Stuck in the USA for 9 days - no planes out!

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Begging, Crying, Pleading....

I have children I need to get home to

Yes it is true... No plane out for 9 days!!


Ok ... well maybe it was our fault...... but due to a typing error we missed our plane at Salt Lake City. We tried to rush through with only 10 mins to get to our plane.......However if you are a person trying to board a plane at the last minute *this apparently triggers alarm bells in this day and age of increase security* as you could be trying to avoid the long process of checking what you are carrying, so instead of trying to rush through we were STOPPED.....


After boarding about 12 planes we get our first frisk search in the small Salt Lake City Airport and they open our luggage and go through everything. The lady laughed at our huge bottle of Hershey's syrup donated by my friend from Vegas (she thought it was very unusual until I said that we don't ahve it in Australia and it was one of the things my friend missed when she lived there, so she thought we just had to have a bottle!) It was the end of our trip so our clothes were pretty stinky, But they still touched and opened everything. They even went through our scriptures!! So needless to say we didn't catch the flight. Being the height of summer, it was extremely busy we were put on standby for the next flight as it was full.


So nervously waiting, (if we don't make this flight we probably won't make the flight to Australia.) Waiting, waiting..... with our fingers crossed that some misfortune has happened on someone else making them miss their flight, so we can have their seats. But in the end everyone turned up for their flight to LA and there was only one seat left for standby. We debated sending me on my own all the way home and ken a few days behind, but as we didn't have mobile phones, what if I missed the flight in LA anyway? How would we find eachother? So I begged my husband not to send me alone. I didn't think I could do it, if something were to go wrong in either LA or Taiwan. There was one other person hoping to get on the flight and were they happy when I didn't take the single seat!


We finally get on the third flight out to LA with about 10 mins to make our connecting flight to Taiwan. As you all know that would simply be impossible at the LA Airport so we didn't make our flight home to Australia! Oh no! Well we weren't too worried and we just thought we could hopefully catch the next flight, a day late home wouldn't matter. Oh how wrong were we!! What happened next was totally unbelievable... who ever heard of being stuck for 9 days in LA? (In a big city? - this could be understandable if out in the middle of nowhere)


The next three hours were spent in a marathon/workout of sorts. Running back and forth between the international and domestic airports searching for flights and for our luggage. Being sent back and forth with different airlines refusing to take the blame. The debate on where our luggage was, was amazing... Air China's fault, no it is the domestic airline fault - go back to them etc etc, each Airline blaming the other. We went to China Air to see if we could get on the next flight.....


THERE IS A TYPHOON IN TAIWAN AND ALL FLIGHTS ARE BOOKED FOR THE NEXT 9 DAYS!!!!


What the?? They can't help us as it was our fault that we missed the plane! So we go in search of Qantas and Air New Zealand and see if they could help us. We walked between the two places about three times. Being referred onto different people we tell our sad sob story over and over agian... In the end they can't help us BECAUSE....


AIR NEW ZEALAND IS ON STRIKE!! AND QANTAS IS OVERBOOKED AS THEY ARE TAKING ON AIR NEW ZEALAND PASSENGERS!!!


If we wanted to pay $4000 we could maybe get a seat!! Oh my goodness. Of course I was crying saying "I Have to get home to my children" but even tears didn't help. My face was all red , greasy travel hair... Please take pity on us!! As the Air China tickets were cheap no other airline would honour them anyway. By the end of all this I had a huge headache from the stress and crying. We were sweating and stinky from a day of desperately trying to get to LA and then onto Australia.


The next problem was luggage. My bag had come off the Salt Lake flight but my husbands had not. So after we sorted everything with the flights we went to baggage to try and find his bag. They didn't have it and said to check back in a couple of days. The bag probably went on to Taiwan without us. All other times we had spare clothes in out carry'on's except for this time. Now he only had the clothes he was wearing!! What a great end to the day! Consequently we were given the run around big time, with no one answering the free phone line for baggage questions. I got my mother in Australia to ring Qantas (our last flight from Sydney to Brisbane was with them) and they said we had to fix it at our end, not wait till we get home. It was very bothersome, but in the end the bag had gone to Taiwan, had been stopped as it was without passenger, then when our tickets were scanned it was let go again and it arrived in Brisbane the day after we got back home. The bag went on it's own holiday for 10 days!!


So our choices from China Air were:


We could leave LA on the next flight to Taiwan (A typhoon had been 24 hours earlier) but stay in Taiwan for 9 days as the flights out were booked solid and each flight had about 25 people on a waiting list (cut holiday, or business short because of Typhoon).

OR

Stay in LA for 9 days and get the next free flight to Taiwan and straight onto Australia the same day.


I wanted to go to Taiwan, but Ken wanted to stay in LA. I really like Taiwan and thought we could do a bit more exploring. However being the end of our trip and having no money the 9 days accomodation was going to really eat into our budget. So we had to think of it like this:


9 days in Taiwan watching Chinese TV in the hotel room or 9 days in LA watching American TV in the hotel room. As we had previously sampled Chinese TV at the beginning of our trip (nothing can describe how interesting it is) we decided to stay in LA. We got a distress voucher from China Air and they rang around a few hotels to see if any had available rooms.


So we get to the motel - I can't even remember it's name - my memory is scarred from the experience! It had a nice lobby, fairly fancy. Our first night will cost $99 then subsequent nights $40 with the distress voucher. So for $99 US you think you would get breakfast included... no no not at this crappy place taking advantage of stuck travellers!! ( All the other motels we stayed in were wonderful and clean and included breakfast and were cheaper than this joint)


So we get taken down the longest hallway ever. We were seriously walking for 10 mins to our room. People had their doors open and it was truly scarey!! The look of the people staying here wa a little worrisome. I thought we had the chance of being killed!! The nice lobby and rooms were a long way away and the halls were peeling wall paper, none of the ice machines worked and it smelt mouldy. The room had no clock, no microwave, the bar fridge was in the bathroom, the TV remote didn't work, the bed was about 6 metres from the TV (and it was a tiny TV you could barely see the screen and there was no furniture other than the bed, so you had no choice to sit closer. In the end we found out from a friend who had also been delayed by the typhoon that was hotel at the front (where it was nice) and student accomodation at the back (where it was not nice). Our friend had been put in a room similar to ours but asked to be moved as there was no where to put food, milk for their baby.


We were positively scared and thought can we live here for 9 days? We had no food so hubby ventured out on his own to find dinner and came back with KFC. We found a supermarket and went out later to buy supplies (bread and milk) for our meagre week stuck in LA with no money!!

By this time we had called the family. I was more worried for my mother than my kids. I knew they were safe.... but could she handle another 9 days of looking after them? The two and half weeks had almost turned into a month? Would me sister be able to run our business for an extra 9 days? It was most annoying but there was nothing we couyld do now. Just accept our fate and enjoy ourselves.

RING RING??? a phone call...... who could it be? No one knows we are here except family back in Australia.


"Hey guys!" I couldnt leave you in a crummy motel in LA.. I am coming to get you tomorrow morning!! An American friend who had lived in Australia last year. She just happened to be online at the same time my sister was who mentioned to her that we were stuck. She couldn't leave us there. Boy were we glad that we had met her previously and that she liked us. Good karma - what goes around comes around!!


Thank Goodness... saved!! No more crummy hotel for us! We were just wondering how we were going to be able to afford 9 nights at a hotel. Our friend lived at Ricon Point 20 mins south of Santa Barbara. Her boss was giving her the day off to drive 2 hours down to LA to come and get us. Fortune was smiling upon us! Now when she mentioned that she had a house to herself we didn't know it was right on the beach. And I mean right on the beach - their back yard was sand! The water was about 10-20 metres away. Her Grandfather had purchased the house back in the 60's and they still kept it in the family for holidays, she just happened to be working in Santa Barbara so the family let her look after it for them.. SWEET!!


So we went from living in a mouldy gross motel for 9 days to living it up on the beach Santa Barbara stylez....


A bit of swimming, a bit of kayaking, watching for dophins and seals, watching the fog roll in, beachcombing, watching movies, reading books, just basically relaxing. This was exactly what we needed after the last hectic two weeks being bussed from place to place, rush here rush there... now we couldn't go anywhere. Ricon Point is a gated community with about 40 or so houses. Apparently Kevin Costner lived there (we didn't see him), but our friend had. The highway and the trainline were very close by, but apart from that there was nothing around, so once our friend went to work we were stuck!


We were also given a super comfy bed (the main bedroom) so we spent our days lazing around and falling asleep to the sound of the lapping waves. Swimming in the morning and afternoon, watching the seals and dolphins, watching the young surfers try and catch a wave, collecting shells and rocks, reading, watching movies and eating. After a few days of this we were eager to go somewhere. We got a lift to Santa Barbara early in the morning (our friend worked early and left early to beat the very bad California traffic - the only way to her work was the highway that could get very busy.)


So what to do at 7am in Santa Barbara? We walked down to the beach and along the wharf. There were many red starfish attached to the poles of the wharf. You could look in the water and see dozens. I took some photo's but they didn't turn out, just murky water with a shadow were the starfish are. There were people fishing from the wharf so we watched them and the fog. The fog in California is amazing. It rolls in and out quite quickly. From the house we saw some fog in the middle of the air near the hills. We thought something was on fire, but our friend said, no that is just fog. Always fog around this time. You can see in the distance and then you can't.


After that we had breakfast at an old school American Diner (it was new but decorated 60's style) mmm Maple swirl french toast with bacon... American certainly know how to do breakfast!!! Fatty fatty goodness. It was still early morning so we walked around waiting for shops to open. I needed to go to the toilet we had tried McDonalds but you had to buy something or pay to use their toilets. This is due to the high homeless population of Santa Barbara. I have never seen so many homeless people until I came to the United States. We saw many in Salt Lake City begging, we saw a man passed out from the heat in Vegas with paramedics taking him away, and probably about 100 or so in Santa Barbara. Quite a few lived down near the beach and at first of was a little wary of them. All of the chairs along the shopping district were used by homeless people begging. Some made little things for you to buy but some were reading books with their feet up with signs that just said "Give me money." So even though we were in a very rich upmarket place, my eyes were opened to how some people have to live. It was very sad actually. Many shops had signs saying "Don't be an enabler" ie don't give to the beggars. Santa Barbara has a real problem with the homeless and many lived in some bush on a hill near the town and the person who owned the land was trying to kick them out.


We went to the movies and saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the one with Johnny Depp and spent the rest of the day browsing shops. The shops were along one main long street and a few plaza squares. It was the best shopping district I have ever been and had so much character, with Spanish inspired designs. If only we had money!! The one downside was that I really wanted to visit a Walmart as my friend in Vegas had got some good deals and we didn't have time in Vegas ( I wanted to pick up some video games for my little brother) HOWEVER.... the people in Santa Barbara voted against having a Walmart in their town, so you had to go south to Ventura if you wanted to go to Walmart. Well I think that is great and all, but I really wanted to get some cheap stuff as we had no money. So I can actually say that I did NOT visit a Walmart in the whole time I was in the United States. I did not support that *evil* global empire!! ha ha ha ha


We also visited this cool global world type gift shop. It had things from many countries. It also had Vegemite!!! and Caramello Koala's!! So of course we had to buy some for breakfast for the rest of the week. We picked up a few things as bribery gifts for the children as they were starting to really miss us. We enjoyed our day out getting to experience more of the United States. We have been on the West coast we have been on the East Coast... Yeah baby!


We also went to church while we were in Santa Barbara and it was also Pioneer Day while we were there. This is a day to celebrate the Pioneers who made it all the way to California. We went to a big BBQ and activity type day. We also went shopping the first day we got to Santa Barbara to buy clothes for the man. As I said the luggage was lost so we bought 3 new outfits and a pair of shoes and a pair of swimmers. Can't spend a week on the beach without your togs!! We had a fun time in Menswear trying to cover all bases for 9 days! (3 outfits to cover varied activities - church, BBQ, shopping, swimming, dining out etc etc..)


The end of our time finally arrived. Being over cautious we got to the LA airport 5 hours early. It took a while to get through the baggage scanners - they dont do it for you, you join a LONG line with your bags and they check them before you check them in!! With no problems this time we flew into Taiwan, swapped planes and flew into Australia. We actually slept on the plane this time thanks to some travel pillows we bought after the first day on the bus tour. My husband and I were all curled up all over each other. I don't know how people travel alone in Economy without touching the person next to them. We even swapped seats so we could take turns sleeping on the window. We were meant to have a 5 hours or so in Sydney but the lady saw that we had been a long flight and stuck, so she put us on the next plane to Brisbane. We had a bus drive us through the airport and straight over to domestic, we got to see so much what goes on behind the Airport, it was pretty cool.


Once at home our fan base was waiting for us... Of course they missed us over those extra 9 days!! We were so happy to see them, they looked like they had grown over those three weeks. Amazing what happens when you aren't there to see it.


This trip was certainly a once in a lifetime experience and we enjoyed it so much. Many amazing things happened to us and we are so grateful to our friends who helped us out and let us stay at their houses. Thanks to those in Utah, Las Vegas and California!!


Hope you enjoyed following our trip to the USA! I have enjoyed reliving it all again!!

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Photos

Sunset
Ricon Point near Santa Barbara

Sunset
Ricon Point near Santa Barbara

Sunset
Ricon Point near Santa Barbara

Washed up
Ricon Point near Santa Barbara

The Beach House
It is the one on the left

View from the house
So beautiful, but that is the highway in the middle of the picture

A bit of Kayaking
There were dolphins and seals in the water, and lots of seaweed

Ricon Point
A photo of a photo on the wall at the house. It is the fifth house from the Right.

Santa Barbara
Main Square in Shopping district

Santa Barbara
Shops, One long street of shopping. It was really nice. Even the cheap brand stores looked fancy.

Ricon Point
You had to wear shoes to the beach - Rocks, sticks, seaweed

Santa Barbara
Spanish inspired Architecture - Shopping District

Wharf
Mucking around early in the morning at the wharf

LA Airport
On our way home

Home Again
Our adoring fans waiting for us!!

Comments

[Jane]

what a fascinating story re your delay - I felt I was there with you rushing back and forth...hey they run in the airport ALL the time on Amazing Race (perhaps they pre organise it) I have to go back and see if I can find the posts I missed - loving the journey!