The Trip That Wouldn't End

It is good to be back home after vacation. I think it is a successful vacation when I can have a delightful time away but then to be happy to be home. But this was a trip from which we wondered if we would get home. It seemed like it was never going to end.

We flew to northern California for a gathering of Ginger’s family at her sister’s home near Trinidad. You have heard many say that flying is not what it used to be. The seats are tiny, the planes are usually 100% full, and they seem to go more when they want to rather than when they are scheduled. We began the trip by arriving at the Moline airport at 5:00 a.m. for a 6:05 a.m. flight, only to learn the flight had been canceled and we had been rescheduled on the 3:00 p.m. flight. Somehow, after a flight of 3 legs we still got there by midnight.

We had a delightful time with Ginger’s family – with her parents, sisters, some nieces and nephews, their kids, and our own grandkids. Lots of conversation, time on the beach and walking in redwood forests.

Then it was time for the trip home. The flight from Arcata to San Francisco was fine – as far as flights on noisy twin propeller planes go. However, when we got to San Francisco we learned the next leg to Denver had been delayed. I believe our flight got into Denver about the same time our flight (the last one) to Moline left. We still dashed (well at least as dashingly as a 57 old guy with a backpack can dash) 20-some gates to see if by chance the plane was still there – but alas just an empty gate. Then it was back to the customer service counter so we could stand in line behind half a plane full of folks trying to get to places like Moline, Cedar Rapids, Fargo, and the like. The delay was airline-related instead of weather-related so they put us up in a hotel in Denver (without our luggage, of course) and off we went to the hotel bus stop for some more waiting. There were so many folks that we did not all fit in the first van so we had to wait for the next one – getting to the hotel about the same time we should have been getting to Moline – just past midnight.

The next day there was no room on the Denver - Moline flight so we were routed to Moline via Chicago. As we began our descent into O’Hare we encountered some turbulence significant enough to cause a collective audible gasp from the passengers. After circling and bouncing for a while, the plane started up and the captain announced that O’Hare had to shut down and we were going to Ann Arbor, Michigan for some more fuel – and to wait out the storm. So we had afternoon pretzels (5 tiny ones come in the little bag) and water in Ann Arbor – now our 4th time zone in 24 hours. Then it was back to O’Hare a few hours late and then to Moline – only about 19 hours late.

That trip home and I think flying in general these days is a lesson in patience. One can get angry and holler and scream at the attendants at the service desk or at your spouse. I heard people do that. Or you can sob and cry. I saw people do that. I overheard one man telling an attendant that he simply had to be to Rochester, New York by 7:00 or it would be the end of the world. He wasn’t and it wasn’t.

With a little patience and kindness, a bit of community can develop among strangers. A young woman and her mother were in line with us at the service counter in Denver. They remembered us getting on in Arcata and we ended up going with them to the hotel. They were on their way to Fargo. Another young woman was waiting in line for the hotel shuttle with her tiny baby. She was on her way to her mother’s funeral in Arkansas and was worried she might not get there in time. We made sure she got on the first shuttle bus to the hotel.

Not to be trite, but vacations by air are a lot like life. There is much to celebrate – families and friends to enjoy, a wonderful world to explore. But life, like air trips, also has its delays and unexpected stops and unscheduled nights in hotels or airport lounges. We like to have our life planned out, so all of the reroutings and delays and unscheduled stops of life can be frustrating. But we can make the most of those unexpected times remembering we are not alone, but in the end God will get us home. In the meantime, we work hard at treating fellow travelers of life with love, care and forgiveness. A kind word, a word of thanks, asking a question out of genuine concern goes a long way in developing community even in the middle of the night in an international airport. These actions can do even more in our neighborhoods and congregations.