Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Where Have I been?

Well, there's a reason for my silence and the tale is long and sad, but i have decided to share it with you so that you, dear reader, know that I have not lost my affection for you and all things knitted. I have just made residence in a kind of traveler's purgatory and I'm only now beginning to be able to talk about it.

To cut to the chase:
Last spring, my husband, the chief planner and navigator in our travel oriented lives, planned a trip to Venice and Paris - my two favorite cities in the world. We would be there for his birthday and thanksgiving. It was a remarkable deal. Round trip airfare to both cities and back to the states for an unbelievably low price. We bit -and booked. I might add, here, that we're long time good travelers and explorers - he more than me, but he's brought me along nicely. So nicely, that I trust him implicitly with all aspects of travel. It's for that reason, that I NEVER question his planning or his itinerary. (I might amend that statement now to say that in the past I never questioned. The turn of events of the past few weeks have changed that quite nicely, as you are about to understand.

Our departure date was just before Thanksgiving and so we booked the ride to the airport well in advance. Since we were flying Air France, he told me that we'd be leaving from JFK and I duly packed and made sure that I was on time for departure - a full 3 hours before the flight, lest i be accused of being less than prompt- an accusation that sometimes finds its way into our very civil discussions about the differences between us.

Consider, if you will, my surprise when we arrived at the airport only to be told that no flight bearing our number was departing from JFK that night. Only then, did Magellan check his compass (so to speak) and discovered that he'd made an unthinkable error and brought us to the wrong airport. My instantaneous response? Thank god it was not me, quickly followed by a sincere wish for him that I will not share with you at the risk of offending those of you out there who may not know how vulgar I can be -- and those of you who do, know exactly what I wished him.

Adding insult to injury, we were told by Air France that unless we made it to the right airport (Newark) and got ourselves checked in an hour before departure, that our ticket was worth nothing - Remember that great big bargain? It had more restrictions on it than a Darien, Connecticut Country Club. It was pouring rain and we were in Long Island. What to do? Divorce takes time and I had none so I voted to make the attempt and we hailed a cab. $115.00 and 45 minutes later, we were standing at the ticket booth in Newark and being told by the imperious French former Follies Bergere ticket handler that it was too late to be checked in - 45 mins to go before the flight departed and those purveyors of all that is stylish refused to budge. - Forget the fact that we had enough miles to qualify as platinum members of the airline - we were plumb out of luck and they didn't give a damn. The ticket was worthless. The trip was out. As if it were some kind of consolation, Venice was cold, or so I was told, but trust me when I tell you that nothing was colder than my demeanor.....
(This tale is to be continued tomorrow night - pls. come back - i promise the next installment wherein I will tell you why I love Continental airlines and how my husband redeemed himself --for a few days, anyway.

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