After the process of boarding a few hundred people on the plane and getting things settled and ready to go we hear "flight attendants, secure the doors." I was excited to be getting back to my movie - Jane Austen's "Emma" so was preoccupied with that. A few minutes later we hear, "flight attendants, unsecure the doors." Wait a second......shouldn't we be taking off instead of re-opening the doors?? The captain came over the PA and explained that there was a problem with one of the jet engines so we would all need to exit off of the plane for a while until they figured things out. UGGG. I seriously only had 5 minutes left of my movie. ;-) It was kind of a pain to load up all my stuff and squeeze through bustling passengers and crowded seats again, but it worked out and everyone just found a spot back in the airport and waited with hopefulness.
Everyone was predicting what would happen. I heard such stories as "This happened to my friend, and it only took them 45 mintues to fix it." I also heard, "This happened to one of my friends and it took 3 days." The guy sitting directly across from me happened to be a producer for the TV show Survivor (which they were filming in Samoa this season - Mekelle and I watched a couple of episodes while home in NZ). He was T.O.'d big time and was complaining how the exact same thing happened to them last season...
So.....despite our hopefulness and through-the-grapevine stories, the captain came in and told us all what was going on. Apparently when he went turn on the plane one of the starter engines started on fire so he turned it off right away. Ultimately, it was an issue with the starter. We had to order a new part and have it flown in from New Zealand. As a result, we were going to be stuck in Samoa for some time. Nobody knew how long yet. Air New Zealand put all of us passengers in a hotel for the night. We were trying to be nice so the 3 of us waited until the end to take our turn. With hundreds of people and all of our luggage, plus going through security and customs, let's just say it was an unpleasant few hours. This all took place in the dead of the night, so nothing was open. We were so hungry, tired, and especially thirsty in the hot, humid Samoan air. I had no Samoan money so I couldn't call my family to let them know there was a huge change in plans. We did find some wireless internet though, so we were very happy about that. I tried to lay across a few chairs to get some shut-eye and kill some time, but nothing happened. When I sat up this is what I saw in the chair next to me:
This section of the airport was all open - few windows and doors and such, so the animals would just wander in.
There was still a group of us waiting to be taken the the hotel but there was an unusual long wait. Taxi cabs had been coming and going transporting people and bags. We figured out the hotel they were taking everyone to was full, so they were trying to figure out what to do with us. Finally around 4 a.m. we got picked up and taken to our hotel. I rode on the floor of the bus squished between various strangers' legs. It was bumpy ride, but happy to be going somewhere finally. Rumor was that it was even better than the one the others were stayng. It is a world-class resort. All I can say is...HOLY COW. This place was AMAZING!
We got in around 5 a.m. and fell into bed. We got up around 9:30 to make it to breakfast before it ended at 10. This is the view from my window. Paradise? I thought so....
We went down to the gigantic breakfast hut and we were served an amazing breakfast.
I even got a giant glass of hot cocoa, even though it was 90 degrees out. Luxury. I ate as much as I could because I figured the next time I would be eating would be on the plane later that evening. We received word to meet in the lobby at 3:30 to start hauling everyone back to the airport.
After breakfast Angela and I took a ride on a paddle boat, and then I tried out the kayak. Pretty fun! The water was soooo warm and blue. We walked along the beach on our way back by the pool for while - my last chance to get some sun - and relax until it was time to head back to the airport. A lot of people joked that they wouldn't mind if the plane couldn't be fixed for a couple more days, haha....
We made friends with a young couple - he was from South Carolina and she was from New Zealand. We did a few things with them and ran into them often, helping each other out on passing information and whatnot. So, they gave us the "in" when they told us that Air New Zealand was also paying for our lunch - we could get a hamburger or fish n' chips. Since I fell in love with fish n' chips while in NZ, I decided to enjoy them one last time. And, let me tell ya, these were some QUALITY fish n' chips! I was still full from breakfast, but ate some of it anyway. We ordered it and had it brought to us on a silver tray with white fancy cloth - the whole works. I also went up to the bar and asked for a lemonade. I realized that when the guy handed me a can of Sprite, that was what they called "lemonade." I had heard of that before I left for New Zealand, but now that my trip was coming to a close, I actually experienced it. I thought that was funny.
I got to lay in the glorious sun for a little bit, then we headed back to our room to pack up and get ready to head to the airport for take-off #2. We were transported to the airport and had to wait around for another long time as everyone was shuffled through check-in, customs and security yet again. However, we were lucky to have wireless internet, so we could keep ourselves preoccupied for a while. I kept my fan and water bottle with me the whole time. Those fans are amazing, I'm tellin ya.
When we re-boarded the plane and got re-situated, people were much more cheerful and happy this time. It's interesting how you recognize specific people and connect with each other as you experience an incident like this together. We were all in the same boat and some people handled it better than others. I remember talking to one Samoan lady, now living in Utah, who was alone with her 5 small kids. She wanted to break down and cry when the starter broke down because she had just gotten all the kids to go to sleep on the plane and was hoping they would sleep most of the flight. And, of course I loved our NZ/USA couple friends. They were great. All in all, everyone was happy to be on our way again. We took off about 5:30 p.m. and I caught up on my shows and movies throughout the flight. I slept maybe a total of 3o minutes altogether on the 9-hour flight. We got into LAX at about 7 the next morning. I had originally had a flight scheduled on Southwest from L.A. to Omaha but because it was a day later, I waited in the LAX airport until 4 p.m. It was a looonnnnggg day. I flew into Omaha about 11:30 p.m. and got back home in SD at 3 a.m. I decided I'm sick of airports and am done traveling for a little while, haha!
So, although at the time I was frustrated, I'm glad I got to spend a luxurious day in Samoa!
No comments:
Post a Comment