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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: GOING HOME (from vacation) (09/03/15)
Little Rock, Arkansas

Tuesday: American Airlines had taken 300 planes out of service due to an overdue maintenance issue, 50,000 people are stranded around the US and this is expected to last a till the end of the week. We leave in two more days, will we be able to get out on time?

Wednesday: We were woken at 6 am by the fire alarm at our hotel. Looking out the window we saw 4 fire trucks. As we were on the 6th floor, we grabbed our passports, airline tickets and money and raced down the stairs in our night clothes. The lift well had caught fire due to an electrical fault, four floors had been smoked out as well as the restaurant where we were to eat breakfast.

The morning news announced that no flights would operate between Clinton Airport, Little Rock and Love Field Airport, Dallas on Wednesday as there were too many tornadoes in the area. They were unsure about the Thursday. Not good news.

Thursday: We were not booked to leave until 5.30 pm but arrived at the airport at 10 am in the hope that we could get out before the predicted tornadoes later in the day. Six American Airline flights had been cancelled but ours was still running. So far so good.

At noon we were waiting for our lunch to be served at the airport cafe when the tornado alarm sounded. We were ushered into narrow passage ways and small offices. There must have been thousands of us squashed into a small area. The staff handed out boxes of ‘angel food’, there were ten other occupants in the office where we were sheltering, while the tornado passed by. Fortunately the airport was not ‘hit’.

Dallas, Texas

Five thirty and we were finally in the air, heading for Dallas. We only had a half hour window to get to our gate before boarding. We got off the plane, caught the train and ran to our gate. The gate had been changed, raced back to the train, ran to the new gate. Oh no! The plane has been delayed 3 hrs.

We had originally had a 3 hr window at LAX. Knowing that it would be impossible now to get home on the scheduled flight we relaxed, drank coffee and people watched to fill in time.

Los Angeles, California

Friday: We arrived at LAX domestic at midnight. As we stepped off the plane staff approached us and told us to hurry, our plane was waiting for us. Our hopes were high as we raced out of the terminal, the short distance to Tom Bradley International terminal. We were not allowed to board the plane as we had not been through border control.
Back to American Airlines office, it was now 1am; a voucher for a hotel was arranged. We went back onto the street, but the courtesy bus did not arrive. As we had no mobile, we approached another stranded passenger who rang our motel.

We were in bed by 3 am, totally stressed and exhausted. We decided not to use the day sightseeing but instead spent the day at the hotel. ‘Murphy’s law’ was in full swing by now. Looking out the window we spied the tail of the Qantas plane that would take us home at Midnight, a comforting sight.

Saturday: Went by uneventfully as we flew over the Pacific Ocean, we were nearly home.

Brisbane Airport, Australia

Sunday morning: Nearly there, just one more flight and we would be home in Vanuatu. We spent the day with our son.

Bauerfield Airport, Vanuatu

Monday: It was so good to be home. The string band was playing as we waited in the arrival lounge, the music brought tears to my eyes, we were really home at last. We climbed into a small bus that had the lingering smell of sour body odor, another ‘we are home at last’ moment. As the bus drove the 6 km through town to our apartment, the familiar smells and sights assaulted our senses and the stress of the past few days slowly left our body.

It was so good to be home again.
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Noel Mitaxa 
09/13/15
Ahhhh, the joys of international air travel..
Quite the adventure here, and well told.
Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom 
09/14/15
This is so full of impending disasters, you just know it has to be true. You have a subtle sense of humor. I'd have loved to seen more showing and less telling by adding dialog, body language, thoughts and active lines. Also remember to write out numbers at least up to ten, many say to a hundred and write out abbreviations like hours and kilometers. For example: On Tuesday, my husband flicked the newspaper and groaned. "Oh, no!"
Startled at the noise and my husband's attitude, I fought back the urge to jump up and rip the paper from his hands. "What is it, dear? It can't be that bad."
Flopping his head down on the table, he muttered out of the side of his mouth. "American Airlines..."
I went a bit overboard to show you what I meant by body language and dialog. You have a nice sense of humor, and this would have been a great story to stretch that humor even more. You did do a nice job of creating the right atmosphere. I can't imagine a trip like that, but then I've never traveled abroad either. I think you did a great job of writing on topic and this was a delightful read.