Today has been a complete fiasco. It didn’t start out that way but it definitely ended up that way. Doug and I got up and ate breakfast. So far the day wasn’t looking promising for flying. It was so foggy that I couldn’t see the mountains out of our window. After breakfast we had a nice walk with Neil just to stretch our legs and pass the time. I had dressed in my one warm shirt as well as a couple of my jackets. That was way too much. Even though it was foggy and blustery, I started sweating. But I enjoyed the brisk morning air and seeing a bit of new scenery around the hotel. Neil showed us where the crow berries were and we sampled them.
Back at the hotel we finished packing up our stuff, not that there was a good deal since we were using carry-on, cleared our bill, and walked the mile to the airport. Thank goodness the bags went in the van along with the people who didn’t want to walk in the mist.
There was already a gaggle of people at the airport when we arrived but we got checked in just fine. We just had to do it in groups of seven. Weird but that’s how the lady wanted to do it. Once we were checked in, the long wait began. We weren’t suppose to start boarding until 11:30 and it was just 10 AM.
Now the airport in Kulusuk is tiny albeit larger than the airport in Gustavus where they shoved your luggage through a slot in the building. You had to wait for it outside. There was no waiting room there at all. Here at least we had a waiting room, toilets, and even a snack bar but that is as far as the amenities went. But at least we had a place to sit.
As time passed more groups filtered in for the flight. Eventually we were told to line up for security. We were excited because we thought that meant the plane was close to arriving. We weren’t sure if it would because of the foggy weather. And apparently there was no communication between the plane and the airport which seemed weird to me.
We had found empty seats at the sole gate and had just gotten comfortable when Neil told us we had to go back to the waiting room. The plane had had to turn around and go back to Keflavik because of the fog. We were to wait to see if the pilots were going to make another attempt. None of us could figure out why we couldn’t just wait by the gate. Being good travelers though, we grabbed our stuff and went back out to the waiting room. I was sorry to leave the gate area though because the chairs in there were much more comfortable than the ones in the waiting area.
We figured that out several minutes later when the man from the hotel came and told Neil that he was taking us back to the hotel that no flight was going out today. Now why hadn’t the airport people told us that? Our luggage was already outside on a flat trailer so we fetched it and put it in the van and began the trek back to the hotel. At least we knew we had a room to sleep in tonight as well as a place to get lunch. One of the groups was having to sleep at the airport. Yuck.
Jacob gave us our old rooms back. Unfortunately the poor girl had already cleaned it. I was hoping she hadn’t gotten around to it yet. It would have saved her some work. They only clean the rooms here when you leave. At least we had fresh towels and Doug had more coffee.
It was after twelve by the time we got into our room and everything sorted. Lunch was already being served so we made our way to the dining room. We dined on soup and sandwiches. Then we all began the process of trying to connect with home and the people who needed to be notified that we would not be back tomorrow. Doug and I never use cellular when we are overseas. We stick to WiFi. Today was the exception since the Internet connection was down. I tried my phone and it didn’t connect. Doug tried his and it appeared that it did connect. It hadn’t. So I tried again and bingo! I got the connect text from AT&T about having international calling. I immediately fired off a text to Sam and let her know the situation. I knew she was at work so we wouldn’t hear back from her until her lunch break.
I also knew she had a dermatology appointment this morning for a dark patch of skin behind her ear. I wanted to know how the appointment went. As the day passed and I didn’t hear from her, I began to get concerned. I admit, my imagination was running away with me. I did my best to control my rampaging mind but it wasn’t easy. I knew my texts were going through because I got a text from a friend.
The day passed slowly. At 3 PM we had an update meeting with Neil. OAT was working on getting us out of here. That was the good news. The bad news was even if the flight goes tomorrow, we may not get on it. The people already booked on that flight have priority. We will get whatever is empty. And there were LOTS of people here trying to get out. More than seats available, I’m guessing. Even better news, the plane doesn’t fly here on Sundays so if we don’t get out tomorrow, we won’t get out until Monday. No wonder Neil wanted to tell us the good news first :-). He did add that Icelandic Air does occasionally send a plane on Sundays when there is a backlog of people needing to get out. He said he’d seen it happen. So now it is a waiting game. At least we knew our flight for tomorrow was cancelled. They really can’t book us on new flights until they know we are getting out of Greenland for sure. Ah, the adventures of traveling 🙂
Meanwhile, I kept waiting to hear from Sam. I texted her every few hours. I texted Joyce as well but didn’t hear back from her either. That didn’t concern me. She doesn’t always answer our texts when we are traveling. Sam is usually good though. I couldn’t understand why I hadn’t heard from her on her lunch break.
Slowly the afternoon passed. I read for a while. Some of the group went berry picking with Neil. It was foggy and misty. I had already been out walking in it several times today and I didn’t feel like picking berries. I just wanted to get a text from Sam.
At 5 we all converged in the bar for Happy Hour. I had $60 U.S. dollars and we knew that we could get two glasses of wine (generous glasses at that) for $10. So we drank wine and chit chatted with the others about our situation. Most everybody was hearing from people back home. Still no word from Sam.
Dinner came and went. Considering Jacob had thirteen extra mouths to feed, he did a great job. We ate well. We actually had beef which was a first since we’ve been gone. It tasted really good. I periodically checked my phone. Still nothing although I knew that I probably wouldn’t hear anything from Sam now until 8 PM our time. That would be 6 PM in Tampa when she gets off work.
At 9 I texted her best friend in desperation. I asked her to call Sam and please have her text me ASAP. Bless Ryiah’s heart, she got right on it. A few minutes later I got a text back from her saying that Sam had been trying to text and had even called. I hadn’t gotten anything. So I tried calling Sam. Thank goodness the call went through although it constantly cut out. We did have contact. Yes! Her appointment had gone fine. All was well. They had cut off the area behind her ear and sent it to the lab just to make sure it wasn’t anything to be concerned about. The nurse practitioner didn’t think it was but just wanted to make sure. I told her the situation here and that we would let her know what was going on when we knew. Then we hung up.
We also figured out that I was only getting texts from people with Android phones. Messages weren’t coming through with iPhones. I have no clue why but when Sam changed her setting to text message rather than iMessage, I started getting them. What a relief! Since Joyce has an iPhone, Sam was going to call her tomorrow and explain the situation. I didn’t want her to get worried if she texted us and didn’t get a reply.
So that was our adventure for today. You just never know what’s around the bend when you are traveling. The key is staying flexible. We are traveling with a great group of people and we are all making lemonade :-). And we will just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings. But I can sleep easy tonight knowing that Sam is okay.
Tales from the Trail 