From A to B...Adelaide to Boston

According to euclidean geometry, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Of course, for boats and airplanes,the shortest distance is the rhumb line following the curve of the earth. In my case, however, attempting to get from A to B, that's Adelaide to Boston, none of these mathematical theorems seem to be working. The airplane mechanical gods and the weather gods have conspired to cause cancellation after cancellation and delay after delay, interminable hours of waiting in long queues and rather circuitous routing. After traveling from Adelaide to Melbourne to Sydney, my Sydney-LA flight was canceled. Misinformation, disinformation and no information made for a frustrating, long day ending at 11pm at a Comfort Inn in a Sydney suburb. Another eight hour wait the next day at the Sydney airport and I was bound for the USA. The ineptitude and lack of follow-up on the part of the United Airlines crew in Sydney was inexcusable. United used to be my airline of choice … no more. I'm DIS-united.

I finally arrived in LA, tired and lame, but only a continent away from Boston and my mom and sister. Unfortunately, my rescheduled flight to Boston from LA via Denver was delayed due to “no plane” (hm....I thought this was an airline?), followed by a blizzard in Denver which canceled over 200 flights. They re-routed me once again … this time through Houston. Another six hour wait for a midnight arrival in Houston and a 0700 flight to Boston.

Frustration and fatigue have taken their toll. I'm grouchy, restless and exhausted. I've been in constant contact with my sister, Lin, in Boston and David back in Adelaide. In fact, Lin knows my flight schedule better than I do since she's re-arranged part of it on my behalf. Have you had days like this? Can you empathize with the emotional roller coaster I seem to be riding?

It took me 75 hours to get home. I shouldn't complain, I guess, since it took us 13 years to get to Australia, so 75 hours return is nothing. The raw and cold hit me like a slap in the face as I exited the terminal and headed to the slushy passenger pick-up area of Boston's Logan Airport. Lin spotted me before I saw her. What a relief!

My mom is hanging on by a thread. I'm here and I cannot change a thing, but at least I'm here.

Thanks to everyone for their comments, emails and support. You have no idea how good it feels to know that you're thinking of us.

Hurricane Sandy

When it comes to bad weather, we're usually on the receiving end of e-mails inquiring if we're okay. We were in Niue when the tsunami hit the South Pacific in 2009. E-mails flooded in from folks hoping we were okay. We were fine, although we made a quick departure from our mooring when the tsunami warning came over the radio. We were at Stewart Island, NZ when a major earthquake hit Christchurch, to the north of us. Again, we were safe, but our friends and family had no way of knowing this and we were unaware of their concern. Since we've been sailing, each time there's been a natural disaster in our part of the world, our family has been worried and anxious for us. So it's quite the turnabout this time around, when we are sitting in a calm, serene marina in Tasmania and it's our family on the east coast in Washington, DC and Boston that are experiencing the wrath of Hurricane Sandy. We've been on the internet constantly today, checking NOAA for weather updates and CNN for national news. Electricity is out in a half million homes; phone service is out in many areas and we have no idea what is happening other than the media reports which are general and not specific to our family.

At last, a quick email from my sister and one from our oldest son. Windy, rainy, trees down, flooding, but thankfully all are safe. Our thoughts are with all of our friends on the east coast and we're hoping they are as fortunate and as safe as our family.