Trav-HELL Day 1 – On Our Way To Iceland….well…….

The day finally came, we were on our way to Iceland after having planned this trip over a year ago.

Now, where to begin, I guess the beginning is as good a place as any as long as I can remember it.

As forecast, we awoke to rain and slight winds from Tropical Storm Debby.  It was so ironic that after all this time waiting, the day we finally were to leave, we were worried about a Tropical Storm canceling our initial flight to Atlanta.  All day long, the rain intensified, but luckily, there was not much wind and there was no lightning embedded in the storm bands reaching us from Debbie, located near Savannah, Ga.  

Since our flight was later in the afternoon, we had to wait all day and patiently watch to see if the rain would cause the flight arriving from Atlanta, which was the plane we needed, actually arrived.

Stephanie worked a few hours in the morning and I finished some chores around the house and the final packing.  Stephanie was home by 11:30 AM, and we both took showers, knowing it would be a long travel day and also that this might be our last long shower for a while, we are camping after all.  Little did we know how true that last shower would be, nor how long it would need to last.

We left home at 1:30 PM, right on schedule.  It was still raining, but not hard except when a rain band from the storm would move through.  However, all the flights were listed as on-time.  We arrived at the airport and dropped off the luggage at departures.  Stephanie stayed with it all while I went to park in the surface lot area.  I had a prepaid voucher with QCR code for entry into the parking area, but it was raining so hard and had been raining so long, the scanner glass was all fogged up and it would not read the code on my phone.  Just like last time, I had to resort to taking a ticket so the gate ar would open, the code was not going to work and I was getting pretty wet trying.

I found a space not too far out and walked back to the departures area with an umbrella in hand to protect me from the rain.

Check-in was easy, there was no one in line for the Delta counter.  Both our bags weighed 50.4 pounds, which was apparently just under the limit of 50 pounds, plus a half-pound of error, the total being 50.5 pounds which was acceptable without an additional fee.  Like the last trip, it seemed our luggage scale is about a pound off which is pretty accurate, but we need to take that into account.

We headed to security, eager to try out our new TSA Pre-check status.  We showed our boarding passes and passports and headed to the special Pre-check line.  It was easier except that Stephanie’s backpack got flagged for inspection.  The culprit was a full tube of toothpaste, which I had told her was not going to make it, but she had insisted toothpaste did not matter, only liquids.  We tried to get the TSA security agent to squeeze half out, making it within the volume limit, but he did not understand what we were asking, he thought we wanted to take it back to the car.  We were unaware that this was an ominous beginning to the trip.

We only had about 45 minutes to wait until we boarded, and we were glad to see our plane arrive from Atlanta without issue or delay.  We boarded on time, and also departed on time, but waited a bit at the end of the runway to take off, there was apparently a little squall line passing through from Debby, it was quite windy for a few minutes, then it subsided.

We took off and it was surprisingly calm being so close to a tropical storm, we did not have much turbulence at all until we got closer to Atlanta.  The flight seemed longer than scheduled and finally, the Captain made an announcement that we were circling outside Atlanta, they were changing the runway directions for the entire airport, so we had to wait a but making circles over Georgia.  

Finally, we were cleared to land, and by the time we got to the airport and landed, it was really sunny outside.  It had taken about 70 minutes from takeoff to landing, quite long for a flight to Atlanta from home.

We headed out to the gate, it was one terminal over, but we were on one far end, and our next flight was on the other fr end, quite a walk, especially with my heavy camera backpack on my shoulder.

Everything seemed in order when we got to the gate, but we heard grumbling about some bad weather in New York.  We had focused so much on home and Atlanta weather from Debby, I never bothered to look at the weather at JFK Airport in New York.  We looked at the radar on “The Weather Channel” App and it looked really stormy around New York, and it was not moving out rapidly at all.

We were not too concerned, we had over three hours of layover in JFK before we left for Iceland at 11:55 PM.

Initially, the flight was delayed 30 minutes to 6:30 PM, and then we were told boarding would start soon, so we thought all was good  Then there was an announcement that there was a Ground Stop Hold in New York at JFK, so no flights were being allowed to depart because of all of the bad weather there.  The new departure time was 7:00 PM.  Then it was 7:30 PM, then 8:00 PM, and now we were getting worried.  We decided to go to the customer service area in the middle of the terminal to see if there were any options to get to Iceland other than routing through JFK.

There was a poster stating that we could scan a code and we would get called on our phone when it was our turn.  There were only 5-6 people in line and two agents were working, so we thought we would wait in the line there.  Apparently, that was not an option, we were told we needed to scan the code and enter our name and phone number, but we also still had to remain in the line so we could be called verbally by the desk agents when they became available.  We were not sure what the code was really for.

Over an hour later, we were still in line waiting for an agent.  One person ahead of us was not cooperating and would not accept what he was being told about his flight changes, and that was clogging up the works.  Then, the other agent left the desk area to help with the line.  Stephanie headed back to the gate to check on the progress of our flight.  We still had time to get to JFK and make our flight, but the window of opportunity was closing fast.

They made a couple of announcements at the gate extending the hold, so we were not getting anywhere fast.  In the meantime, I was finally able to get to an agent, and there was not a lot he could do, there were not any other available flights t Iceland we could make tonight unless it was possible on a partner airline.  However, he could not help us with partner connections, he said I had to call on some special direct phones.

I called on one of those and it connected me to reservations.  The rep tried to help, but there were not many options.  She suggested we just stay on the JFK flight, we still had time to make our connection tonight.  In the meantime, Stephanie had found out through the Delta App that our plane taking us to Iceland was coming from Los Angeles, and it was running late itself but was actually cleared for takeoff there for the 5-hour flight to JFK.  We knew it would be late, so we thought we would still be able to make the connection even if we left late ourselves.  

As our flight continued to be on a ground hold, our last glimmer of home also faded.  It was obvious that the plane coming from Los Angeles was going to arrive in JFK really late, and then it would need to be cleaned and supplied for the overseas flight to Iceland.  That all changed on the app, now when we looked to see where our arriving plane was, the LA flight was no longer showing up, it had been changed to a plane that had arrived from Prague earlier in the afternoon, and since it was already at JG|FK, it could now leave on-time.

We then got a text verifying that the flight was now departing “On Time”.

Now it was so late, we had no other choice than to go to JFK, there was still a slim chance our Iceland flight might be held for late passengers, but not that long if any.

Finally, at about 9:15 PM, an announcement was made that we were going to start boarding, maybe we could still make the flight, it was about 2 hour 20 minutes flight duration to JFK.  Well, now we could not boars because some of the flight crew had wandered off, and now we were waiting on them.  Boarding did happen and it was chaos, first they announced that there would not be any Zones, then they changed their minds.  It was pretty quick, but this was also a large plane, a B767.

After everyone was on board, and the doors were closed, the Captain made an announcement that we were in another ground hold until 10:23 PM.  Everyone groaned.  True to his word, at about 10:20, the engines were started, then we waited more time and another announcement was made, this time it was the machine that pushes the plane out from the gate and it was not starting, so they had to get a replacement, great, more delays.  By this time, at best, we would be on JFK around 12:30 AM, about 35 minutes after our plane to Iceland was scheduled to depart.  There was not much hope at all now, but maybe it was being delayed.  

We finally pulled away from the gate and headed to the end of the runway where we got behind another larger plane and waited, and waited.  Apparently there was some other type of hold because other airplanes were taking off ahead of us using another taxiway to the end of the runway,  Finally, the large plane in front of us roared down the runway, and we thought it was our turn, but we did not move at all.  More time.

Finally, we took off and were heading to JFK.  By this time, we had seen that our other plane had already departed on the Delta App, that ship had sailed, we were not going to Iceland tonight, well really Wednesday morning.

It took a lot of flying around close to the ground before we finally landed in JFK at 1:30 AM.  It was one of the hardest landings I can remember, a lot of people yelled when we hit so hard.  We taxied to the gate and guess what, we had to wait for a crew to come out to direct the plane to the jetway, it only took about 10 more minutes, who was counting at this point.

We got off the plane and finally found a gate agent who directed us to go to customer service at either Gate 31 or Gate 42, we were about in the middle, so we opted to walk to Gate 31.  The line of people waiting was horrendous, and there were only three agents at that small customer service desk.  The special phones like we had used in Atlanta were open, so I tried one of those, but I was put on hold.  We decided to go to Gate 42 to see if the line was smaller since that was farther from the main terminal.  It was quite a walk.  By now, we had walked a lot, all of the time in Atlanta from plane to plane, then from the end of the terminal to customer service a couple of times, not here in JFK.  My camera bag is heavy, and it was taking a toll on my legs.

The line at Gate 42 seemed shorter, but there were also several people waiting in line sleeping or resting in the seats to the side of the line.  There were only two agents, and we were not moving.   

By this time, we had received a notification that Delta had booked us on an alternate flight from JFK to Iceland, on Icelandic Air.  The only problem was the flight was not leaving until Thursday, August 8, and it was an afternoon flight, arriving in Iceland at 10:30 PM, which did us no good at all, we couldn’t get the camper van that late, they are closed, and we would need a hotel, and worst of all, we were losing three days of our trip.  That was not acceptable.  Our only option was to try and talk with a customer service rep and see if there was anything else.

I sent an email to CampEasy to let them know we were not arriving this morning, explaining our flight predicament, and that we would let them know our new schedule once we found out when we could get there.  We just wanted to make sure they were holding our campervan.

I headed to the special phones near this customer service desk while Stephanie held our spot in the stationary line.  I was surprised that it did not take long before I was talking with a customer service rep.  She was great.  I knew there were flights from both Minneapolis and Detroit to Iceland, we connect through Detroit on our way home.  She was not able to get us flights from JFK, but she was able to get us on a flight from Minneapolis to Iceland later tonight, August 7.  Then she was able to find some flights from Newark to Minneapolis later this morning, but we had to get to Newark.  I told her that was fine, we would get there if we could save another day of vacation.  She was able to ticket us and even get us seats together on both flights.  Unfortunately, we are in the last row by the bathroom on the flight from Newark to Minneapolis, and on the flight from Minneapolis, our seats are in what appears to be an exit row, but it is also by the bathroom.  Great….more people exposure.  We have a window and middle, and maybe those seats have extra space in front so we don’t have to disturb the person in the aisle if we have to use the bathroom.   At least we have seats together.

After getting the tickets straightened out, the next task was to find our luggage.  Stephnie had a notification that our luggage was available on Carousel 12 on baggage claim, so we started walking there.  It was a really long way, and then even longer to get to No. 12.  There were a few bags on the carousel, but not ours.  There were a lot of bags collected together, but a guard told me we had to wait in the baggage claim line to get anything they were storing.  I did not really see our bags there, but it was hard to see them all.  The baggage claim line was also quite long.  Stephanie got an agent to come off to the side and allow her to look more thoroughly at all of the stored and apparently guarded luggage. Our bags were not there.  Stephanie explained our situation and the agent said our only recourse was to wait in line for more information, so we got in line.

We waited about 25 minutes and then another agent came by and was telling people who needed to be in this line, and who did not, based on particular lost luggage criteria.  Stephanie headed there to explain our situation and he said we did not need to be in line, our luggage was not going to be in the luggage claim area,  it was most likely still out by the gate to be loaded onto the next flight to Iceland, which will be our same time flight as last night, but tonight.  That is what is automatically done for luggage with missed connections, it just goes to the designated destination on the next available flight.  We did not like that answer, but it was all we were going to get.  He said that only luggage with a tag for JFK as the final destination made it to the baggage claim carousel, ours would not since it was tagged for Iceland.  He said there was no point staying in the line, we would get the same answer there.  Now we have to worry about luggage getting to Iceland on time with our new schedule even though we should make it ourselves.  

While waiting in line, we did some research on getting from JFK to Newark.  There was a shuttle, but it did not give us any schedule for today, it defaulted to calling in.  Most of the Google Search results just suggested Uber, so I looked that up on our Uber account App.  Initially, the cost was about $140, but it was difficult to tell which start point at JFK to use.  After we finished with the luggage claim line, we headed to the exit to find the Uber pick-up area.  I was finally able to figure out which designated stop we were now at, and I ordered an Uber pick-up.  It was only $2.00 different for “Uber Comfort” over an “Uber X”, so we picked Comfort.  Now, the price was higher, either because we had the correct pick-up spot, or, it was getting later in the morning and busier, impacting the price.

We booked our ride, and a driver was identified by vehicle and license plate number. and name, “Herby”.  It was a Toyota Sequoia minivan.  We got accurate driving updates through the app and soon we saw the van and verified the license plate number.  

Of course, It was still raining, as it had been here since yesterday and the cause of our predicament.  The drive was about 50 minutes, and we both may have dozed off a couple of times on the way.  The fare was $177.00 and we added a tip.  That fare included several tolls for some of the roads and bridges we had to drive on to get to Newark.  The roads were full of construction areas, and with the rain, it was a tough drive.

Herby dropped us off at the Delta Terminal and we headed inside.

Normally, I conclude the first travel day of international travel at Customs/Immigration when we arrive the next day, but of course, this trip is different.  It is still early the next day, but we get to start our travel day all over again, groundhog travel I suppose.  We will continue this wonderful travel saga on our next post.