That deeply unnerving feeling of having the ground briefly disappear out from under you - that's sort of like what my Dad and brother went through 48 hours ago. (Although theirs was much more expensive.) Approximately 20 hours before they were planning to depart for Tanzania, my brother Alex realized that instead of buying plane tickets for the first leg of their journey for Wednesday, he'd actually gotten the same flight for Thursday. Which meant they'd be 24 hours late to London. Which meant they'd miss all subsequent legs of the trip to Dar es Salaam, including the flight to begin our safari on Sunday morning.
Instant terror adrenaline surging on all fronts. They tried to just move the flight up a day; Continental said no. (Or rather, no unless you give us $6000.) They tried to buy a one-way flight to London in order to be on time for their second flight; Continental said their policy is to cancel the return tickets for anyone who doesn't check in to their outgoing flight. It is now 8 AM on the day they must depart.
Long story short, they had to buy brand-new, day-of tickets to get to London in time, stopping in Canada on the way. Oy. But they made it! Picked 'em up at the airport this morning and then let them go straight to bed. (Although I did wake them up to have them eat lunch at the office with us. Everyone said we looked alike. "You all have merry faces," announced Christine. "You smile from your hearts.")
Another day of jet lag adjusting tomorrow (and of course the Dar es Salaam annual charity Goat Races in the afternoon), then off on safari on Sunday. Send me an email if you want me to bring you back a baby hippo.
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