A Little Delay On My Journey Down Under Results In An Unexpected Visit To The City Of Angels.

They say the best made plans of mice and men often go awry and they sure did for me on the first leg of my long journey to Australia.  My nephew Charlie dropped me off at the Scranton- Wilkes Barre airport around noon and I thought I’d be on my way to the Southern Hemisphere on my 1:30 flight. I was early and I was able to quickly check my luggage and get  through security.  Upon arrival at the gate I was advised of a half hour delay because of storms in Charlotte.  No big deal. I would miss my 4;30 flight to Los Angeles but could take the next one, at 6:10.

We boarded at 2:30 and sat for an hour and a half waiting for a mechanic to arrive and replace a defective fuel cap. We finally took and wasn’t looking good for the 6:10 flight to Los Angeles.   And I wasn’t sure is there would be later flights to Sydney.

It was a nice flight to Charlotte, we avoided the stormy weather, and flew over the Blue Ridge mountains. I am still like a kid and love my window seat to watch the quickly passing scenery far below.  I often, as a child,  looked up at jets passing overhead, even in the middle of Little league games, drawing yells from my coach, and thought who was on that plane, where were they going, what are they thinking. ? Now I look down and wonder who lives in all those little homes we are flying over, , where do they work, what are they thinking ?

Well back to my day. We landed in  foggy Charlotte, and I had five minutes to make my flight. I asked the woman at the American Airlines desk if I had a chance to make it and she said possibly. I ran from Gate E something to B15, as fast as these old legs would carry me, only to find the plane left six minutes early. I was sweating, sore and tired and not happy. I than found out there were no more flights leaving to Sydney until the next evening. i was told they’d put on the next flight to Los Angeles and set me up in a hotel for the night. I wasn’t happy.

I had an hour to kill so I roamed the airport and had some dinner. I roamed the airport a bit and saw plenty of support for the Carolina Panthers football team. .  We boarded our flight to Los Angles on time but, after taxiing to the runway,  we turned around and headed back to the terminal. We were told the cargo was not balanced properly and they had to re-shift the weight. Another delay.  We finally took off from a foggy Charlotte and on our way to Los Angeles. I still had my boarding pass for Sydney and was hoping maybe, just maybe that flight would be delayed too. 

The airline did give me a row of three seats to myself  which I sure took advantage of. I was able to fall asleep for almost  three hours on the five hours flight. I did get a chance to see some of the country pass beneath us, including  Nashville, Pueblo and a very bright Las Vegas.

The city of los Angeles was dazzling as we neared for our descent. you don’t realize just how much we have changed our planet until you see it lit up at night from above. I will have to admit it was still beautiful. 

I got off the plane and saw the sydney flight was long gone so I headed the airline desk were once again I ran into problems. There was, at first no record of my missed flights. Than the system would not allow them to get me a complimentary hotel.  would The manager and supervisor worked hard to figure out the issue but it was another 45 minute delay.  It wasn’t until 12:30 am Pacific time, 3:30 am Eastern time that I got to my room. After a quick room service was in bed in the City of Angles not were i expected to be when I woke up on the other side of the country in the morning. But the is what makes travel fun!  I hope to get some photos of my stay in Los Angeles up later.

Most travel is best of all in the anticipation or the remembering; the reality has more to do with losing your luggage.  ~Regina Nadelson