The Magellan Expedition

Yes, we began our trip by learning a lesson.

Our flight out of Nashville was delayed. Delayed so long (more than 90 minutes) that we missed our connection in Philly to Zurich. There were a dozen people on our flight trying to make international connections - 5 of them for our flight.

Let me cut past the chase. We got to the gate at 7:01 for a 7:05 departure - - - and they had closed the gate door. We missed our flight.

The gate agent fussed that we know that should be at the gate at least 15 minutes early.

The Lesson Learned: In the future, when we are going overseas, be in the departure city 12 hours in advance spend the night if neccessary.

But let's look at the positive side.

The first positive is that My Lovely is a trooper. We ran for it. She ran.

The second positive is that My Lovely didn't let this bring her down. It was a roll with the punches thing. I love this lady.

3rd Positive: (THIS IS THE CHASE)
We caught a ride with Cole Trickle (Days Of Thunder reference). As I said, we ran. We ran some more. We limped for 15 seconds and ran some more. And then I saw the guy that drives the electric cart and I let out a whistle. He stopped. We jumped on, My Lovely behind the driver and me in the very back (facing backwards). We invited 2 others that were also trying to catch a flight. And off he went. This dude left OJ running through the airport in his dust (a really old Hertz commercial). Seriously, he was pedal to the metal. And he wasn't scared of his horn. This guy really wasn't scared of anything. Not even the speeding tickets. Not the cop cams. He was weaving this big cart through travelers without a second thought. He was driving so hard that I was trying to get to my wallet to get a tip for him, but I couldn't let go or I would have been thrown out --- that is no exaggeration. Once we got to the gate and had obviously missed the flight, I got him taken care of.

4th Positive: We are still going, but we will get there about 9 hours later. We will miss walking around Zurich with Gary and Patty, but the purpose of going to Zurich (for us) was to take the Bernina Express. That is still on the table.

5th Positive: Look at the previous footprint. 24 says in a carry-on and a personal bag. We still have all our luggage.

6th Positive: Our concern at this point is being fresh. We don't want 1 thing to mess up the next thing. A life lesson "Never let 2 bad things happen back to back". So we booked a room for a nap during the extra long layover in London so that we are rested and happy. My Lovely was all about it.En savoir plus