I knew it would take a while to download the pictures and update my blog on the trip, but there were a few things I didn't want to forget, so I thought I had better do a quick update.
So many mishaps and tender mercies. Keith and I left for the airport on 9/19/23 at 6:00 p.m. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 9:10 p.m. We figured we had plenty of time to get to the airport, through TSA, etc. On the way, we were close to Riverdale, when Keith realized that he had forgotten his cane. We got off of the freeway, and then we stopped at Target so I could run inside and get one for him. They were out, so we hurried over to Walmart. I grabbed a cane and went to pay, and realized that I had left my wallet with my license, money, credit cards, everything we need for the trip. I remembered I had taken it out in the bear room, and I must have forgotten to put it back in my purse.
Now we were in a terrible time crunch. We got to Pleasant View, I got my wallet and looked for Keith's cane, and then left with the new cane. We hurried to the airport. We got there about 7:50 p.m. We pulled into what turned out to be the employees parking lot. We asked a transportation worker there if we could park there. He explained the situation to his boss, who said we could park there for the next ten days. On the way to check in our luggage, we realized that we didn't have Keith's CPAP Bag. We decided we didn't have time to go all the way back to the car. We would miss our flight, so we left it in the car, knowing that we would both have a hard time sleeping.
He then took us up to where we needed to check in our luggage. The lady at the counter told Keith that they had to have all international luggage loaded one hour before the flight. Keith looked at his watch and said, "It is 7:59 p.m." Please check in our luggage. She did and then we were off to TSA and the gate.
We got through security, not without a hassle about Keith's leg braces. Then we got to the gate as they were starting to board the plane. We made it by the skin of our teeth. Tender Mercy!!!
We arrived in London- Heathrow airport approximately 12-13 hours later. We had a two hour layover. I was dying of thirst. The airport chillers were out so therefore there was nothing cold to drink. I asked a guy at an airport bar if I could just get a cup of cold water. He said, yes, but I would have to sit in the bar and drink it there. Oh brother. I then found Keith a few energy drinks. He was drained. They weren't real cold, but he drank them anyway.
The airport did not post the gate we were supposed to be at until about 15 minutes before the flight took off. It was a rush to get to the gate, but we made it. We landed in Amsterdam several hours later. The Amsterdam airport is huge. And confusing. We were supposed to meet a Viking Representative there when we landed and got our luggage who would drive us to the ship. We were told that our luggage would be at gate 17. We walked the full way there, Keith should have gotten wheelchair assistance. He was completely wiped out. I waited and waited for our luggage. Finally, thinking out luggage had gotten lost, went to report it. An airport worker said, your gate is gate 10. I had to run all the way back to gate 10 and get our luggage and then meet Keith by the doorway. Luckily, the Viking Representative was still there waiting for us and he took us to the ship.
When we got to the ship, we checked in and the captain brought us a sandwich and salad to eat. We were starving - we had missed dinner, and the opening night festivities. We were just grateful to be on the ship, sailing away.
If that wasn't enough excitement, the next day we arrived in the Netherlands. We were in Kinderdijk. We had planned to ride on a barge to see the windmills. We woke up to pouring rain, I mean pouring hard. People were soaked as we walked from the ship to the barge. It was a good long walk. Keith was ready to call it quits. We got on the barge and then we got off at the oldest working windmill. By then, we were all soaked to the bone. There was sleet/snow on the windows, it was so cold. People were ringing out their jackets. It took me two days to get my tennis shoes dried (by blow dryer).
Many folks got sick because of the weather. Keith was one of them. He was delirious with a fever. He wasn't making sense. It scared me bad. I didn't think to pack cold medications. I had some cough syrup and Benadryl. That was it. I notified the Program Director and asked if they had any medications on the ship or a doctor. They did not. I was able to get Keith to the bed and he slept for the next 30 hours. I made him drink some water and finally he was able to eat something and gain consciousness.
Dimi, our housekeeper, was kind enough to change the bedding, since he was soaked with such a high fever and it broke. I didn't want to get sick as well. (We tipped her good).
Keith had to miss one of the outings. The trip to see the palaces. I went by myself. On the way back to the ship, I must have accidentally dropped by little wallet with money, my license, credit cards, etc. when I was getting my chapstick out. I didn't realize it until I got back to the ship. The bus had taken a group from our ship out to a beer tasting night in the town. I was very fortunate that a guy from our ship found my wallet and turned it in. I was absolutely sick and relieved.
We met a couple from England, John and Sandy Connell. We pretty much hung out with them the whole trip. It felt like we had been friends forever. We had a great time. Sandy and I would do the walking tours that the guys couldn't do.
The Connell's had extended their stay a few days, only in Basel, not Lucerne. We bid them farewell, and off we went. We stayed in Lucerne for two days. The first day was jam packed. It about did both of us in. It was great though. The second day we took things easy. So nice. That evening, we had dinner on the patio of the hotel. It was the best hamburger and fries I had ever eaten (Happy Cows) for $28.00 a piece.
The next morning we headed to the Zurich airport. We had about an hour and a half bus ride. We got to the airport, through security, and boarded the plane. It was a 15 hour flight. So long. But we were doing okay. We got to LAX. Our flight was delayed 40 minutes, so we knew that we would have to make a mad rush to get where we needed to be. We checked our luggage in. We had wheelchair assistance after struggling through long lines to check in our baggage. We were then directed to wait in wheelchair assistance for 20 minutes while they got us a wheelchair to take us to the gate. The wheelchair assistance never came. I was getting very anxious when I told Keith, they are boarding the plane, we have to go. Our gate was 86A. We were on the bottom floor. I ran was fast as I could to the gate, only to find out that the plane had left 10 minutes earlier. I was so disappointed. So our luggage went to SLC and we did not.
We walked all the way to the United Customer Service. I felt bad for the guy who had to listen to Keith yell at him about how we had missed our flight. He told the guy that there was nothing they could do to make this right. The poor guy listened and then tried to book us another flight home. He had one leaving LAX to Denver, then to SLC. I told him no way. We needed a direct flight. We found a Delta flight leaving LAX at 10:00 a.m. We waited and waited for a confirmation with no luck. The guy at customer service gave us a voucher for a hotel room and a meal voucher. Then sent us on our way. We caught a shuttle for the hotel, not knowing if we had a flight home the next day. We contacted SLC Airport to tell them about our luggage. They said they could only hold our luggage for one day.
I took the food vouchers downstairs and tried to get us something to eat for dinner. I ordered a Brick Oven Pizza. It was heavenly. I got some energy drinks for Keith. I knew this was going to be a long night. Keith was on the phone until 2:00 a.m. trying to get our flight confirmation. I don't think either of us slept. We had no toiletries, we had no clean clothes, we had nothing. The little gift hop at the hotel was closed when we got there, so no luck with toiletries. We both got in the shower at 4:00 a.m. and we were out the door at the airport at 6:00 a.m. waiting to catch our 10:00 a.m. flight. We hung out at the airport, I cashed in some food vouchers to get us some breakfast (yogurt) and drinks and we waited.
I was so happy to arrive in SLC! We went to the United Customer Service Counter, and got our luggage. We headed out to our car. We loaded everything up, and we were about to leave the airport when we discovered that Keith didn't have his wallet. It must have fallen out. We parked the car and retraced our steps for the next hour and a half, until we felt defeated and like we would have to cancel everything and start over. Keith opened the backseat to put his cane in, when he saw the top of his crabby wallet. We were so relieved and exhausted. Another tender mercy! We paid for parking (twice as much as we should have). At this point, we didn't care. All we wanted to do was get home.
We arrived in Pleasant View around 4:30 Saturday 9/30/23. We said hello to Rebel, unloaded the car, and tried to unpack and unwind. I made piles of laundry to do. By 7:00 p.m., I started feeling really light headed, and laid down. I slept several hours and then got up and did laundry and then went back to bed. Thank heavens it was General Conference weekend and I could catch up on laundry while watching.
Keith and I realized how many tender mercies we experienced and how much Heavenly Father truly does love us.
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