Routine

The next morning, I woke up around 10:30am. Major and I walked to a local coffee shop to get breakfast and catch up on the news. We read about the blizzard in New York and saw that our plane was one of 1,500 grounded flights. As we ate our bagels we played ‘Word Strength’ in the New York Post. It took us about an hour to find 20 five-letter words in the word CURMUDGEON. This is what we found:

nudge, urged, crone, drone, goner, 

crude, mourn, gourd, gored, demon, 

rogue, cured, cored, under, coder, 

rogue, recon, mound, round, demur, coned

After sharpening our verbal skills we headed back to the room to watch Star Wars Episode III. Oh, Anakin… After Star Wars, we checked our email and went to dinner at a local pizza place. It was delicious. We ended our day with Star Wars Episode IV.


Throughout our past few days together, we have been in touch with another person on the trip. Wheel, as we’ll refer to him, has been hounding the Turkish professor for information about our flight. After the email we received last night, about which Wheel said, Least helpful email ever. He decided that he would join us in the morning. 


My buddy and I decided to try to take showers in the morning, but because our accommodations used to be an office, during the daytime hours access to the rest of the hall is restricted. We were told by the Senior Assistant Director that we could now get access tags to the building from P-Safe, but we wanted to shower before picking up the tags. Wheel arrived before we could get access to the rest of the building and so I headed to P-Safe HQ with him and left my buddy waiting. After some time, and remarks about my pajamas and our lack of ID, we finally had access to the building. After showers, Tinkerbell and I headed to the local coffee shop to repeat the happenings of our previous day. It was beginning to become a tradition… almost routine. We hoped that we didn’t have to keep it up too long, as we knew Turkey was waiting for us, and we were surely waiting for Turkey.

-Tinkerbell and Major

LH 403 Flight Status

So, there we were, together on the Amtrak train to Newark Liberty International Airport. As we peered out the window, we saw white flakes falling from the sky, it had begun to snow. Upon our arrival to Newark, we confirmed the cancellation of our flight and set about making plans for the night. Clearly, we would not be leaving the United States at 5:35pm as planned. And outside, the blizzard had begun.

And there we sat, puzzling over our options. With the blizzard outside, it was imperative that we stayed as close to the airport as possible, to avoid any problems on the road. As the senile suggested, we looked for somewhere to stay the night. We headed to the hotel board, dialing just about every hotel listed, some with no answer, and most with the answer that they didn’t have anything available. We turned to our backup solution: going through our phones and figuring out who lived near Newark.

After calling friends, bosses, hotels and one, very cold walk across the parking lot to the Marriott, we had a variety of plans, back-up plans, and back-up plans for the back-up plans. After much deliberation and phone calls, we decided to head back to our College on a hill in Pennsylvania with the tickets we had bought for the return journey after Turkey. We cancelled our hotel reservations, notified Residence Life that we would be returning, and let out friends know that we would not require their hospitality for the night. After a few games of war, rummy, and sixes, we went outside, into the treacherous weather to wait for our bus. The bus arrived only a few minutes late and had only a few seats left for those of us escaping the airport. The 1.5 hour ride on unplowed roads became 2.5 hours and we pulled into the Easton bus station around 7pm. Four states later from where I began, the journey was mostly over. Public Safety picked us up from the bus stop and brought us to our room for the night.

The Senior Assistant Director, who coincidentally lived in Watson Hall, where we’d be staying, met us at the room we’d be staying in, a two-room triple attached to the atrium. She invited us into her family’s apartment, and gave us leftovers to eat for dinner. She also found us essentials that we didn’t have with us, like towels and sheets (superhero sheets!!!). During an exciting discussion, my buddy, noticing Star Wars figurines on the fridge, asked if they had Star Wars and if we could borrow it. After a long hunt, we were given a portable DVD player and Star Wars Episodes II and III. We departed, thanking her, and after a try at each of the Watson lounges, we ended up watching Episode II on the tiny portable DVD player screen. The excitement of the film was too much for my buddy, who fell asleep for all of the awesome battle scenes of the movie, and would need to be filled in on the action the next morning.

-Tinkerbell and Major

And so it begins...

And so it begins… 6am, a small town outside of Washington D.C. The buddy henceforth known as Tinkerbell departed for Union Station to catch an 8:20am train to Newark airport.

I woke early to the dulcet tones of my host mom (Miss Karen) giving me 15 minutes to get ready. We left early to beat the traffic to Union Station, unfortunately after about 5 minutes Miss Karen realized that she had forgotten her purse. We immediately u-turned to retrieve it and continued on our way, a few minutes behind. The street on which we were travelling, Georgia Avenue, would take us into Washington D.C. proper, but it was slow going with all the stop lights. We accelerated madly out of every red light until we pulled up outside the station at 8:12am. Upon entry to the building I heard the final boarding call for my train: Last call for train 152 bound for New York City. Miss Karen and I ran to the gate with my luggage and I made the train, wheezing and coughing, with only seconds to spare. As I settled into my seat the train pulled away from the station.

After a while on the train my buddy texted me that our flight to Turkey had been cancelled and after a few stops throughout Maryland and Delaware, my buddy joined me at Philadelphia.

And so it begins… 7:30am, near Norristown, PA. The buddy henceforth known as Major plans to catch a train to Philadelphia and another towards Newark airport.

Bzzzz. I awoke to my phone receiving a text. Have a super fun trip. I chuckled and began to respond, ending with a “P.S. this will be the last text for quite a while…” I hopped in and out of the shower, and while dressing checked Lufthansa’s site through my iPod. Flight 403… CANCELLED. I quickly sent out a few texts, beginning with the follow up to my previous text, “I lied, flight’s cancelled…”, and a “We’re in for quite a day, our flight’s status is cancelled” to my buddy. I told my dad, who had been waiting to drive me to Norristown’s Transportation Center, to catch a local train bound for Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station. I decided that I had no choice but to depart, and after a couple quick goodbyes I headed on my way to catch the local SEPTA train. I arrived in 30th Street Station without a problem, and went to print my ticket. “30 minutes ahead of time, I’m in good shape…” I thought. Then I checked the board. Gate 3. I promptly headed over to the gate. I was about twentieth in line, and when I looked back, there were over a hundred and twenty people, the line roping around the station. I called the Turkish professor, and he instructed me that we might have to stay in Newark until at least Monday. I boarded the second to last car as planned, and found my Turkey buddy. “Excuse me miss, is this seat taken?” I remarked with a grin.


-Tinkerbell and Major