A Small Sample of my Travel Nightmares



As told to a good friend of mine, following my harrowing return trip from the IAC Winter School on the Canary Islands in 1996. The story picks up with me having missed my flight from Madrid to New York because the Iberia flight from Tenerife to Madrid was late (never fly Iberia...):

"As expected, I had missed my flight from Madrid to New York. TWA said I would have to wait and catch the same flight on Sunday. I was tearful, but figured I could handle it if this doesn't get any worse. At the Iberia desk, I tried to convince them to cover the cost of the hotel room, but was coldly told that they were not liable. Making some pathetic sounding speech about money being more important than people (to which the rep. replied that the airline had to make a profit), I stormed off in search of a phone. I spent 20 minutes trying to call home, lost my last 200 pesetas in change and any remnants of control I had left. Random people were by now stopping to ask if I was ok.
Anyway, I finally found someone to show me how to use the phone, called home, and arranged for a hotel room. I sat in the room that night thinking that I had just overreacted a bit and that the situation could be much worse. After all, I would be home the next day, and I could just pretend this day never happened.
I made my flight just fine the next day. My cold had gotten a bit worse but I was very happy to be going home. During the course of the flight from Madrid to New York, however, my cold continued to worsen. My throat began to ache, and I must have drank at least a gallon of water. By the time we landed, I had little voice left. But, I thought, it could be worse. I can handle it.
The flight from New York to Detroit is only 90 minutes. By the time I got off the plane, I couldn't speak, my fever was around 102, and I was having a little trouble breathing because my throat was swollen. I couldn't even say hi to my family. We went straight from the airport to the hospital. The doctors concluded I had a bad viral infection, which in doctor talk means go home and suffer. In fact, I believe I had the famed Minnesota flu of 1996, which I went all the way to Africa to catch. Oh yeah, I also had an ear infection, as an added bonus."

And that was just the trip back. Sometime I'll tell about the trip there...