thehowe_v7.1

Location: Somewhere between Newark, NJ and Detroit

Ugh... what a day. Our flight home from Amsterdam left at about 2 PM today, or it was supposed to. As we were about to taxi to the runway they stopped the plane because a refugee was hiding in the wheel wells. After the police had searched the plane inside and out for an hour and escorted a family of four off of the plane, we finally were allowed to leave. Fortunately, the rest of the flight went smoothly and we only arrived in JFK 20 minutes late. It was then 4:30 PM, and our flight from Newark to Detroit didn't leave until 8 PM - plenty of time. The ground transportation official kindly informed us that we could get a taxi or take a bus to Newark, but that the shuttle bus would be cheaper. Optimistically, we boarded the bus.

Three hours and 20 minutes later, at about 7:50 PM, we finally arrived at Newark after cruising JFK for more passengers, getting stuck in traffic, and having to wait 10 minutes when we switched buses. The total fare was as much as a cab would have been, and the cab could have got us there in an hour and a half, max. The lady at the ticket desk - once we found it - told us our plane was leaving in 5 minutes so we'd better run. Luckily all of our luggage was small enough to be carry-ons. Unluckily, my dad had to leave behind his good Swiss Army Knife and eyeglass pliers, because he couldn't take them on the plane. Despite having our bags searched at the security checkpoint by a guard that was in no hurry and being told that they would not hold the plane for us, we finally made it to the airplane and are now on the way to Detroit.

Now all we have to do is complete the 2 hour drive home, keeping in mind that according to our biological clocks it's 3 AM instead of 9 PM. Yay.