But let me back up to early Saturday morning. That was when the left
arm of my glasses broke. (I thought, “Of course this had to happen right before
my trip and on the weekend, when my eye doctor does not have office hours!”) I
taped the arm back on as a temporary fix, then showed it to someone at a
different optometrist’s office that was open on Saturday. The diagnosis
was “The spring is broken; it can’t be fixed.”
I retaped it a couple of times over the weekend in order to be able to
continue using my glasses, then planned to visit my optometrist at 8:00 Monday
morning, right when his office opened. I notified the man who was scheduled to
take me to the airport that he might need to pick me up at the eye doctor’s
office instead of my house, and he was willing to pick me up either place.
At 7:40 yesterday (Monday) morning, Anita and I went to the
optometrist’s office. I showed them my glasses and they agreed with the weekend
diagnosis: no way to repair them. Then they looked to see if they had the same
frame in stock. They didn’t. But they did have one of the same size and shape
but a slightly different color. So 20 minutes later, I left with my lenses in a
brand new frame. We had time to get back home before my scheduled pick-up time,
so I called my driver and let him know to come to our house. Thank you, God,
for a great (and quick) last-minute solution to my glasses problem!
I arrived at the Charlotte airport around 10:15, got my bags checked in
by a person who was very helpful and
courteous, then quickly went through the security checkpoint without any
complications. I found my gate without difficulty, and my flight to Newark was
scheduled to leave on time. …Only it didn’t because there was a mechanical
problem that needed to be taken care of before we could board, so we were
delayed by about 30 minutes. While waiting in line, I chatted with a man who has
traveled all over the world for business. He gave me a tip about the Newark
airport: Use the shuttle to go from one terminal to another; you avoid having
to go through security a second time that way.
The 30-minute delay wasn’t a problem for me, since I had a four-hour
layover scheduled in Newark, giving me lots of room for flight delays without
complications. In the end, I was able to use a one-time pass to the United Club
lounge to spend two hours or more checking email and getting a free lunch.
While there, I had a nice conversation with a Norwegian traveling to Colombia
on business. It was also during this break in the lounge that I learned that my
friends at SIL in Dakar would be sending a taximan to pick me up when I arrived
at the airport there. I was to look for someone holding an “SIL” sign up at the
airport exit.
The flight from Newark to Brussels was also delayed, but this time
after everyone had boarded. There was a mechanical or electronic malfunction
that needed to be checked out before we could leave. I think we left about an
hour behind schedule but made up some of the lost time while in the air so that
we arrived only about 30 minutes later than planned. Again this was not a
problem for me because I had plenty of time between flights in Brussels.
Kevin Warfel
Yikes! It sounds like you ran into some turbulence on your trip and not in the air, either! At least you made it to where you were going and there were not any major inconveniences. I imagine it was still stressful nonetheless though. It sounds like you took it like a champ and just kept plugging along. God bless you!
ReplyDeleteAudrey Mack @ Find Clarity Vision Apex