“It’s a tale as old as time …”
Can you name the song? The artists? Continue singing?
Some of you may know where this is headed as you knew my holiday plans. But the arrival at the tale or slice may be a bit …
The overhead compartment would not close. One person tugged on the contents and then pushed on the outside. It didn’t latch. A coworker stopped and punched it closed. It didn’t latch. The first person moved the contents to the neighboring compartment and proceeded to …
“The hotel address isn’t right. There are two near each other but the address is wrong. Can someone …”
“Southwest says we’re missing our flight attendant, but no one is telling us anything …”
“We’re off on our adventure. This is the first of two flights today…”
“How does Lyftt work? …”
“We have to de-ice before we can take off, so …”
“What’s the plan if we can’t check in early?…”
“Food? Lunch? Where? …”
Any of the eight above could have been duplicated multiple times by the 35 travelers leaving from 4 sites yet requiring feet on the ground in seven separate states in order to congregate together. Several flights left at 6 am were scheduled to leave at 6 am. Some were non-stop. Some were just the first of two flights. And yes, some were driving. That was just to get the 35 folks all in one location. Together.
AMarekN Xmas22.
A target. A plan. Many conversations. Many details. Many spreadsheets. Many, many thoughts were shared. Discussed. Flights. Tickets. Apps. Zelle. Genie. Schedules to coordinate. A Plan. Continued Planning. Revising Plans. And then there were the travelers: veterans, some experience, and complete novices. Nervous? Anxious? Excited? A wide range of expectations and levels of readiness for adventures!
How much work is a new unit/experience? What’s the first response? Angst? Relief? What is the REAL destination? When do you measure success? Are there multiple measures?
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Resource - Full 
Fran, what memories! I hope that you were able to get to your destination. I’m so sorry about all of the cancelled flights. I had to read this through my fingers, just knowing you were going to say you got stranded.
Kim,
We were lucky. Only one flight ran into trouble. It was a mess for sure! It’s so hard to make plans and then have them disrupted so easily.
It seems that this season has been a travel nightmare for so many people. Hope everything worked out for you in the end.
Eventually, we were all together. My brother-in-law spent a whole day rebooking one flight. So much time when multiplied by all the flights … we were lucky!
I do not envy anyone who had to travel over this past holiday. The comment from our flight crew when we were delayed is, “We’re looking for our first officer. As soon as he arrives, we’ll be on our way.” Huh? I, too, hope your actual meet-up transcended all expectations, and look at the stories you’ll get to tell.
Trish,
I’ve been the victim of weather-interrupted summer flights often. This started with the weather but that wasn’t the whole story. It was the longest the family has been together in several years so we were glad that it worked out.
You remind me that sometimes we think the story will be one thing but instead, it may actually be the journey to get to the thing. Happy New Year, my friend. I hope you are safely home and are working on your OLW background for 2023.
Sally,
Yes, home basking in the memories. My #OLW post is written but I don’t have the background done. You know me too well! Happy New Year! Many adventures ahead for you!
The snippets you added stressed me out! I hope it all came together somehow and you have plenty of happy memories to overpower the stress!
Erika,
It was amazing!
So much joy and wonder!