Detour En Route to Dublin

Sofia, Kimarra, Isaiah, & Us by David N before the drive to SFO

Among the many things you DON'T want to see at the airport is jet fuel dripping out of a valve on the wing creating a toxic puddle on the tarmac as if awaiting mutant ducks to arrive. After three hours of hoping this would go away, SAS cancelled our flight out of SF and after another three hours they supplied a room at the SF Hilton. They say life is a journey, which means either a journey is a life or also a journey, or something, but no matter how much you plan you are never quite sure where or when you are going until you get there.
There are a few things I have noted about travel SNAFUs.

1. They are not rare. It seems like 20+% of the time something happens.
2. In addition to screwing things up, they require hours of tiring standing around and confusion.
3. Misery is truly fond of company. After hours of mingling around with strangers, you begin to notice those around you as you share the same hardship. In general, people are quite interesting, convivial, and patient, and there are always people in worse straights than you. Imagine re-booking 16 Girl Scouts on a Scandinavian excursion, a Danish family of five with dog in tow, or others with prepaid tours with little room for error.You get to know them a bit, waiting at the airport desk, queuing up for taxis, at brekfast in the hotel the next day.
4. We also got a glimpse of the Northern California Emmy crew (yes you, Roberta Gonzales) going on at the Hilton and participants in the San Francisco marathon.

I have never taken SAS before, and I am not sure they could have handled this more poorly. I won't bore you with the details, but it included being on the phone for 1 1/2 hours this morning trying to arrange getting to Dublin by tomorrow (Monday the 17th). They offered me a ticket SFO to Paris on Air France, then Paris to Dublin. Hopefully we (and luggage) will make that connection.

The situation devolved into the worst episode of "The Amazing Race" ever. Sunday morning everyone on the cancelled flight was jockeying for the few seats on planes to Europe available. Was that couple in front of or behind you? Will you get a seat and bump them or vice versa. Getting back to SFO by cab, Air France said we were on standby, despite having a boarding pass with a seat assignment in hand. After another tense hour, we were given confirmed seats (quite a relief).
Air France is highly recommended, food, wine, even cognac after dinner. Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris was another story. Mon dieu! Quelle disaster! It took a full two hours and two more trips through security to transfer from on international flight to another (despite no luggage and no customs). The Dublin flight was also delayed due to rain in Paris, but we did manage to make that. The end result of 40 hours in transit was we lost 18 hours in Copenhagen, arrived in Ireland five hours later than expected, but caught up with our friend Florry O'Connell to truly start the holiday.(P.S. The luggage made it too.)

(And a special shout out to David Nishikawa for the ride to the airport. That was the only thing that went smoothly.)