Island Time

We didn't think it was anything unusual. We thought that being on time was something all airlines did. Either we have been very lucky with our travels or we're a bit naive, or both. Other than a delay caused by a volcano erupting, we rarely have problems with our flights. 

This flight was scheduled for 9:30 to leave Fort Lauderdale and arrive in Nassau at 10:30. We got up at 6, called an Uber at 7, arrived at the airport at 7:35. The line was long at the BahamasAir check in desk, we made it through that and security and sat down at the gate at about 8:45. That's why it's important to get to the airport early, right? 

Long lines at the Bahamas Air check-in

Jim stood in line to get us a breakfast sandwich and that took another half hour. When I looked at my watch and saw 9:10 I started to worry that Jim wouldn't make it back in time to board. No need to worry. There was no boarding call. At 9:40 we heard an announcement that the flight was delayed to 10:45. We ate our sandwiches, caught up on email and news, studied all the people waiting with us, laughed with the little kids rumbling around, even read a chapter of my book on kindle. 

It's now 11:06 and we're still sitting here with no further announcement. 

Welcome to island time. 

Ahhh, we just had an announcement. There's a mechanical issue with the plane, they will have an update in 45 minutes. We have a mandatory meeting to attend for the Toastmasters conference at 2pm. We thought we were going to have a few hours to kill, now we'll be lucky not to be late. 

Well, it is now 12:45 and the last word was to expect an update at 2pm. We will definitely miss our meeting. 

It is now 3pm and they just announced "we will let you know in 30 minutes about the status of your flight" What the hero does that mean? A couple hours ago they have is all vouchers for$15 of food.  We went across the hall and had a beer.  Couldn't use the voucher because that was for food only,  but it was a nice attitude adjustment.  The folks sitting next to us at the bar struck up a conversation and were on a shopping trip to buy an RV. We had a lot to talk about!

We've both tried to communicate with the facilitators of the meeting we were supposed to attend but no response to our emails or charts in the conference apps.

Que Sera Sera 

4:20 and we're finally seated on the plane. They never did give us any information about what work was being done on the plane. I was impressed with how calm everyone was, sitting in the waiting area for hour after hour. At the 3:00 Mark we did hear some shouting by people up around gate. So, looks like 6 hours is a normal breaking point. 

On our way! I still love air travel. I enjoy the window seat and trying to identify places we fly over. This is Bimini - we go diving there regularly.