A bit of a bad start at home when I got tangled up in google passwords. Luckily, Michael was kind enough to help me, and I think I’m okay now. We shall see!
Our flight leaves at 9:30 p.m., so we are planning on an early-ish dinner and then going to sleep. We have Economy Plus seats which are pretty comfortable, so maybe we will arrive feeling pretty okay.
Guess what! It was a total disaster. We arrived on time, but then learned that the scheduled plane was to be three-plus hours late (until around 1:00 a.m.), because the new plane was on its way from Florida to Dulles. Finally, at around 2:00 in the morning, we boarded. Economy Plus is no longer two seats side by side but three in a row. Nevertheless, we had two aisle seats and thought we were in pretty good shape. Not so fast!
After about twenty minutes, the pilot came on the intercom to say that we were heading back to Dulles! He was a man of few words, but the flight attendant explained that there was a problem with the doors and/or a fire safety issue. We came back to Dulles to find a ton of fire engines, lights flashing, as we dutifully stayed in our seats. Finally, we were told to get off the plane, taking our belongings with us.
You can imagine the people swirling around the terminal, trying to get information from the desk, everyone lining up to find out what our options were. And soon after that the pilot came on the intercom to say that the crew was now leaving because they were over the time limits. Abandon ship!!
We were eventually told that the flight had indeed been cancelled. Soon after, we were told that we could get vouchers for our meals and then return to the airport tomorrow night (Tuesday) to get on a new plane, leaving at 6:30 p.m. All our belongings will be on the new plane, and all we have to do is show up. We’ll see how that works out.
Thanks to Alison’s persistence, we wandered through the airport until we found the exit, so tired that we had to hang onto each other as we trundled along, totally gaga, to the Marriott (high price be damned), and got into bed around 5:30. We had no change of clothes and very few toiletries (unless you were Alison, who kindly shared with me) and just fell dead asleep for the next six+ hours.
We woke up to discover that there was no water in the shower and only cold water in the sink! We went downstairs to find out what they could do for us. Fortunately, we had a savvy Marriott person, plus Alison, who never gives up, and they reduced the rate from the insanely high amount to a more reasonable $159. Breakfast/lunch next, partially paid by our vouchers. After lunch we returned to the room to find the water had been restored. Good things come to those who wait!
The worst part is the day we’ve lost. Our original plan was that we would arrive at the hotel and drop our bags, hang out at the nearby Waterstones’, and then go back for a nap and an early dinner, with the following day scheduled for the Royal Yacht, followed by visiting the Queen’s apartments at Holyrood Palace. That’s now out the window, but we’ll see if we can salvage parts of it on our return trip to Edinburgh. Could be worse?!!
Caroline's Garden and Travel Record 