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I've been incognito for a week -- and it wasn't planned. It's a long story -- one that I will return to over the course of the next couple of weeks as i analyze some of the systems. But the short(ish) story is this:
Last Friday were supposed to take a 6.30 am flight from Seattle to Atlanta. We'd spend the night with my sister, watch my niece play in a Christmas concert, and fly out to the Bahamas mid-morning Saturday.
On Thursday, we lost power in Lynnwood (northern Seattle suburb) as I was getting ready for the week's vacation. I began packing by candlelight, waiting for Mike to return from a work retreat on the other side of Snoqualmie Pass.
When he got home very late Thursday -- through about a foot of new snow -- I left him to pack and take a nap. I headed in to the UW campus to charge the batteries in my laptop, continue grading papers and, unknown to him, continue charging his new iPod Shuffle, an early Christmas present I planned to give him Friday morning.
The Lake
I walked into the basement about 3.30 am. And stepped into two inches of water.
You see, it had rained constantly on Thursday; at one point, we got an inch of rain in an hour. This might not seem like a big deal to someone in Atlanta, but it's a very big deal in Seattle. Especially since we'd just come off of November, the wetest month on record.
And our basement has a sump pump. (Why this is ... is another story.) Which obviously had not been pumping.
So, I woke Mike, told him we had a lake in the basement. We started moving things out, into the garage (higher ground - go figure). He called the insurance company. I called Delta. Fortunately, I resisted the efforts of the reservations lady to reschedule our flight.
About 9 am, I phoned Delta again - to get an idea of our chances of getting out on the 1.20 pm nonstop. Funny thing: I found out that our 6.30 am flight had not left. The Delta lady said our flight was scheduled at 11.30 am and asked if could we make it. You bet ya! We got in gear and flew (metaphorically) to the airport.
The Airport
We didn't know why our plane was late. I'd checked the Seattle Times and KOMO-TV websites about 2 am -- there was no mention of the fact that the airport was closed Thursday night due to weather. And, at that hour of the morning, the news crews didn't know that the airport had also lost power during the night.
We arrived to a teeming, chaotic mass of people. Delta had had power about 15 minutes in its ticketing area. But we didn't know that. No one told us. (More of this in a later story.)
We stood in a line (yes, one line) for almost four hours. (I gave Mike his new iPod Shuffle to pass the time.) We left the line for the bathroom - because airport or Delta personnel kept telling us that any minute now our line would move. There was no wifi.
We ran to our gate, supposedly with 15 minutes to get there -- but the gate closed when we were about 50 yards away. (Mike said the couple in front of us made it.) It was 3.15 pm.
We were ushered onto the 8.15 am flight -- told it was about to leave. So -- no time to go get food or water. (We didn't even ask - we believed their hurry-up mode.) But we sat on the plane for more than an hour.
Then we pulled away from the gate, got in the queue to leave, at about 4.30 pm. The pilot came on and told us that first the airport had lost its main power, making it impossible to communicate from the tower to pilots. It shifted to its backup generator. That failed. It shifted to batteries. There were eight (8) minutes of battery power left, he said, and seven planes in front of us.
He told us we were gonna take off, even if he had to fly visual as though the widebodied craft were a small plane. And he did take off, some how. After 5 pm.
About 11.30 pm (eastern), I felt sick to my stomach and headed to the bathroom. I fainted en route. Seriously bloody nose. EMTs (really nice young man just home from Iraq, another from Juno) were great.
Atlanta
We arrived in Atlanta after 1 am Saturday. I was last off - the paramedics had to check me out. They wanted me to go to ER. I just wanted food and sleep.
We picked up our luggage and got to our hotel. (I'd made a reservation while sitting on the plane waiting for take-off.) The hotel shuttle driver took us to a Waffle House so we could eat. (Bless him!) We got to bed at 3.30 and got up at 6.30. The hotel's wifi did not work. (I'd now slept 3 hours after being up for 40 hours.)
Back to the airport, and to lines. We were travelling with our dog, Katie, so I couldn't use express check-in. We connected with Mike's brother, Greg, about 20 minutes before our plane boarded. His brother Jay was delayed in Phoenix. No, I didn't try to get connected in that teeny window of time.
We landed in the Bahamas, and it was raining, but it was warm. Next, we picked up Mike's parents from the Discovery day cruise. Got something to eat - got back to the resort. WiFi didn't work, and the office was closed.
Montezuma's Revenge
Sunday, I woke up with dystentary. Tuesday, after 48 hours and about 10 ounces of PeptoBismol, Mike took me to the walk-in clinic on the island. Wednesday, I felt better. Wednesday afternoon, I got the wifi to work - but it is slow as molasses. So I'm back, online, sorta!
There's lots to say about systems failures and inadequate planning, on the part of Delta and SeaTac. Neither has clean hands. Oh, and neither does TSA -- reportedly, their systems needed several hours to come online after power loss (where was their UPS?).
Suffice it to say that all anyone would need to do to put this county on its knees would be to overload the power grid in a few key areas of the country. You've been warned.
