After waiting a full year for a trip of a lifetime, Angela was on her way to Ionian Village in Greece.....or was she?
Angela and nine others from our churches, including her godparents Fr. Nick and Anastasia, were scheduled to leave bright and early Thursday morning at 5:50am. This meant we were all to wake up by 2:30 to make our way to the Delta counter at O'Hare. But, we were wakened suddenly at 2am with an urgent message from Anastasia...."the flight's been cancelled!" she said. Apparantly, due to the severe storms that passed through Chicago the day before, New York was rocked by the same storm system and it caused power outages throughout JFK Airport.
The Delta counter finally opened up, Andy tried his hardest to get Angela through to JFK. The only option available was to put her on standby for the 9:20, and if she didn't get on that one, she would be placed on standby for the 12:00 flight. Well, this ended up being the scenario for our whole group of ten.
After all the madness and everyone's luggage has been sent through to NY, we said our goodbyes as they all passed through security. Next, Andy and I headed up to Lake Geneva (we already had a weekend planned) and waited to hear the good news of them all getting on the 9:20....right?
Wrong! Only four of the ten made it onto the 9:20, and Angela wasn't one of them. Now they waited for the 12:00 flight. About 11:30 we get another phone call.....the 12:00 has been CANCELLED. Now, 4 have gone ahead and six remain. There are no more flights to JFK that morning, so the only option left was to fly into LaGuardia, hop into a couple of cabs and hope that they make it to JFK in time to catch the Olympic Airlines flight to Greece. At least they didn't have any luggage to check this time. Sounds good in theory, but as they were heading over in the cabs, the Olympic Flight was already on the tarmac. Only 2 of 10 in our group had made their destination. The rest of them had to check into the hotel for the night and hope they could get onto the flight the next day.
Another wrench in the works: The Jonas family had somehow gotten a flight on Air France that evening leaving Angela, Jami and Peter behind in the hotel. Three 16 y.o. alone in NY. But that's not entirely true. Fr. Constantine from the Ionian Village New York Office came and stayed overnight with the three. He was able to use his priestly persuasion to get the kids on the oversold overbooked flight anyway. Another phone call from Angela confirmed she was finally on her way to Greece. In the end, they had made it safely to Greece. Well, the story is almost over at this point. You see, the Jonas' had gotten delayed in Paris the night before and Angela's group actually arrived in Athens before the Jonas group, so Angela's group had to wait an additional 8 hours in Athens until the Jonas' arrived so they could all travel to camp together.
A final call from Anastasia came from Ionian Village, they were tired, but safe and sound on the campgrounds.
We are so thankful to God that He got them all there safely!!
Can't wait to hear Angela's stories when she gets back!!!
Angela and nine others from our churches, including her godparents Fr. Nick and Anastasia, were scheduled to leave bright and early Thursday morning at 5:50am. This meant we were all to wake up by 2:30 to make our way to the Delta counter at O'Hare. But, we were wakened suddenly at 2am with an urgent message from Anastasia...."the flight's been cancelled!" she said. Apparantly, due to the severe storms that passed through Chicago the day before, New York was rocked by the same storm system and it caused power outages throughout JFK Airport.
The Delta counter finally opened up, Andy tried his hardest to get Angela through to JFK. The only option available was to put her on standby for the 9:20, and if she didn't get on that one, she would be placed on standby for the 12:00 flight. Well, this ended up being the scenario for our whole group of ten.
After all the madness and everyone's luggage has been sent through to NY, we said our goodbyes as they all passed through security. Next, Andy and I headed up to Lake Geneva (we already had a weekend planned) and waited to hear the good news of them all getting on the 9:20....right?
Wrong! Only four of the ten made it onto the 9:20, and Angela wasn't one of them. Now they waited for the 12:00 flight. About 11:30 we get another phone call.....the 12:00 has been CANCELLED. Now, 4 have gone ahead and six remain. There are no more flights to JFK that morning, so the only option left was to fly into LaGuardia, hop into a couple of cabs and hope that they make it to JFK in time to catch the Olympic Airlines flight to Greece. At least they didn't have any luggage to check this time. Sounds good in theory, but as they were heading over in the cabs, the Olympic Flight was already on the tarmac. Only 2 of 10 in our group had made their destination. The rest of them had to check into the hotel for the night and hope they could get onto the flight the next day.
Another wrench in the works: The Jonas family had somehow gotten a flight on Air France that evening leaving Angela, Jami and Peter behind in the hotel. Three 16 y.o. alone in NY. But that's not entirely true. Fr. Constantine from the Ionian Village New York Office came and stayed overnight with the three. He was able to use his priestly persuasion to get the kids on the oversold overbooked flight anyway. Another phone call from Angela confirmed she was finally on her way to Greece. In the end, they had made it safely to Greece. Well, the story is almost over at this point. You see, the Jonas' had gotten delayed in Paris the night before and Angela's group actually arrived in Athens before the Jonas group, so Angela's group had to wait an additional 8 hours in Athens until the Jonas' arrived so they could all travel to camp together.
A final call from Anastasia came from Ionian Village, they were tired, but safe and sound on the campgrounds.
We are so thankful to God that He got them all there safely!!
Can't wait to hear Angela's stories when she gets back!!!
3 comments:
Holy smokes! The glamour of travel. I'll be praying for her while she's away. xoxoxo cheryl
Frrom the sound of it so far, tell her to watch out for the one-eyed Titan, Polyphemus, the sirens, and the land of the lotus eaters. Even Oddyseus didn't have that much trouble!
Love, UNK
Cute, Unk!!!
I'll be sure to let her know next time she calls. Oh wait, she hasn't called in 9 days.... I wonder if a Titan got to her already!
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