Name:
Location: Las Vegas

Stephan, Betsy, Sean, Selina, Nicole, Theresa and David have been dreaming of this trip for years.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Flying high but still on the ground

The adventure has begun...but not exactly as we had planned. We are spending the first night of our trip not in Frankfurt, but at the Riviera Hotel in Fabulous Las Vegas. There was a problem with the plane. A sensor with the big 767 indicated a leak in one of the air conditioner ducts. The poor German pilot apologized several times and said "De Boeing von't verk vell when is 120 degrees in de Fahrenheit." (I don't either.) After more than 2 hours on the warm plane, the cabin a/c had to be turned off to allow the techs to locate the leak, we deboarded and returned to the terminal. There was no leak but the sensor was still on and the flight crew had by then worked there full duty time. They wouldn't be going to Frankfurt tonight. We were treated to pizza hut pizza and for the price of a twelve pack I bought Betsy and I a couple of cold Heinekin. We were asked to wait a couple more hours because another crew might arrive and they might get the sensor fixed. Finally, we were told the flight was postponed until Thursday sometime and we would all board buses bound for the Riviera. Tomorrow we will eat the breakfast buffet and then return to the terminal for the flight at a still undisclosed time.

I am amazed at two things. First, the family not only took the whole thing in stride, they had fun. We enjoyed each others company and didn't mind the delay or the stay in a Vegas hotel instead of a Frankfurt Hostel. Next, I have to laugh at my good fortune in getting to get back to the house. I have to admit that I was stressed when we left. After all this time, I still rushed around at the last minute. I forgot to do some things I wanted to do before I left and I forgot some things I wanted to bring. Because of the delay I got to come home and take care of those things. I booked a couple more Hostels and even got to properly say good bye to Tina and the cats, belly rubs and all.

Thanks to the additional chance to get online, we know have a bit of an itinery for our first week. We will spend Friday night in Frankfurt, Saturday night in Burn, Switzerland, Sunday night on a train to Italy and Monday night in a Hostel in Florence. We'll spend the rest of that week visiting Bologna and Venice for sure. On Sunday, August 31, we begin our 4 night stay in an apartment in Rome. We have a flat in Paris August 8 through 11. World Youth Day events begin then for Sean, Selina and Nicole. Thanks to Thomas H, it looks like the rest of us will miraculously have places to stay in Cologne from August 15 to 21 after all.

Leben ist gut!

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