When we walk off the plane, it is very clear things are not normal. The departure boards are being updated every minute or so. We have our boarding passes, and head toward Customs. We find a line that snakes around and around. The airport’s filled with passengers trying to leave. Could the workers in Paris also be on strike? We wait in line for almost three hours before we begin to move. We’ve waited so long the boards all indicate our connecting flight has departed without us!
We’re rushed through customs and soon we’re on our way to another part of the airport.
Author John Allen Paulos wrote, “Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security.” I find this holds especially true when traveling to foreign places!
We make our way across the concourse looking for any information pertaining to what to do or even just where to go. We soon realize everyone is in the very same predicament. Instinctively, we head to what would have been our gate. We are randomly stopped in the concourse and asked for our passports. To one agent, we explained we were traveling together. Upon hearing this, the agents grabbed us and separated us. Scott going one way and me going the opposite. Neither of us had any clue as to what would happen next. They begin to question me on how I know Scott and I can hear the other agent asking Scott the same question. I held up my phone to Scott in a gesture as if to say, “Ignore what I said about turning your phone off Airplane Mode!” I hoped that if we were separated long enough, we’d at least have an opportunity to connect via text.
Our passports were repeatedly inspected. A second form of ID was requested along with our boarding passes. After the inspection, I was directed to stand in line at one gate. Scott directed to stand at another gate? What? We begin texting each other feverishly. What was going on? We decided between the two of us if we were going anywhere it would be together! Scott left his line and came over to mine. Walking in front of all of the people behind me. The place was in such an uproar that it seemed no one even noticed his move.
Eventually, the gate doors opened and the airport staff (not airline staff) directed us through the gate. “Quickly! Quickly!” They kept saying. We transverse the ramp that seems eerily similar to a gerbil’s habitrail made of glass walls, to a dead end. We are now all just standing dumbfounded, saying, “Huh?”
I knew we are scheduled on Delta’s flight 89 Boeing 767 300ER. Next to all of us in the gerbil tube was a regional jet. I looked behind me…. lots of people. Something is wrong! I begin to notice buses filled with people moving on the road beneath us! At the side of the ramp (opposite of the plane), there was a door with steps leading down to the tarmac level. I suggest using the door to the people around us. A few people debate the safety issue but finally many agree to exit and take our chances below. As soon as we are on the tarmac a random bus stops to pick us up! We get to the door of the bus. “Do we get on?”, we ask.
“Quickly!”, was the driver’s response.
OK, I don’t know where this adventure will lead, but there seems to be safety in numbers. Once we fill up the bus, we zoom away towards the outlying areas of the airport property. We drove around directly behind many airplanes, which indicates to me none of the planes parked were idling their engines! This is very peculiar. I kept thinking, “I would love to know what is happening and I’m a little afraid to know, at the same time”. This event seems to be happening to the entire Parisian airport at once!
The driver yells out, in his thick French accent, the name of Delta’s flight numbers. When he gets to ours, “Yes!” we all respond.
He pulls up to a plane and directs us to the waiting stairs. As we go up the stairs, I’m certain many were wondering if we were going to the US at all! As we boarded, there was no further check of our tickets.
Oh, there was an equipment change; we’re now boarding an Airbus 330-200 (332). Our reserved seats don’t even exist on this plane! We are told to hang out in the middle area and that the Attendants would take care of us. They were calm as they explained that there had been bomb threats that day and it threw the entire airport into a mess. Flights rescheduled, canceled, luggage pulled and misdirected, shortage of the entire staff. The entire airport came to a screeching halt. As she explains, everything comes together in my mind and it makes total sense.
The passengers, with a lack of any direction, were suddenly thrust into figuring things out for themselves. But I feel under that set of circumstances, it’s hard for anyone to be angry. It has never occurred to me how much we sometimes put our entire fate in the hands of others when traveling. We mindlessly move from one seat to the next, depending upon the familiarity of the system. I believe there is a certain sense of dependence we develop when every airport experience we encounter is very similar. It makes times like these an important wake-up call to be prepared for anything while traveling.
We have an uneventful flight to Salt Lake City. We make up the hours we were behind. The seats are great! We end up with an extra seat between us. I have nothing but sincere gratitude for the level headed Delta Airlines crew!
All in all this trip has been a very full travel experience! We have seen some breathtaking ancient sights! We interacted with some really hospitable locals. Found flavorful foods while also learning an appreciation for new ones.
My heart is full as I see with my own eyes and feel the deepest empathy for the many Syrian refugees caught up as innocent victims in a terrible battle. We saw thousands taking shelter at the Port of Piraeus. At the time of our visit, Greece is in the middle of a financial collapse and yet the Greeks find it in their hearts to accept and shelter 1,000’s of outsiders in desperate need.
On this trip, our hope was to also visit the Greek island of Kos. For personal reasons, I’ve always been a huge fan of the “Father of Modern Medicine”, Hypocrites. This was his island of birth. But because of the Syrian refugee crisis, the island was generally closed to tourists.
I had little idea then that just three years later I would finally realize my dream of landing on that small Greek island. And it would work out even better than I could have imagined. I would have more time to follow Hypocritie’s footsteps leading me to the ancient city of Pergamon, located in Asia Minor. (Another journaling post for another day.)
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