Five on the Fly

Trip to Antigua and Tikal

2008-07-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

We left for Antigua on Friday afternoon on a coach bus for the four hour ride back to Antiqua, a colonial city that used to be the capital of Guatemala until a big earthquake when the capital was moved nearby to Guatemala City. Antigua has preserved its colonial architecture and cobblestone streets and is lovely. However, upon our arrival on Friday it was pouring rain and the skies were dark at night. The streets narrow enough that our coach bus required much maneuvering to navigate the corners and finally deposited us on the sidewalk with our luggage and buckets of rain pouring down on us. After walking a few blocks in one direction, then back in the other we were soaked having to step into the cobblestone streets and several inches of water often as the narrow sidewalks do not accommodate two way pedestrian traffic. Our hotel contained a courtyard three stories high with tropical plants and rooms on two halls on either side of the courtyard rising three stories. Very quaint. We changed into dry clothes, grabbed a quick dinner and fell asleep until our 3:15 a.m. wake up call for our 4:00 a.m. departure on bus to the airport in Quatemala City. Our flight to Flores for Tikal was only about an hour but the prop plane was small and bumpy so I was thankful to sleep. A bus took us from Flores to the Tikal National Park where we stayed at the Tikal Inn--a lovely series of small villas with palm frond roofs and stucco walls, many surrounding the pool where Hunter, Cole, Jacob, Ben and Adam and a few others had a blast for three hours on Saturday and again on Sunday morning in a series of chicken fight tournaments.

Visiting La Predera & Raining Gatos y Perros

2008-06-26T11:45:00.000-07:00

It´s Thursday and another beautiful morning. We climbed a small mountain this morning to visit children in the indigent community of La Predera to help them with homework and play games. It turned out we just played games with them like soccer and relay races. Everyone had a great time. They are fun kids. Their community is near the top of a mountain overlooking Xela. After climbing Chicobal, this was a hike in the park but I still get very short of breath in this altitude. After returning to the school at 11:30, I came to an internet cafe to download some pictures and have some coffee and the sky opened up as it does once a day or so for about an hour. This time it is pouring gatos y perros from the sky.

Mayan Ceremony, Chocolate Making & Hot Springs

2008-06-26T11:26:00.000-07:00

We are getting to bed early around 9 and getting up early before 6 as our body clocks have not adjusted to the time difference I suppose. Monday we observed and participated in a Mayan ceremony at the school. Cole almost fell in the fire three times. On Tuesday, we visited the house where Landon lives to observe his "madre" whose occupation is making traditional chocolate from cocoa. After explaining how it is done, the kids got to pound the chocolate into molds to form the bricks they are sold in. Landon, Hunter and Cole and all the rest of the kids loved the process. Several bought bricks of chocolate to bring home and make liquid hot chocolate from. Wednesday morning we had free. Hunter, Landon and I and Susanne and her daughter Gabby took a bus from el parque central directly to Las Fuentes Georginias, steamy hot springs with pools for swimming up near the top of a gorgeous, green mountain. Again, the roads twisted and turned. Often we came to a complete stop as we navigated past a truck headed down the mountain in the opposite direction as the road just fits two trucks with an inch to spare and a deathly drop on the other side down the side of the mountain. Along the way, chickens, goats, houses, small farms, tiny tiendas. Once there, we changed into our bathing suits and melted into the wonderful, warm water steam rising from its surface. Cliffs surround the pools and streams of hot spring water trickle down into the pools. About an hour after our arrival, Landon and his housemates arrived, having opted for catching two local "chicken buses" to Zunil and then hitching a ride in a pick up truck with a "stand up" bar attached so that eight or ten people can stand and hold on to this bar running from the top of the cab to the rear of the truck. Loads of fun up that windy mountain road apparently. The morning at the springs were sunny and beautiful but just as we left a giant fog cloud moved in and we descended that narrow mountain road in a thick blanket of fog.

Weekend Trip to Lake Atitlan and Chichicastenago

2008-06-24T07:57:00.000-07:00

Our big trip this weekend began on a coach bus in el parque central. We boarded at 8:00 a.m. and headed out to Lake Atitlan along absolutely gorgeous, steep, curvy mountain roads. The bus was comfortable, a typical coach bus as in the U.S. As we neared the enormous lake, we saw two giant waterfalls coming straight down the cliffs towering above one side of the bus while astounding vistas of the lake surrounded by volcano shaped green mountains rising on all sides. Upon arrival in Panajchel, the pueblo on the lake, we went to our hotel the Gran Hotel with notably pretty courtyards and notably ancient and, in some cases, disgusting mattresses but with hot water AND water pressure at the same time, a combination unavailable in our homestays. Then, off we went to explore this resort city with the feel of a Guatemalan riveria--many tourists, restaurants and vendors of native Guatemalan products. After lunch we met at the lake and boarded a large ferry with our group of 40. The trip across the lake to another pueblo called Santiago, took an hour and a half on our large boat, although smaller speedboats probably made it in a half hour. Once we arrived in Santiago, we visited a large, historical church and the image of a cigar smoking ex-saint that was kicked out of the Catholic church because the people prayto this saint for bad things to happen to other people. So, now, the statute of this saint is moved from one house to another and lives in that house for a year. Visitors must pay about a dollar to come inside and take a picture of the statute smoking a cigar and dressed in a hundred or so ties. While we were there, a man on his knees in front of the statute waived an incense ball in front of twenty lit candles at the statute's feet and prayed loudly for something (bad, I presume). Very bizarre.

On Sunday, we boarded our coach for the largest market in Central America--Chichicastenango. Here we again visited the large, historic church and then headed off through streets crowded with shops and vendors of native Guatemalan products. Students bought belts, blouses, purses, tableclothes, machetes, wooden masks, soccer jerseys and lots of other items while sharpening their powers of negotiation.

Climbing the Volcano at Chicabal

2008-06-24T07:42:00.000-07:00

Friday we arrived at the school at 7:00 a.m. to depart on two twenty person buses to a national park near Chicabal, an inactive volcano that now has a holy Mayan lake in its center. The bus took us through the countryside of fertile, green, terraced fields, many of corn on curvy and sometimes mountainous, sometimes valley roads. Eventually we reached a mud hill with huge crevices from heavy rains and the bus could go no further. From there we embarked on the most difficult hike of my life. Two hours up and two hours down on virtually a vertical path. On a scale of one to ten, we gave this hike a 10. We could have used some hooks and ropes. On top of the incline issue, the ground was of two consistencies. Primarily it was the consistency of wet, grey modeling clay and secondarily, of tiny bits of soft limestome like gravel. Try scaling a vertical surface made of that for two solid hours and then descending while leaning back and trying to prevent a fall. Often we could not help but run down as it was too difficult to go slowly being so steep and moist. One strategy involved a slow trot from side to side of the path rather than straight down. Once we reached the top of the volcano we had to hike down to the holy lake which, upon arrival, quite frankly, looked strikingly similar to Ragged Mountain Reservoir. Don't think that will seem quite such a difficult hike in the future after Chicabal. I did mention the difficulty of not falling, right? Well, many of us did fall and one mother along on the trip broke her arm and had to fashion a sling out of her jacket and descend the vertical incline for an additional hour before we reached the bus home. Upon arrival at the hospital, despite the xray showing a clean break in place, el medicos wanted her to go under general anesthesia and spend the night in the hospital. Our leader and she decided, no gracias and opted for a wrap and sling and a second opinion. We were so exhausted upon arrival back at school at 2:30 that most of the students watched a movie for the first two hours of their classes and then, after attempting to teach for another hour, the teachers called off school because everyone was falling asleep.

The Orphangae and La Salsa!

2008-06-23T10:28:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday morning, we visited a local orpanage to play with the children. The orpanage was a ten minute walk from the school and was very clean with staff that seemed very interested in the children. We waited in a courtyard and then met the children and went out to their playground that was surrounded by fifteen feet tall concrete walls with razor wire on top...presumably to keep any bad guys out. The playground itself had one of the newest and best climbing structures I have ever seen. Bigger than any I have seen at elementary schools in Charlottesville although it had only one, new, large one in bright, primary colors with tube slides and tic tac toe and many platforms. At first, we talked to the children and both parties were shy. However, within ten minutes a wild soccer game was going on, screaming games of tag, quiet card games and drawing games where several students sat and drew pictures with children. After two hours in the sun on that playground, we were exhausted and it was time for the children's lunch. The best example of the quick intimacy gained is the experience of one of our high school girls who had her little friend climb into her lap and, as she talked to her, the little girl spied gum in the high schooler's mouth and yelled, '' Chiclet'', immediately thrust her fingers in the high schooler's mouth, retrived the gum and popped it into her own mouth. ''Aaaa, bay, say gum I guess.''

On Thursday morning, our activity was salsa lessons. We walked through the cobblestone streets to the studio. In order to get there, we walked through a different market place, one for locals, a food market, where goats were led by and several butchers had raw carcasses hanging in their windows. Be aware that the sidewalks are exactemente 15 inches wide''Jump up on the sidewalk here comes a car! Lean back on the stucco wall of the building behind you or the side mirror may get you! Our teachers lined us up and we began our salsa lesson in a small room with open doorway onto the street, '' Uno, dos, tres.'' '' Uno, dos, tres.'' Once we got the hang of it, we were paired up and bam! La Salsa chicos y chicas??'' Uno, dos, tres.'' '' Uno, dos, tres.''

Our home meals have been good. Breakfasts I have yogurt, granola, fresh papaya or banana, lots of orange juice that is actually something like Sunny D, the boys have Frosted Flakes, Coco Flakes, Lupos de Frutos, and huevos...scrambled eggs. Lunch is the big meal of the day and we have had the following...arroz con pollo...rice and chicken, carne con pollo...rice and beef....stir fry with chicken and vegtables....spaghetti with meat and tomato sauce...dinners are smaller, twice we have had fried plantains with fresh, thick cream and refried beans, fried tortillas with refried beans or salsa and cheese.

Some views of the city in which we are living--Quetzaltenango or Xela (Shay-la).

Second Day of Classes at Casa Xelaju

2008-06-17T16:27:00.000-07:00

We will be taking classes from 2 to 7 p.m. every weekday. In the mornings, we go on excursions or to cultural events. Monday afternoon we met our tutors. Cole, Hunter and I each have our own while Landon is in class with three other Spanish II students from his high school. We spent the afternoon in separate little classrooms with them and did some walking around the school speaking spanish and learning vocabulary. At 4:30 there is a break for coffee or tea and bread and cookies. Then back at it until 7 p.m.

Tuesday morning we met at the school and walked to a women's weaving cooperative where Mayan women are paid a fair wage for their intricate weavings. We heard about the fair trade cooperative and watched a demonstration of weaving. Cole volunteered to try the yarn machine and he enjoyed it so much he wants to go back for a five hour lesson to learn to weave himself. I think this is a good idea as we don't have class until 2:00 each day and this might be a nice break (for him!). After the weaving, we walked to the city centro for ice cream and to a large market to look at the goods, then home to our house for lunch at 1:00 the back to school at 2:00. This afternoon, Hunter and Cole's teachers suggested that we take a city bus to the zoo, so my teacher and I joined them. The bus is a small eight passenger van that held about fifteen passengers for the twenty minute ride. The zoo was small but there were monkeys there that thrilled Cole and electric bumper cars with no seatbelts and much faster speeds than in the U.S. They gave each other whiplash for about twenty minutes for 70 cents each and then went on the tallest and longest slides I have ever seen except at a water park for an hour. Everyone at the zoo were Mayans in their traditional brightly woven clothes with babies in slings. We are back at the school now for the last two hours of lessons. We arrived back at break time when all the high schoolers are in the sunny, courtyard playing ping pong, checkers, hacky sack and soccer. Beautiful flowers are planted in the courtyard garden. Tonight we may venture out to some of the many nightspots such as the Blue Angel for desserts, and drinks and movies. Sound exciting? The views of the ten mountains surrounding this city are beautiful from almost every place you walk on the cobblestone streets marred only by the many telephone and electrical lines that run above the streets everywhere. The entire population seems to be out on the streets all day, every day. Adios!

Homestay Description

2008-06-17T09:24:00.000-07:00

On the left is a picture of our school Casa Xelaju (Shay-la-hoo). Hunter, Cole and I are staying at a house just two blocks down the hill on a cobblestone street. Our hostess pulled her small Honda into a garage door along a row of stucco buildings. We arrived in a courtyard exactly the size of the car. In front of us at the end of the triangular shaped courtyard where tall steps to a second floor of the house and on to the third floor. Our hostess explained that she lived upstairs and that we were staying with her daughter and her three year old grandson in her daughter´s house on the second floor. We entered a spacious apartment with hard tile floors throughout. A combined living room and dining room with a wood door separating the kitchen. A hall with a bath to the left and two bedrooms on the right and a master bedroom and bath on the left. At the end of the hall a door leads to a rooftop courtyard with a small flower garden, metal swings and a two concrete outbuildings, one housing the laundry and one, a one room apartment housing another student. Beyond the kitchen is another bedroom and small bath for another student. The rooftop courtyard is sunny and a maid dressed in Mayan clothing sweeps the courtyard. More stairs off the courtyard lead to the third floor apartment of our hostess´mother. The picture on the right shows the courtyard stairs to the upstairs house. Two single beds for Hunter and Cole and a single for me in adjoining bedroom. Our hostess, Monica, is very nice and her three year old, Andres, very shy with us but very playful with his mama and abuela. Hunter and Cole´s room is filled with Sesame Street linens, a small television with children´s shows like Dora (of course) all in Spanish. I even have a Dora bedspread. In fact, we each have about five thin blankets as it gets cold at night. We are in one of the better, bigger houses with fewer occupants than most. Landon visits the next morning. He is staying in a house, in one room, with three other students and there are about ten family members in the host family. He likes it, they are nice, and the mother makes chocolate for a living.

Guatemala

2008-06-16T08:08:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Guatemala City Sunday at 11:00 a.m. and waited for the thirty students with Margie Sheperds group from Western Albemarle to arrive. Once they arrived, we headed through baggage and outside to a tour bus waiting to drive us up through the mountains to Quatzeltenango and Casa Xelaju, our Spanish school for the next three weeks. The four and a half hour drive was curvy and mountainous with gorgeous views of forested mountians and beautiful valleys. Horses, cattle and pigs were along the steep roads. Pedestrians carrying goods in baskets on their heads or bound in woven slings on their backs with a strap across their foreheads easily walked along the steep roads with small towns few and far between as though they were on a Sunday stroll through the mall. Many of the pedestrians were dressed in traditional Mayan clothing. The skies were brillant blue and clouds puffy, white and close to the moutains through which we traveled. The roads twisted unforgivingly the entire four and a half hour ride and we stopped two or three times for landslides caused by construction crews bulldozing rocks and boulders from the cliffs above directly onto the road in front of us. Apparently they are still cleaning up from a hurricane that caused much damage in the region. Brightly painted school buses called "chicken buses" passed us frequently often with the back door flying open as they swerved in front of us and twice we say men hanging out the back door and casually pulling it closed at high speeds. The chicken buses painted with crazy, loud colors in fantastic murals are like short bursts of laughter and sunshine on our journey. I think they must have twin buses in Jamaica. We finally arrived at a bus terminal in Quetzaltenango. A guard stood on the sidewalk with what looked like a sawed off shotgun on his back. Bienvenidos...hmmm. Gradually our host families pulled up in compact cars holding signs with our names on them. They kissed our cheeks in greeting and loaded our things into their cars and we sped off leaving everyone we knew behind. Landon and his three housemates were piled with their luggage into the BACK of a small pickup and grinned like they were on the Griffin at Busch Gardens as their host backed up, the wrong way, down the one way street, pulled a U turn and sped off down the cobblestone street.

Beijing Bound

2007-07-14T17:26:00.000-07:00

The ten of us head out early for the airport on a mini-bus limosine. The Singapore airport has the quickest arrival and departure procedures of any airport I have ever seen. We fly Thai Airways and the flight attendants look gorgeous in their traditional long, narrow Thai skirts in purple or pink silks. After a change of planes in the phenomenally beautiful and new Bangkok airport, we land in Beijing in the afternoon. Our driver is nowhere in sight after we pass through customs and baggage claim but a quick cellphone call locates him just outside the terminal doors. He was recommended by friends who adopted from China last year. We pile into the twenty passenger luxury bus and head for central Beijing. The roads are great. The skyscrapers are many. The city is big.

On the ride to the hotel we plan for the driver to pick us up from the hotel in the morning and take us to the Great Wall. I wanted to go to Mutaniyo not Badalang. Mutaniyo is a little further away from Beijing so there are fewer crowds, more mountainous area, and it has both a chairlift to ride up to the wall and a long, shiny, metal luge to ride down. The boys are all into the thought of descending from the Great Wall on a luge ride. Our driver, however, is not so sure.

"No, too far," he says.

"How far?, " I ask.

"Oh, maybe three, four hours."

"Really? I thought it was pretty close to Beijing and was more scenic, fewer crowds, luge ride...."

"No, I think best you go to Badalang."

"How far is Badalang?"

"Maybe one hour and a half."

We quickly peruse our quidebooks and determine that the mileage from the City to both locations is not that different.

"No, I think we really want to go to Mutinayo. Can you take us there or should we check with another driver?"

"Yes, I can take you there but we will not have so much time for lunch and afternoon for hutong tour by rickshaw and tea demonstation and acrobatics show and dinner."

"That's okay. We'll just start with the Wall, okay?"

"Okay, so next day we do tour of the Tianamin Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the boat tour...."

"Hmmm...." We exchange glances.

"We will see you tomorrow for Great Wall and then we'll see about the rest. Okay?"

"Okay, no problem."

"We arrive at the Park Plaza Beijing near Wafungjing Street. It is new, sleek, Asian, lovely. We dine at the Oodles, the noodle restaurant downstairs at the hotel. There is a Starbucks across from the lobby and the main shopping street is just a block away. Great location. Great interior.

World War II Battle Box & A Singapore Sling

2007-07-07T06:36:00.000-07:00

Another late sleep in as we continue to adjust to a twelve hour time difference. We manage to head out around 11 a.m. for the Battle Box, the underground army headquarters for the British command in Malay in WWII. It was here that the British made the decision to surrender to the Japanese and from here they began their death march to the bridge over the River Kwai.

Inside the Battle Box, our Sing guide told us the story of the difficult decision by the British command to surrender as we walked through the underground bunker. The bunker is staged with lifelike wax images of the British commanders. With water, food, and military supplies dried up and heavy Japanese bombing hitting Singapore, the decision was made. The Japanese would accept no less than unconditional surrender. According to our guide, Winston Churchill was very unhappy with the decision but the civilians of Singapore and Malay were extremely grateful as heavy civilian casualties were occurring due to the Japanese bombing and the concentration of Allied resources in Europe. Our Sing guide was seven at the time the Japanese attacked. He remembers hiding under the stairs and eating nothing but sweet potatoes for two years.

After the Battle Box, the boys came back to the Kays and rode scooters and played games outside. I went shopping on Orchard Road with Hilly while Abby finalized plans for our trip to Beijing and Bangkok. Orchard Road is a famous shopping district with a broad boulevard lined with tall trees, large malls and department stores. We were told that the Sings love to shop and eat and there are certainly enough malls and restaurants to prove it.

After shopping, we headed to Raffles for the famous Singapore Sling, raw peanuts throw on floor and met a friend of the Kays who is a dentist in Singapore. Very nice evening and Jay met us after flying in from Tokyo where he has been working for three days.

Sentosa Island Fun

2007-07-07T06:25:00.000-07:00

The Singapore Science Museum is terrific! An outdoor water play and learn park, an outdoor kinetic energy play park and wonderful interactive learning programs throughout. We went especially for the China Inventions exhibit they are currently running as well as an IMAX (actually in the round like the Planetarium in NYC) showing of a movie on the first Chinese emperor. Wished we'd had more time to explore, but the kids really enjoyed the time we had. Lunch at McDonalds which had a few Asian selections to the menu and off to the famed Sentosa Island.

Sentosa Island is a resort at the southern tip of Singapore. We took a cable car over the beautiful harbor (biggest container ship harbor in the world, did I hear?) to the top of Sentosa and the kids rode a luge down to the beach. Abby and I drove down in the car and meet them at the beach. We walked to a club on the beach, the original is in Spain, and settled into rattan couches for late afternoon drinks. The kids swam and played on the beach. As the sun set, we headed further down the island to Underwater World, the highlight of which was walking under an acrylic tunnel and watching dozens of sharks swim above us within inches. Very interesting and Atlantis type experience which we topped off with dinner on the beach at a brick oven pizza restaurant.

The kids want to come back to Sentosa!

Slide into Singapore

2007-07-07T05:49:00.000-07:00

Our first day in Singapore, we eased into our trip in the city called "Asia for Beginners." Arriving at our friends, the Kays after 2 a.m., we slept in quite late and after Sri Lanken tea fixed expertly by the Kays housekeeper Mem, we headed to The American Club. The city is pristine, clean and perfectly planted with tropical greenery everywhere you look. The Kays live in a fancy district in a marble high rise. It has an infinity pool, koi pond and tropical gardens at the entrance, private "lifts" to each residence--step into your own apartment. Theirs is four bedroom, five bath with spectacular 270 degree views of the city in every direction. They also look down on One Tree Hill, a pretty neighborhood of two story homes and gardens, surrounded by high rises.

Aside from the armed guard at the lush tropical entrance, we could have been at any fancy, private club in a big U.S. city. The guard is not typical of buildings in Sing, apparently the American Club could be a target of terrorism anywhere. The American Club here has even more facilities than your usual big city club. A lovely outdoor pool with the Sunday blow up slide ten feet high at one end and families having lunch around the pool. A breakfast buffet of which we partook that had full Western breakfast, made to order omelets, made to order crepes as well as Chinese and Indian buffets. The boys went bowling while the girls, Abby, Hilly and I had pedicures. Actually, don't tell anyone but the hubby joined us at the spa Sen for a little reflexology. There are squash courts, fitness facility, children's rooms, libraries, video game rooms, and more and more and more.

After our afternoon at the Club, we took a driving tour of Singapore. Little China, Little India, Raffles, the Fullerton, the wharf area with boats and shop houses lining the waterway, Orchard Road shopping district. Lovely. Clean. Everyone speaks English. The Garden City it is called. Beginning to see why. Off to bed.

Bukit Timah Bookin' Time

2007-07-04T02:11:00.000-07:00

We booked it up to the summit at the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve our second morning in Singapore. It was a hot and steamy climb and on the way we saw monkeys, large lizards, and brilliant dragonflies. We were glad to get to the top and glad for the downhill return. From there, we ate at Crystal Jade a delicious Chinese restaurant with soup dumplings. The boys enjoyed biting a tiny hole in the top and sucking out the delicious chicken soup. Sesame bread, chicken with red chilies, dumplings of all shapes and sizes. From lunch, we took a cool taxi to the "world class" Singapore zoo. It was small but very nice with many "free ranging" (almost or, rather, all-moat) animals including large orangutans. One of the orangutans was sitting on a tree branch high above a walkway and was having a great time plucking off branches and dropping them on the pedestrians below. We took a ride on an elephant at the zoo and headed from there to the Night Safari. The first of its kind, Night Safari, takes visitors on a tram ride through a wildlife environment after dark. Some of the animals range freely separated from each other only by the cow crossing grates in the road while others are separated from the tram only by virtually invisible moats. Because most of the animals are nocturnal, we saw many moving lions, tigers and bears (also possums, leopards, giant four foot fruit bats flying about our heads, and beasts whose names I cannot pronounce or remember). At the end of the Night Safari, we went to a Wild Animal Show. Darkness of night surrounded us as we filed into the arena. The stage in front was formed by a natural rain forest. A lovely setting. I was so exhausted I slid down onto the concrete in front of my seat and, using the bench as a backrest, promptly fell asleep as I awaited the show. That is, until the security guard poked me awake. "I sorry, you no can sleep there." Well, fine. The game warden ran a very funny show about the endangered animals, poachers, how to save the wildlife and asked for a volunteer. Up popped our kids' hands, and the middle one was picked to come down and demonstrate the skills of one of the many animals saved from extinction. The irony of this selection became immediately apparent to all when she asked the little blond boy, "What is your name?" When he answered, a collective gasp rose from the Thai, Sing, Chinese, Malay, Japanese and occasional European audience. The crowd laughed loudly and seconds later the boy, having missed the irony the first go round, blushed the color of a dragon fruit (which we had for breakfast). "No worry, that is common where you are from, right little boy?"

Runway Reverse

2007-07-03T17:51:00.001-07:00

Arrived at Reagan National Airport, excited and ready several hours before our first flight and overnight in Dallas/Fort Worth. All looked good for our departure and the boys and I headed straight for BurgerMania.

After just a few moments of burger bliss, we began to notice large groups of passengers idling by their gates long past their departure time. I go check the departure boards again. Dallas/Fort Worth.........Cancelled.......Dallas/Fort Worth...........Delayed...........Dallas/Fort Worth..............Cancelled......Miami..........Cancelled.

Help! Apparently, as reported earlier in the week in the Wall Street Journal, flights all over mid-America have been cancelled for a week due to thunderstorms. Thousands of passengers delayed for days with no seats available for four days after their original flight.

"Excuse me, maam," I said to the gate clerk, "Will our flight be leaving soon?"

"Maam, the departure has been delayed for an hour. There is no way to tell if it will be cancelled. At this time, we expect the flight to leave in an hour."

"And, if it does not leave....can we get on a different flight?"

"I can get you on a different flight in four days. There are no other seats on any airline, in any city in the Eastern U.S. until Sunday. There are people camped out in airports all over this half of the U.S. Let's just hope your flight goes."

Bart and the boys chill. I freak, I pray, I pace the floor. If we don't catch our connection to Tokyo from Dallas before Sunday, we may miss our non-refundable flights to Beijing. Not to mention missing four days of our trip of a lifetime to Asia with the boys.

Two and half hours later, we hear an announcement, "All passengers on flight 345 to Dallas/Fort Worth, your plane is arriving at the gate."

"Whooopppeeee!!!!"

"All passengers please proceed to the gate for boarding."

Ten minutes of standing in a long line. We are just thrilled to be going. Spent most of that time talking to a senior Congressman from Texas who entertained us with stories and campaign coins for the boys. He has my vote.

"Passengers, due to lightning on the runway, the plane is pulling back from the gates. NO boarding may be accomplished when there is lightening on the runways. Due to legal restrictions in the District of Columbia, planes may not depart after ten p.m. We have forty minutes before that curfew. If the lightning stops, we can begin boarding the plane but we must depart the runway before ten p.m."

The clock is ticking. 9:25, 9:30, 9:36.

"Passengers, we will now begin boarding. The lightening has passed. The faster you can board safely, the better the chance we can get off tonight."

We line up, we pass tickets, we file onto the plane, we stow our overhead bags, we watch the remainder of the passengers behind us do the same. Slowly, slowly the plane fills. Quickly, quickly the clock's hands fly towards 10 p.m.

9:52 "Passengers, we are departing the gate, prepare for departure." The plane slowly backs away. 9:56. A plane to our left backs out just before us, turns onto the runway and heads down it. 10:02 by my watch. Our plane is slowly backing up, almost to the runway, it slows, it stops, a crackle... "Passengers, this is your captain. We almost made it. However, it is 10:02 and we must return to the gate. No one is more disappointed than your crew but, unfortunately, in D.C. we cannot leave the runway after 10 p.m. I have checked with the control tower and it is after 10 p.m. So, I am very sorry but we will have to return to the terminal."

Arrrgghhhh! What does this mean? A four day delay in our trip that we can never regain? After completing the boarding in reverse, line up in stuffy plane, unload carry on luggage, wait for passengers in front to disembark...we re-enter the terminal. "Passengers on flight 345, your flight has been rescheduled for 7:20 a.m."

Off to the lobby hotel phone, guess what? No hotels. Bart finally finds one in Old Town at 1:00 a.m. and we hitch hike on another hotel's van. Asleep by 1:30 a.m. Oh yea, the boys usual bedtime--not!

5:30 a.m. RINNNGGG!! RINNGGG! Your wakeup call. 7:20 "Passengers on flight 345 rescheduled from last night. The plane is at the gate. However, we do not have a crew. I am trying to locate a crew and will update you when I know more." 8:20 "Help, we will not make our 12:05 flight from Dallas to Tokyo if we don't leave soon." 8:55 "Hello, American Airlines? I am at Reagan National and it looks like our rescheduled flight to Dallas/Tokyo/Singapore may not leave again. Are there any other flights you can get me on?" "Maam, I don't think I have any seats on any flights to Dallas for three days." "What about Philadelphia to Dallas, Dulles to Dallas, Richmond to Dallas, NYC to Dallas....?" "I'm afraid there is nothing. Oh, wait, I can get you on a flight from Dulles to Tokyo leaving this afternoon. I have five seats but you need to take them now. If you do, your seats on the flight you are waiting for will be cancelled immediately. These seats will not wait. Maam, I need to know now."

"Yikes....," I'm thinking, "That flight could be cancelled too....what should I do?" I'm frantically looking for the hubby. "Honey, should we take seats on a flight from Dulles?" "Wait, look, it's the pilot from last night. He's entering our area."

10:00 a.m. Take-off! We gain an hour during flight, arrive two hours before our flight to Tokyo, I take two boys to the gate, Bob waits 1.8 hours for our bags, races through security and barely runs to the gate in the international terminal seconds before they close the doors. Ah, the drama. Who cares about luggage, we've got the clothes on our backs, three weeks of exploration and we are on our way!