Ready! Set! Hurry Up! Wait!

Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 64

14 July 2004 (Wednesday) – 15 July 2004 (Thursday)

What a morning! What a day! As the student researchers leisurely enjoyed a light breakfast, and the P.I.s frantically prepared for the flight, I took advantage of the opportunity to mail a package from the post office. We were scheduled to meet around noon for a flight to Newark and an evening connection and overnight flight to Oslo. My cell phone rang and to my surprise it was the airline trying to contact us about a possible glitch in our plans. Weather in Newark was deteriorating quickly and it was suggested that we rush to get to the airport to board an earlier flight to avoid missing our connection. Larger planes were flying, but ours was a small plane out of Hartford and would not be able to land in Newark at the time of the storm. We frantically moved our plans into full speed, packed up the bus and headed for the airport.

Though we made it well before the earlier flight, the situation was worse than predicted. We spent the day in the airport, waiting for hourly updates and wondering if we would make our connection. By late evening, it was apparent we would not! The Principal Investigators for this project, Al Werner and Steve Roof quickly made an alternate plan that would route us to Oslo via Paris, if we could just get to Newark!

Finally, we made it out, arriving in Newark about 9:30 PM for the connecting 10:00 PM flight to Paris. Unfortunately, one of the navigators was also in a situation like ours, so the flight to Paris was delayed by more than an hour, making our new connection uncertain! When we finally took off just before midnight, it was not looking good to make our connection to Oslo.

Just before landing, we all moved to the front of the plane to prepare for the dash through customs. Actually, when we arrived in Paris, our flight to Oslo had not yet left! We were escorted off the plane, thinking we had it made, when the bad news came. The plane was boarded and preparing for take-off as we were passing through customs! No amount of pleading could get the officials to consider our request that the plane be held for the ten of us. Another missed flight and we were two for two! Not only did we miss the flight, our tickets would not be honoured, applied, or reimbursed. New tickets had to be purchased for all, and again we waited. The airport is rather far from Paris, so we spent another day getting to know each other, sampling perfumes in the duty-free store, tasting French wine and eating French food! So much for the weight loss hopes!

Since we are moving towards the east, it seems like time is standing still while we wait! Will we ever make it up north? I must say, with all the challenges that we have faced just getting from place to place, the team is holding up well. Some play cards, others get acquainted, and our fearless leaders have kept their spirits high, hurdling over each obstacle with ease!

I think the reality of where we were headed and what we would be experiencing began to sink in as we experienced mere moments of darkness and then the bright sun as we made our way north. We arrived in Oslo, checked into a Ramada Inn, shut the shades, and fell into bed!
I can’t help but wonder what surprises tomorrow holds in store! Hopefully, it will not include waiting in an airport!