<p>DS is supposed to arrive here tonight. As some of you know...there are air traffic flight plan filing issues today...of course...affecting parts of the east coast. His original flight was going to be leaving so late that he would have missed his connecting flight. He is now rebooked by way of Atlanta (where I THOUGHT the problems originated)...and hopes to arrive on a connecting flight to here about midnight. The only good news...he has his instruments AND a backpack WITH HIM...no checked baggage. With the flight cancellations and delays today, heaven knows where any of that "stuff" would have ended up. He's only supposed to be here for two days. Please keep your fingers crossed that this Atlanta connection works out!!</p>
<p>Good luck. Hope all works out.</p>
<p>Flights tonight...so delayed that he wouldn't get here at all. He's trying to rebook for a 6:30 a.m. flight tomorrow morning...arriving at 10:35. I'll have to reschedule one appointment (keep your fingers crossed that they can squeeze him in later in the day). Hopefully tomorrow will be a better air travel day than today...BOTH of my kids our flying tomorrow.</p>
<p>I'll be at the Atlanta airport tomorrow morning, if he's still stranded. Of course, that will mean my kid is stranded as well.... I think this is the same kind of problem that happened when S2 was trying to get to Korea last year. </p>
<p>The weather here hasn't been great, either - still getting dumped on by remnants of Hurricane Fay. Here's hoping for clear skies tomorrow for everyone.</p>
<p>I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a VERY good travel day. One kid leaves Greensboro at 6:30 a.m. and the other leaves CA at 1:40 p.m (PST). Big day at the airport for us too...one arrives a.m and the other just after midnight. Hopefully</p>
<p>Thumper...I feel your angst and totally understand. I'm sure everything will work out, but I totally understand. I'm in CA if one of the kids needs help (Northern).</p>
<p>S2 is on the plane, awaiting take-off, according to Delta. One of his bags weighed exactly 50 lbs! We packed and repacked last night. Trying to send him enough stuff to survive in his apartment until he has a chance to make some purchases. (Like an air mattress, a pot, a frying pan, etc.) If only he were closer - I have a basement full of stuff I've been hanging onto for when kids needs to set up their own households. So far, it hasn't worked out to give it to anyone!</p>
<p>Too bad we can't have some sort of parent co-op -- I'll furnish someone's kid's apt in Atlanta, another CC parent can furnish mine in DC or NYC. :)</p>
<p>Thumper - hope your S made it home and got his apt. rescheduled. When does he go back to school?</p>
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I have a basement full of stuff I've been hanging onto for when kids needs to set up their own households. So far, it hasn't worked out to give it to anyone!
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<p>lol - we have had 3 come and go through our basement and all are now out of reach. We have a basement full of at least 2 if not 3 start up stuff. DD just moved into apartment at school too far away to send anything but a few small items. It hurt to buy again those things I knew were in the basement.</p>
<p>The eagle - or rather, S2 - has landed. Thumper, how are yours doing?</p>
<p>DS arrived this morning at 10:51. Today was a GREAT travel day...no delays or any other complications. He did learn that his trumpet case does NOT fit into the overhead bins of whatever plane he was on today. But he was able to SQUEEZE it under the seat. Delta (on these small planes) does planeside stowing...the instruments would not have been sent on the conveyer belt. BUT he is making me NEVER fly him on a little plane like that again. And YES the optometrist rescheduled him for 5:30 this afternoon. They were very understanding...DS has been getting glasses there since he was 18 months old!</p>
<p>DD is on the first leg of her plane right now. She'll be here around midnight. So far, it looks like everything is on time. She'll have a stopover at O'Hare tonight and then arrives right after midnight. A twenty something friend of hers is picking her up for us...he quipped "I'm awake at that hour anyway...I'll get her." Ah...so true.</p>
<p>Re: household items...I hear you. DS has the "stuff"...but we didn't send much to DD...too far.</p>
<p>Glad to hear all is well.</p>
<p>Both kids are here. DD's trip was uneventful! DS travels again tomorrow.</p>
<p>We were flying to Iowa to audition at Simpson College, with a connecting flight in Ohio. The plane got in an hour late and we missed our connecting flight (at 8 p.m.). That was the last flight to Des Moines, so they had to put us up in a hotel for the night. We weren't able to fly out until 9 the next morning, getting in at 10 (time change). Her audition was at 12. </p>
<p>We were planning on staying/visiting with relatives the night before and warming up the next morning (vocal performance major), taking a leisurely tour of the campus (getting comfortable with where everything was, etc), and visiting with people on campus. </p>
<p>Because Delta screwed up our travel plans, we were on campus from 10:30 am to 2 pm. We had to be back at the airport by 2:30 to take a flight for another audition the following day.</p>
<p>In the 3 1/2 hours we had on campus, thanks to Delta airlines, we crammed 3 interviews, an audition, a tour, lunch and a quick drive around campus. I wish we had more time. BUT, in the 3 1/2 hours we were there, my daughter moved the school from 3rd place on her list, to 1st place. Not bad. Crossing our fingers for a big scholarship.</p>
<p>Pattijoa, I am so sorry your DD had to go through that. It is nerve racking enough to go to an audition without being thrown off by travel issues. </p>
<p>But a cautionary note for others traveling. Do not book the last flights of the day if at all possible, even if it means taking more time off. Those are the ones most likely to have problems since delays build up all day. Then you have no alternatives. I used to travel a lot for business and it got to be that I could NEVER count on a last flight to get me there. It really impacted my time and expense of business travel.</p>
<p>Taking Bassdad's very sage advice, we booked all flights to arrive in the morning before the day of the audition. Besides the obvious advantage of knowing that he was where he needed to be if a snowstorm hit, it gave my son plenty of breathing space before auditions, allowed us to get everywhere we needed to go with plenty of time and made the experience a lot more enjoyable. We were never in a rush before an audition - something which would have been sure to derail him as he gets anxious if he is off schedule. He used the time well - plenty of practise time, time to look around the school, chat with admissions people, in some cases even taking lessons with professors in the afternoon and also time to get some homework done. One glaring error was to have booked a hotel in Cleveland for the Oberlin audition. We went to Oberlin on the afternoon of arrival where he had a lesson and there were some admissions events. Then we drove back into Cleveland at what turned out to be the beginning of a record-breaking blizzard. This gave us a serious problem getting back to Oberlin (normally at 25 minute drive) in driving snow the next morning. We should have stayed closer. But other than that episode, the open schedule worked. The disadvantage, of course, was missed school days, but it all worked out pretty well in the end.</p>