It’s hard to believe but I am finally getting off this island! I have refrained from getting into the details of my extended layover at the risk of adding to what I initially saw as some extremely bad luck. I arrived here on the 7th anticipating catching a flight out of here on Nov. 12th. Unbeknownst to me this flight was cancelled until further notice. I had been warned that the airlines here were sometimes a little suspect but I figured that if you are booked on a flight the airline will honor its agreement and fly on its scheduled day. Not here. Apparently this airline, flights are only confirmed after there is a certain percentage of paid reservations until then they are in limbo. This was the case with my flight on the 12th. After arriving I immediately found out that there were not enough passengers to service the flight and it had been canceled.
For the past 10 days I have been searching for anyway to get me the last 2000km of my journey. I’ve looked into multiple airline charters and even had one on stand by. And for a few days I was operating my own travel agency out of the hotel, trying to drum up passengers from Tarawa and Majuro to help offset the $10,000 charter fee. I even looked into jumping aboard a shipping freighter that was heading to the Marshalls.
Well my flight is coming today and I am heading out finally!
Yesterday I was lucky enough to be invited for a picnic at the beach, which coincidentally enough is another home to more WWII relics. My new friends Grace, Vivian and family were even nice enough to give me a lift to the travel agent to pick up my ticket.
Well I am off to meet the crew – we will post more from the Marshalls.
I may have created a monster, my new friend Carlos couldnt be any more happier if I had ‘forgotten’ my iphone with him.