Flow with it

Life has a way of throwing things our way and seeing how we deal with what we are dished. Traveling tends to up the anti on what we are thrown. Traveling in Kabul takes this to another level altogether.

On Wednesday I attempted to head out on my travels. As a veteran of the Kabul airport, I came armed with several books and the fair certain knowledge that there were foreseeable delays in my near future. After seven hours of waiting we finally boarded the plane. Another hour later we were told that air traffic control wouldn’t let us fly because it was too late. Funny that there was no reason given as to why we didn’t fly in the middle of the afternoon as we were supposed to.

In the end we were sent on our way and told that our bags would stay on the plane. This meant that one way or another we were stuck on this flight; like it or not.

In the end the one missed flight meant that it took me an extra day to get to the states and I couldn’t make it to SF in time for the conference I was supposed to speak at. Luckily James was a bit closer and we were able to book him to attend the conference instead of me. In addition to a fun filled day at the Kabul airport, it also meant that I had 24 hrs in Dubai and another 48 unexpected hours in Boston. Originally the American Airlines agent let me know that I couldn’t get a flight until next Thursday. I managed to work my magic around this. The good news: I’m not about ready to get on a red-eye as I would have according to my original schedule.

As luck would have it, Kabul has this fabulous new regulation that says you can’t bring cords of any kind in your hand luggage. This includes laptop cords, mobile phone chargers, etc.

The result: when they hold your luggage over night, this means that you must sort out all new travel arrangements within the life of your battery. I managed to cancel two plane tickets, rebook another ticket, book a ticket for my husband to attend the conference that I missed in SF, book a priceline hotel in Boston, and write several people to let them know that plans had changed before my battery died.

The good news, after traveling as much as I have, you learn to roll with the punches and go with it. There really aren’t that many options when it comes down to it. This includes the cross-Atlantic flight with no movies what-so-ever.

In the end I’ve enjoyed a lovely weekend relaxing in Boston and trying to pretend that I don’t have post-plane stuffy nose in this frigid weather.

Life is good, wherever it takes you.

Miel