(no subject)
Aug. 30th, 2005 03:35 pmWell... hello everyone (especially ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
romi and gairid). I am back from my lovely vacation in New Orleans, Louisiana. And I totally mean it when I say it was lovely - up until last Saturday, when it suddenly turned into a nightmare. I guess I should consider myself lucky to be alive. And even luckier to be back in Chicago, instead of on top of some hotel roof or inside the Superdome. Because that's where I would be if we hadn't turned on the news on Saturday night. We had NO IDEA what was coming, and the locals (hotel reception, waiters, people on the streets) seemed to know no better. They said: oh, don't worry, just stay inside the hotel until the hurricane passes through, and you're gonna be just fine (should I add that our hotel room was on ground floor?). We almost believed them - up to the point of stocking up on dry snacks, water and alcohol to help us endure the obligatory confinement (we were originally supposed to leave on Monday afternoon, but our flight was rescheduled for Tuesday... and I really don't think there are any flights leaving NOLA on Tuesday, which happens to be right now - with the airport and 80% of the city under water!). Then we turned on the TV and saw a totally different picture. We went from vague excitement to cold nauseating fear within a half hour. We started calling around, and found out that not only are there no flights leaving the local airport any more, but also no buses, trains or rental cars available anywhere within our reach. We panicked. We made desperate calls to most of our family and friends in Chicago, begging for someone to come and get us - which probably wasn't the best idea in the first place, since it's a 15-hour drive and they might not have been able to enter the city at all by the time they arrived. Anyway... by some miracle, we finally found a taxi driver who agreed to take us to the nearest still active airport, which happened to be in Baton Rouge (80 miles away from New Orleans). He waited for us while we packed (I never knew I could pack that fast, lol). We paid him $200, which was nothing compared to what some other tourists from our hotel paid to get out of the city. Then we had to book our return flight, which cost us $650 per person (they only had first class, going through Memphis, Tennessee). And that is exactly what we had paid for the WHOLE trip (flights, hotel reservations and sightseeing tours) while ordering online. Not to mention the fact that I had to call my dad in the wee hours of Sunday morning, asking him to pay for my ticket, since I don't own a credit card. But FINALLY, after a full night of horrible tension and most of the next day spent in airport waiting areas or on planes, among other scared and exhausted people, we found ourselves back home - mesmerized in front of the TV, watching the news. Realizing only then what a narrow escape it really was (the airport in Baton Rouge closed down only a few hours after we left). Scared and grieving for the people who didn't make it on time. And for the city itself - that magical place that we fell so much in love with. I will write more about the positive aspects of our trip... and there were many (after all, we only left one day earlier than we had planned - and that was sheer luck as well). But right now I'm sort of not in the mood - which I'm sure anyone can understand. Besides, I still have a LOT of catching up to do as far as my Yahoo mailbox and flist are concerned... so I will write more when I'm ready. For now, thank you for caring about my safety, and I hope that other people you care about are safe as well. And gairid - I did send you a postcard, but I have no idea whether it actually left the city (I dropped it into the mailbox on Saturday). Who knows - maybe you'll get it in a couple weeks...;)
romi and gairid). I am back from my lovely vacation in New Orleans, Louisiana. And I totally mean it when I say it was lovely - up until last Saturday, when it suddenly turned into a nightmare. I guess I should consider myself lucky to be alive. And even luckier to be back in Chicago, instead of on top of some hotel roof or inside the Superdome. Because that's where I would be if we hadn't turned on the news on Saturday night. We had NO IDEA what was coming, and the locals (hotel reception, waiters, people on the streets) seemed to know no better. They said: oh, don't worry, just stay inside the hotel until the hurricane passes through, and you're gonna be just fine (should I add that our hotel room was on ground floor?). We almost believed them - up to the point of stocking up on dry snacks, water and alcohol to help us endure the obligatory confinement (we were originally supposed to leave on Monday afternoon, but our flight was rescheduled for Tuesday... and I really don't think there are any flights leaving NOLA on Tuesday, which happens to be right now - with the airport and 80% of the city under water!). Then we turned on the TV and saw a totally different picture. We went from vague excitement to cold nauseating fear within a half hour. We started calling around, and found out that not only are there no flights leaving the local airport any more, but also no buses, trains or rental cars available anywhere within our reach. We panicked. We made desperate calls to most of our family and friends in Chicago, begging for someone to come and get us - which probably wasn't the best idea in the first place, since it's a 15-hour drive and they might not have been able to enter the city at all by the time they arrived. Anyway... by some miracle, we finally found a taxi driver who agreed to take us to the nearest still active airport, which happened to be in Baton Rouge (80 miles away from New Orleans). He waited for us while we packed (I never knew I could pack that fast, lol). We paid him $200, which was nothing compared to what some other tourists from our hotel paid to get out of the city. Then we had to book our return flight, which cost us $650 per person (they only had first class, going through Memphis, Tennessee). And that is exactly what we had paid for the WHOLE trip (flights, hotel reservations and sightseeing tours) while ordering online. Not to mention the fact that I had to call my dad in the wee hours of Sunday morning, asking him to pay for my ticket, since I don't own a credit card. But FINALLY, after a full night of horrible tension and most of the next day spent in airport waiting areas or on planes, among other scared and exhausted people, we found ourselves back home - mesmerized in front of the TV, watching the news. Realizing only then what a narrow escape it really was (the airport in Baton Rouge closed down only a few hours after we left). Scared and grieving for the people who didn't make it on time. And for the city itself - that magical place that we fell so much in love with. I will write more about the positive aspects of our trip... and there were many (after all, we only left one day earlier than we had planned - and that was sheer luck as well). But right now I'm sort of not in the mood - which I'm sure anyone can understand. Besides, I still have a LOT of catching up to do as far as my Yahoo mailbox and flist are concerned... so I will write more when I'm ready. For now, thank you for caring about my safety, and I hope that other people you care about are safe as well. And gairid - I did send you a postcard, but I have no idea whether it actually left the city (I dropped it into the mailbox on Saturday). Who knows - maybe you'll get it in a couple weeks...;)
