So close and yet so far
Made the 15 hour flight from Hong Kong and it was primarily uneventful. We originally did not have seats together, but Rob was able to change his seat, so we had a row. Ellie did great on the flight, slept for probably a total of 6 hours, which we were pretty happy with.
Arrived in Detroit at about 1pm we think (time is becoming a blur) – customs and immigration were smooth – Ellie had a near meltdown when we had to get rid of our luggage cart and go through security – but a sucker goes a long way with a 2 year old.
Our flight to Peoria was delayed an hour – not a big deal we thought – the hardest part will be staying awake. Then the flight was delayed another hour, as they were waiting for our inbound aircraft. Delayed again with a new departure time 8:15pm. After our plane arrives and we see light at the end of this trip – they tell us there is no crew available and that the crew is arriving from another flight. After about another 30 minutes, they inform us that the flight has been canceled. We had been in the Detroit airport almost 8 hours at this point. To top it off, Delta claims that the flight was canceled due to weather problems even though it was a beautiful day in both Illinois and Michigan.
We waited in the line for meal vouchers and rescheduling. The system had automatically confirmed Dana and Ellie a seat on the morning flight, but Rob was listed as confirmed, but without a seat number (which in airport talk that means you will only have a seat if there is room i.e. you are flying standby). After waiting in line almost 2 hours, we all have confirmed seats on the morning flight and were able to get to an airport hotel (Delta gave us a room in the Days Inn, but we decided to use Marriott points to get a room at the airport Marriott), finally checking in at 1130pm EST. All airport food had shut down by the time we were leaving, so we used some of the meal vouchers to purchase trail mix, juice, and a bottle of water for dinner.
We don't have luggage, Ellie is the only one with clothing choices, as we packed her as the priority passenger with our carryon options.
Ellie was really great with our extended layover. As we walked the moving walkways and escalators, we wondered if she thinks this is what her new life has become – hanging out in airports and waiting in lines. After riding the airport tram, she blew her top when it was time to get off and screamed for almost 20min. She then took a nap for about an hour. All in all, she held up better then we did – we just wanted to curl up and cry when we realized we would not being seeing the rest of our family.
We went to bed at about midnight EST and woke up at around 4am (got to love jetlag). Ellie however is still asleep at 6:30 and we will let her sleep until about 7:30. Our flight is at 10am and we are close to the airport. Hopefully today will be the end of this long journey. We long to hug our other kids and to have them be able to finally meet their new sister. If the flight is delayed or canceled, you might see Rob on the local news being hauled off in handcuffs. We have been patient and understanding, but enough is enough.
