A Peaceful, Joyous, Prosperous 2014

As festive as the picture may look, our New Year celebration was almost non-existent. We returned to Panama City yesterday afternoon, because we fly to Nicaragua tomorrow morning early. Being told that there are no municipal celebrations, so no fireworks to hunt down, no best viewing place, we decided to stay put. Whether this information was accurate or not, if there were something happening, the dangers of sidestepping individuals with wayward firecrackers would not have been worth the risk.

It has been decades since New Year’s Eve has been an rousing holiday for me. We have had some memorable New Year’s celebrations in the past such our dinner cruise in Sydney, Australia; gathering in Lisbon, Portugal where a young couple gave us glasses of champagne because we had none; and Guayaquil, Ecuador where they burn effigies to rid the future of unwanted things or people. Every year for the last nineteen, we have watched the calendar turn over in some city and country other than the one we called home at the time. Having a visual feast of fireworks is not as important to me as feasting on the love and friendship of those around me. Even when others were absent, for the last twenty years, I have had Ron by my side to welcome in the New Year, anticipating what may unfold in the next twelve months.

This year was no different; we were together in embracing the New Year as it unfolded, except we did not leave our room. We watched movies, shared a bottle of wine and snacked on cheese and olives. It was all we needed this time, this year, shedding the past and welcoming the new.

There are planned life changes already in the forecast for 2014. Our wedding is 3 months and 18 days away. By the time we return to Budapest, it will be even closer. That is a thrilling, but scary thought considering all that needs to be accomplished still. Other ideas and life changes are percolating.

Regardless of how you have welcomed in the New Year, I wish all of us good health, abundant prosperity, and a fulfilling life.

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United Doesn't TAP to the Star Alliance

Ron had to go from Newark to Lisbon to Frankfurt to Budapest and arrived home at 8:30 PM last night. When he went to check in at Newark, it seems that United had him booked on a TAP flight that was discontinued in May. However, he did not find this out at the check-in desk until they had checked his luggage and sent it off on the belt. They had re-booked him on a flight that now had him over nighting in Lisbon, but no one had forewarned him about this. Needless to say, no one offered to pay or supply a hotel voucher either. This scheduled plane was six hours later than his originally planned flight.

When he told TAP he was never informed of these changes and due to EU rules, he knew he was entitled to be put on a different flight if there were an earlier one out of Lisbon, they said he would have to deal with United. Because this was a frequent flyer ticket, TAP was not able to make the changes. He had the good sense to ask if they were all part of the Star Alliance, why they could not do it themselves, but the TAP rep tap danced around the question, saying they could not.

He went to the United desk in a different terminal, spoke with a rep there, who said she would make the changes, but that TAP should have done this themselves since they are part of the Star Alliance, confirming Ron's thoughts. She then suggested he go back to TAP to retrieve his luggage and recheck it with United.

After returning the the original terminal where TAP is located, he asked for his luggage to be searched for, but the young man who had originally took it gave him the run-around about getting it back. After Ron pressed the issue, the young man supposedly went looking for it, but came back empty handed. Ron claims he was a bit surly about the request, so chances are the man disappeared just to say he did it when he return, but really having done nothing at all.

Ron arrived in Lisbon, had a wait and then had to fly to Frankfurt, before continuing on to Budapest.

The irony of the whole situation is that I had convinced him to bring me home some Italian sausage. I had him deep freeze it, wrap the package in aluminum foil and then in plastic bags, thinking that in the cargo hold, it would make it back partially frozen or ready to cook immediately. Also in the luggage were bagels.

In his carry-on suitcase is a new Windows Home Server, which I paid $700 for, but all of the peripherals, the cords, software, etc are in the big suitcase, along with the ten books on how to teach online and how to be a life coach. Is this a message from the universe?

Needless to say, Ron's luggage did not arrive home with him. There was another flight in last night at midnight, but the luggage was not on it. The next flight is today at 2:00.

I will be in mourning as I throw the sausage into the trash.

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Say It Ain't So

Last night, my student Balazs wanted to go out for a good-travels dinner since Ron leaves for the States on Wednesday morning. Using a frequent flier ticket, he had to go from Budapest > Warsaw> Toronto > Denver with all but the last leg on Polish Airline LOT. He will Amtrak from Denver to Iowa and when he leaves there, will be flying from Cedar Rapids > Chicago > Newark. On the way home, he is routed on TAP the Portuguese airline Newark > Lisbon > Budapest. I have him primed for the NJ stint, working on the storage POD from here as much as I can and putting as much in place as possible. I have been trying to arrange for a disposable mobile phone for his arrival too. This morning, I found this e-mail from my brother: Hi, We had some excitement over the weekend, we had the cops over to daddy's house. Stuff was ransacked, the door was busted open to your storage room. I don't think any of your stuff was stolen, but whoever it was cut open boxes looking for something. We padlocked the back door and locked everything else up. We're going back next weekend to start the cleaning up process. We'll call you guys this Thurs - last week was very busy for me at work and it got away from me. Talk to you later.... The fact that Ron is leaving for the States on Wednesday has totally escaped him. My greatest concern now is Ron's sleeping at the house alone. We will have to see what we can work out.

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