Usually, my posts end on a lighter note or are more positively phrased. This one is a little more raw and still quite fresh
When we booked our trip to Mexico, we were indecisive about when to return. We have to be home before a certain time on Friday because we don’t travel on Shabbat (which is after sundown). And generally speaking, don’t fly on Fridays because of this.
However, for a bunch of reasons, we chose to fly on Friday. Our flight was due to take off at 11:15 am and land at 3:45 PM – no big deal! Right!
So the day started off well.
We checked out
Got to the airport 2.5 hours before our flight
Our flight boarded on time and was scheduled to leave early!!! Woohoo
……
We were on the plane for an hour!
(side note -Someone got kicked off for being on drugs)
At this point, my anxiety is building up
And up
I’m in a state of severe panic
We are asked to disembark the plane because of mechanical failure.
Oh crap.
See here’s the thing,
If we didn’t get into NY in time, I wouldn’t be able to board the plane
And there was a holiday starting Sunday night… so we could potentially have the same problem again
One of the things I learned about the Mexican airport – is that they aren’t helpful. There were not enough gate agents to deal with the issue.
An entire plane needed to be rerouted.
We were sent to 3 different gates to get help
Did I mention that there were 26 Jews on the flight that would all be stranded in Mexico for the weekend if we didn’t make it home?
The level of panic that set in from 11:30-2:30 (when we finally took off) was scary.
I was hyperventilating. Crying.
Asaf was steady the whole time, which I’m so thankful for. I didn’t need both of us freaking out.
My panic was huge. I just couldn’t imaging us not being stuck through Wednesday in Cancun and our daughter in NY who for a second heard that we may not make it back that day – and who also started getting nervous. We tried to get on a flight to anywhere in the US – I just wanted to get out of Mexico. Finally, someone in our group found the next fight outs gate and we all ran there and were able to get on the plane. Our flight finally left at 2:30 and we landed at 7:30.
Now here was the second mad dash. We had to get from the airport to our friends home (where Leah was – our friends were amazing – they picked Leah up from our home and invited us in last minute because they lived close to the airport and we lived 1.5 hours away), but first, we had to go thru customs, get a cab and drive 15 min. And we couldn’t be in the car after 8:05 (we don’t drive on our Sabbath). We walked in the door at 8:03
Reliving it is a little traumatic for me.
Looking back could I have handled it differently – sure
At that moment though, I couldn’t get past it.
And for us, we decided that we have to work on honoring our Shabbat more.
I never want to go through that again
