Another International Trip From Hell

The Miles arrived on schedule last evening near Dulles Airport for our flight out to Amsterdam today ( Wednesday).  We had a great evening at Sweetwater Tavern in Sterling, VA last night and a very nice hotel room at the Hyatt House near the airport.  We have a small suite with sitting area and small kitchen.  Anna, who checked us in said these are used more for long term stays.  She said some people have even stayed for 2 years....yes, that is correct.  Well, no electric bill, no cable, no phone, free breakfast, free Internet.... maybe it is less expensive than an apartment.  Oh, I forgot, housekeeping, too!  We can leave our car free for 2 weeks and have a free shuttle to Dulles.

We are planning a leisure morning here at the hotel when my phone rings and it is Kathy and Gene, our travel partners.  They have arrived at the Minneapolis airport only to find out that our flight from Dulles to Amsterdam this evening has been cancelled!!!!  Oh, boy, here we go again.  They are now booked straight to Paris and then on to Nairobi.  We will not see them here in Dulles.  So we decide we better find out what is happening with our flights.  No word from KLM whatsoever until we call and they confirm that we have no flight to Amsterdam.  After much wrangling with an agent, Bob manages to get us to Amsterdam via Atlanta.  Once in Amsterdam, we are back on original flight plans.  Of course, now our wonderful exit row seats we have paid extra for are long gone and we are not only separated, but are in center seats!!!!   Joyce is now chanting, " We will not let this ruin our vacation" over and over.  This is instead of hitting something and doing some serious damage.

We will all end up in Nairobi pretty much on time and now will pray that our luggage makes it, too.

international flying is not for the faint of heart nor the impatient.  This is testing all of us sorely.