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Published: March 7th 2023
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Yesterday I saw a PSA (public service announcement) that the Federal Emergency Management Agency put out using clips from the film Zombieland. There was a gag in this movie where the main character explained his tips or rules for surviving the Zombie apocalypse. So, FEMA had bent those into a PSA with rules for dealing with an emergency, such as an earthquake or tsunami. I bring this up because I could probably put together my own tips for global travelers in like manner. The first tip would be: Be Ready For Surprises.
You will be surprised by the smells and the sounds. You will be surprised by strange sounds and strange animals. You'll be surprised by people, frequently. The money, the rules, the gestures, you're gonna be surprised by a lot of things. One of the big surprises you can expect is that sometimes your travel plans won't go as expected. That's what happened to us on our recent trip to Jamaica.
We were meant to be flying out of SeaTac (Seattle-Tacoma International Airport) at 10:30pm on Wednesday the 22nd, connecting in Miami the next morning, and arriving in Kingston, Jamaica on Thursday the 23rd. But--as we were arriving
Making the Most of It
We’re making weird faces because our travel plans got weird, but we're taking action and making the most of it at the gate to board--they announced that the flight was canceled and delayed by 12 hours. This was after we'd already had a full work day, finished packing, said goodbye to our children and parents, done a 75-mile drive, dealt with long-term parking, rode a shuttle to the airport, checked-in amidst many hassles (that's a whole other story), been through security multiple times (that's part of that other story), and dragged our tired butts up to D29, or whatever gate it was. Now we had to turn around and drag them back down the other way to stand in a long line at the check-in desk, deal with some short-staffed and exhausted American Airlines employees, and figure out what to do.
I am a follower of Haile Selassie I, also known as Ras Tafari or Rastafari. That's not a secret. I first talked about this on my travel blog here in 2007. One of the things that I do is frequently read the speeches and writings of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I. I also subscribe to all the tags on Instagram that I think will bring me interesting posts about him. So, I see a lot of powerful
His Majesty Says
I see quotes of Haile Selassie I on Instagram and I take screenshots of my favorites Haile Selassie I quotes come across my feed on the daily. I took a picture of one of the inspirational quotes that appeared before me that very night, probably while I was waiting in line for security:
"Infuse your life with action. Don't wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen... yourself, right now, right down here on Earth." - Emperor Haile Selassie I
With that spirit in mind, I made some important choices. First thing, we needed to get rebooked on our next flight. The flight agent thought we should just take the same itinerary 24 hours later. There was no way we'd get to Jamaica any earlier, but in his eyes it was better to go home and rest a bit. NO. Our vacation started the moment we left the house. This was Chelly's birthday trip and I could tell she was miserable right now, so I said no. Put us on a flight to Miami in the morning and we'll spend a night out there before connecting to Jamaica the next morning. So we got ourselves on that delayed itinerary, 10:30 the next morning to Miami. Then we were looking at 1 night in Miami before getting on the Friday morning flight to Kingston.
Next was figuring out where we'd sleep that night. The airline refused to give us a hotel voucher
Breakfast
Breakfast at Salty’s with my blessed Queen on our delay day in SeaTac because we lived in state. Never mind that it was now midnight and we'd be driving about 2 hours home, sleeping maybe 4, driving another 2 hours to the airport again, then going through the whole check-in-security dance again. So, I decided that we'd grab a hotel near the airport and at least get some decent sleep before returning in the morning.
We did that, then we checked into the airport nice and early. It all went smoothly this time and we found out our plane had been delayed for another hour. So, we stopped at Salty's for a breakfast so lavish and prolonged that it might have been a Sunday brunch. Now I saw the smile return to my wife's face. It was her birthday eve and we were happily full and about to board a plane to Miami for a night of dancing. Destiny seized, troubles forgotten. Onward.
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