Traveling...

We did not get back to Bekah’s apartment until close to 3:30 AM. All of us got up around 8:30 AM, enjoyed some good bagels and coffee and exchanged some gifts we had gotten for each other in our travels. Just 12 hours after leaving JFK, we found ourselves back in the car headed to Newark Airport. The trip to the airport was peaceful. What a relief to not have to drive back through New York. This trip was turning out to be pretty normal. The flight was on time. So, we were on our way for our first trip to the west coast. It was disappointing to have so little time with Bekah, but we would see her again in a few weeks. Everything about this flight was so different than the flight from Guyana. There was a nice meal, a movie and the flight attendants were so helpful. This was our first time flying so far west and it was awesome to see the Rockies. Imagine our surprise to see a very distinct mountain peak sticking up through the clouds - Mount Hood. (There is a picture of it on the previous blog.) How inspiring! There were other visible, well known peaks on the other side of us: Mount Ranier and Mount St. Helens. The beautiful views made us forget the frustrations of the previous travels. Here we come, Portland! Hopefully, those traveling travesties are behind us now. We are moving on... (Did you like our "Jeep for a day" and relaxed look Joe has - that's Oregon for ya!!!)

Traveling Travesties

After a few months “hiatus” from blogging, I thought I should bring you up to date on the comings and goings of Joe and Terri. There have been plenty of comings and goings and it will take more than one entry to bring you up to speed. I really wanted to blog while we were on the trip, but it seemed like every minute was occupied. We have decided that our family could collectively write a book called “The Potters’ Traveling Travesties.” Others have told us that this summer has been a horrendous time for people who are flying – many more delays, flight cancellations and lost luggage than usual. Little did we know…
At the very onset of our travels, it seemed like we were not going to be able to get out of Guyana. We left our home in Berbice on June 26 and were scheduled to leave on June 28. This particular airline, which we have never flown with before and hope never to fly with again, changed the date of departure, then, cancelled/ postponed the flight three times. They were nice enough to give us a hotel room in Georgetown, three meals and transportation to and from the airport. So, it wasn’t all bad. However, it wiped out the 2 1/2 days we had planned to visit with Bekah before flying out to Oregon. After all those delays, we finally reached JFK and found huge lines at customs and immigration due to computer glitches. Were we doomed to an all-nighter at JFK on top of the other travesties already experienced? Thankfully, they got things going and we finally met up with Bekah who had spent many hours and cups of coffee with her friend, Emily, while waiting for us to arrive. A kind person in the customs line let us use his cell phone so we could call her and let her know that we were there in the airport. It was Saturday morning,1:30 AM June 29 with 12 hours and counting until we were to fly to Portland, OR. To be continued.....