary air-raid types of sirens going off over the hotel PA system. They are warning all guests of the hotel to return to their rooms. Anyone who is not a guest is going to be evacuated to a certain section of the airport. As the minutes pass and the storm intensifies, I am petrified that the sliding glass door in our room is going to shatter into a million pieces. The sirens keep sounding, and a voice keeps telling people to get back to their rooms, stay off the balconies, stay away from the windows, close your drapes, evacuate if youre not a guest By this point both of my daughters are crying because they are so frightened. A few seconds later we lose electricity, and it stays off for about an hour and a half, or so. Again I think of all of the people who are trying to calm their frightened children in the evacuation section of the airport, and all of the people whose homes are being affected.
By around 9:15 p.m. it seems that the storm is subsiding slightly. Eventually the power returns and my daughters fall asleep. DF calls around 9:30 and is safe in Miami. They are renting a car and driving to Port Canaveral where they will stay overnight in a hotel. They think that when they called the hotel in the port this afternoon, they may have gotten one of the last available rooms. I pray for their safety and tell them Ill call them in the morning. My husband and I hardly sleep all nighttoo much to think about and be thankful for.
I wake up at 6:00 a.m., not only because I cant believe were finally leaving, but also because I have to pack the last minute things I couldnt pack the night before. We immediately turn on the Weather Channel. Things dont look good, although our flight from Buffalo is still on schedule. I am worried that we will get stranded in the Pittsburgh airport.
This being Friday the 13th, of course, my husband informs me in a somber tone that he has a very bad feeling about todayhes never felt like this before he is afraid something bad will happen now hes scaring me because hes getting so paranoid. Theres too many 13s, he says. (After we had booked our trip, our travel agent had changed our flight because the fares had dropped. Naturally, what row did he assign us for our flight? You guessed it 13. Even our cabin number on the ship (6052) added up to 13.) He was right about all of the coincidences, in fact there were even a few more, but I try to dismiss this as silliness.
Our flight to Pittsburgh left on schedule and was extremely smooth and (happily) uneventful. As we were waiting to board our flight to Orlando, I notice on the Arrival/Departures board that the two later US Air flights into Orlando had been cancelled. My heart droppedour friends were supposed to be on one of those flights. I call DF from my cell phone and tell her to call the airport; I think her flight is cancelled. We are about to board, so I tell her Ill call her as soon as we land in Orlando.
Our flight left perfectly on schedule and was really, really smooth, much to my surprise. As we are landing in Orlando, you can see sunshine streaming in the left hand windows of the plane, and an ominous black sky through the right hand windows. The pilot says at this point that the outer edges of Hurricane Charley are about 10 miles away. He predicts that by the time we get off the plane and begin to get our luggage the storm will begin to hit. About 10 minutes later (around 2:25 p.m.) it starts raining very hard and thundering and lightening. I am thankful that we are staying at a hotel in the airport and dont have to leave.
There are people everywhere. There is a huge board listing all of the Arrivals and Departures, and a man is on a scaffold changing everything to CANCELLED. I call my DF and she is heading to the Buffalo airport. They have decided to keep their flight into Philadelphia, but instead of connecting and flying into Orlando, they have decided to fly into Miami and drive to Port Canaveral. I am amazed at their ingenuity and their perseveranceI dont know if I would have tried that, especially with my loving husband, who this morning was the epitome of Mr. Pessimistic. DF says shell call when she arrives in Philadelphia. I am very worried about her and her family.
We get our luggage and walk over to the Hyatt and there is a line a mile long. All of these poor, stranded passengers are looking for somewhere to stay. I feel blessed that we have a room. We check in, go to get something to eat, and walk around the airport. My heart breaks for these stranded peopleso many with children or infants. How hard that must have been!! I speak to DF again and she has made it to Philadelphia just fine. They are heading to Miami and will call when they arrive.
By around 8:00 p.m. the wind is howling loudly and it is absolutely pouringit is so windy it looks like its raining horizontally. Every few minutes there are these scary air-raid types of sirens going off over the hotel PA system. They are warning all guests of the hotel to return to their rooms. Anyone who is not a guest is going to be evacuated to a certain section of the airport. As the minutes pass and the storm intensifies, I am petrified that the sliding glass door in our room is going to shatter into a million pieces. The sirens keep sounding, and a voice keeps telling people to get back to their rooms, stay off the balconies, stay away from the windows, close your drapes, evacuate if youre not a guest By this point both of my daughters are crying because they are so frightened. A few seconds later we lose electricity, and it stays off for about an hour and a half, or so. Again I think of all of the people who are trying to calm their frightened children in the evacuation section of the airport, and all of the people whose homes are being affected.
By around 9:15 p.m. it seems that the storm is subsiding slightly. Eventually the power returns and my daughters fall asleep. DF calls around 9:30 and is safe in Miami. They are renting a car and driving to Port Canaveral where they will stay overnight in a hotel. They think that when they called the hotel in the port this afternoon, they may have gotten one of the last available rooms. I pray for their safety and tell them Ill call them in the morning. My husband and I hardly sleep all nighttoo much to think about and be thankful for.
