STUCK IN THE STATES!
Yesterday was my big day to pack (and re-pack) our suitcases, to decide which clothes to leave here for the spring and which to take back to Italy, to store my cooking supplies in the basement, and to get everything ready to today's flights back to Italy. Then Mother Nature decided to change everything.
Today we are under a winter storm warning and the ground is covered with snow and ice. The snow/ice/rain/sleet continues to fall, and more accumulation is expected over the next few days. I decided to call USAir yesterday to see what my options were in case we couldn't get to the airport, or in case the flight was cancelled altogether.
The USAir reps were very helpful and told me that I could go ahead and rebook my flights up to seven days. Given the weather forecast, and the fact that Philadelphia is famous for it's bad weather, I decided to rebook. We knew Thursday and Friday's weather still looked bad, at least in the forecast. Saturday looked a little better, but then the flight schedules were terrible and we knew all the flights would still be backed up, so we checked on Sunday flights. Unfortunately the only flights to Philly had us either leaving Louisville at 6:30 A.M., spending hours in the airport until our (scheduled) 6:05 p.m. departure, or not arriving until 5:00 p.m., not giving us enough time to make our connection. Forget that. Monday wasn't an options since USAir doesn't fly to Rome on Mondays in the off season. So - now we're looking at Tuesday, and unbelievably that puts us into FEBRUARY!!!! There were plenty of seats left on that flight so I went ahead and booked it. Another 6 days here in Louisville, but many of them will be spent stuck in the house due to the terrible road conditions!
I did check the flights online to day, and the flight from Louisville to Philly is/was cancelled, so it looks like I made the right call. Now if we can get a small window of opportunity to run to the grocery - and hope there's something left on the shelves!!!
posted by Barbara
@
1/28/2009 10:21:00 AM
10 Comments
10 Comments :
Sounds like you made the right call. Enjoy the time left in the states to catch up on reading, cooking, etc. buon viaggio. i'll be leaving on the 12th but only fo a 2-week trip.
It's headed my way now!!!! We can expect 16-20 inches tonight! Ughhhh
Hi Barb, well, another week here wouldn't be too bad if you weren't snowed in. I'm glad to read that USAirways worked with you on this. Have a good trip home once you get out and hello to Art.
Jane
Is this kind of weather unusual for a Louisville Winter? Good thing you checked ahead as I think it is better to be stuck at home than in some airport.
Maybe, you'll get a hot tip on the Derby during your delay.
This is a serious injunction: leaqve that mess in the States when you return! Leaves are starting on the roses and the willows and witchhazel are blooming here. Plus we are already cursed with Berlusconi.
A fair number of people died from that hurricane that crossed over last week.
Stay warm you guys! We had some snow here in Delaware too but then the rain washed it away. I'll be keeping you in my thoughts.
Hi Barb!
Sorry to hear about your bad weather! Here in Ottawa we just got 30 cm of snow and just had a week of -30°c, so -20°F.....brrrrr
I read another blog most days (as I do yours) and the one I read is by an american living in France and is called "Frenchless in France"....I think you would be VERY interested in her blog entry for Wed, Jan 28th......
http://lindamathieu.com/2009/01/
Enjoy :):)
Hope y'all are doing ok in the frozen state of Kentucky! I suppose that's why we haven't heard from you...no electricity I imagine.
We lived through that here in Virginia several years ago..ice storms are no fun at all!
Hope you catch your flight on Tuesday to sunny Italy!
thanks for everyone's concern! We're among the fortunate ones who DO have electricty but the roads are still a mess and there's just not much to report! Unless we get slammed by a new storm system on Monday we should be heading back to Italy on Tuesday.
gil, this extreme weather is a little unusual for Louisville, but it does happen from time to time - and when it does hit it causes total panic! OTOH, when an ice storm takes out a huge percentage of the power lines, there's just not much you can do, and no amount of advance preparation can help. right now crews are working 24/7 to restore power, and about 1100 additional electrical workers have comje from Georgia and the Carolinas.
We also sent you quite a few workers from Connecticut. A friend of mine was sent to Ohio and called me and said he was headed to Paducah and probably Lousville. Has no clue when he will be home again. Ice storms are about the worst thing as far a electricity goes. We had a bad one here a few years back and crews came from all over. The guys that put the wires back on my street were from Hydro Quebec in Canada. Do you think that the power companies learned anything from this? I don't think so as the only new underground lines are in new developments. My lines are still right under the massive trees!
Anyway, by now you must be back home in Umbria, so enjoy!
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