Saturday, we were up at 6:30 am, had a relaxed breakfast at the Wyndham Resort, caught a 9:00 shuttle to the airport with Howard and Kathy, two other participants on our tour, and arrived at the airport with plenty of time. Many others in our group had gotten up at 4:30 am to catch early flights. We checked our luggage, passed through security and went in search of the United Airlines Lounge (flying business class has its perks). We made a wrong turn and ended up at a 'non-jetway' gate on a lower level of the terminal and, surprise, we ran into Cheryl and Sybil. They had left the hotel much earlier but all of the early flights were delayed due to volcanic ash in the air over Costa Rica. The Turrialba Volcana had erupted with a significant ash cloud. It is the eastern most, active volcano in Costa Rica and is nearly 11,000 feet high. Its activity began in 2010.
To pass some time, we played a round of Quiddler with Cheryl and Sybil. They finally got called for the flight and Betsy and I went off to lounge to await our flight,thinking the worst was behind us. We were wrong. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 1:00 but a 2-hour delay was posted while we were in the lounge (due to the ash cloud). We boarded at 3:00 but had another 30 minute or more delay because we had no crew. Then, once in our seats, they first announced that were having some difficulty finishing up the "paperwork," and then second notified us that Costa Rican Immigration was having some angst about the numbers of people on the plane. We ultimately took off 3 1/2 hours late.
United Airlines rebooked us on the last flight of the day to Austin. I bet you know what happened, given that we had to retrieve our luggage in Houston, pass through Customs, etc. We made it to the ticket counters about 30 minutes before our plane to Austin, but the agent could not issue us a new boarding pass since there was too little time to clear security and get to the gate to board. Our luggage never made it either. Once again, we were unlucky with a "connecting" flight plan.
The agent rebooked us on a 6:50 am flight to Austin the next morning and said goodbye. We were on our own for overnight accommodations - it was not the airline's responsibility. Thank goodness for smart phones. I was able to find an on-site hotel, Marriott, and booked a room immediately. We then had to find out where the hotel was. It turned out that Houston Airport has an underground subway train that serves the hotel. There is a more used above-ground tram system that most passengers experience to move befween the terminals.
We made it to the hotel, checked in and got coupons for free drinks at the bar. About 10 pm, we availed ourselves of the free drinks and had a snack besides - lettuce cups with chicken. I called United Airlines and requested a later flight in the morning (leaving at 9:00 am) and got reseated into business class. That was fortunate.
We got up the next morning, dressed in yesterday's clothes and rode the subway to the correct terminal for our 9:00 am flight to Austin. We stopped off at the Business Class lounge for a light breakfast and listened to the tv news that there was a powerful storm front moving through eastern Texas, spawning many tornado watches. There was no posted delay for our flight, but the crew was again late in arriving, and flight planning took longer than usual - to get an acceptable route around the storms (otherwise known as "convective" activity).
Meanwhile, I was in frequent contact with John in Austin via texting, who was keeping us informed about the threatening and dramatic storm that was occurring in Austin. Why the pilots chose to depart for Austin is a mystery to us. In any case, we flew to Austin, circled the airport for 15-20 minutes hoping the weather would pass by. We were getting seriously bounced and jostled while in the holding pattern. The pilots finally called quits and we flew to Corpus Christi. We landed, sat on the Tarmac, refueled and waited for more flight planning and dispatch/pilot decisionmaking. It is interesting to note that Corpus Christi is further from Austin than Houston.
We finally left Corpus Christi and arrived into Austin in bright skies with no signs of any storm except for a few, little puddles. We retrieved our luggage, which arrived earlier, arranged a Fasten ride (Austin's Uber service), and arrived at John's at 2:00 pm, originally scheduled for 9:00 pm the previous day.
We changed clothes, and went for a walk. We then drove downtown for supper at Bangers, a lively brew pub with 104 beer taps and the young crowd, with an obnoxiously loud band next door. We finished the evening with a brief tour of the Driskill Hotel, famous for its history, architecture and interior design. It is also the place were LBJ had his first date with Lady Bird (whatever her name was) and where they honeymooned. We had dessert in the hotel's 1886 Bakery. The desserts were good and the atmosphere much quieter.
After an hour of tv back home, we retired.
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