Susan's Serendipitous Trip

Aunt Susan arrived yesterday for a visit, and it is so lovely to have her here. Also, the story of her arrival turned out to be quite interesting.

Yesterday, I drove J to the airport at 7:00am to fly off to a conference for two days. I came home and finished cleaning the house, then drove back to the airport to pick up Susan at 10:00am. Fortunately, the airport is about a 10 minute drive from home, so multiple trips are not bothersome.

After waiting a few minutes for Susan's plane to arrive from Auckland, I saw it come down towards the runway, but then head back up. A moment later, the voice over the loudspeaker said that due to the low clouds, the plane had failed its second attempt at landing, and due to fuel levels, it would be turning around and returning to Auckland. Poor Susan! To be so close and then get turned around feels terrible.

So I went back home, waited the hour they'd requested, then called the airport and found out that Susan had been rescheduled to the flight arriving at 1:10pm. Also, found out that either Sawyer is a very uncommon last name here or is pronounced very differently, because he seemed totally confused until I spelled it.

I settled in to read for a few hours before heading back to the airport to pick up Susan. I sent J a text to let him know what was going on, but of course he was in a conference and didn't reply. Since the world was still grey and rainy, I pulled up the online arrivals listing for the New Plymouth airport and monitored it. Unfortunately, at 12:00, Susan's 1:10 flight was cancelled. Poor Susan!

Feeling terrible for Susan's plight, I texted J again, explaining that she was stuck in the Auckland airport. To my surprise, he immediately texted back, "She's here? I'm in the airport." Wait, what? I had completely forgotten that J's conference was in Auckland, and it had never occurred to me that it would actually be in the airport, but it was! I called J, who had a short break between meetings, and after confirming that she would be in the domestic terminal, he said, "I'm going to find her," and hung up.

Delighted, I waited a few minutes, before realizing that I probably should have told him her airline or something, so I called him back. Susan answered the phone! Amazing! In the midst of a huge, busy airport that he was only in by coincidence, he had found her in two minutes flat!

They put me on speakerphone, and the three of us planned how J and Susan could keep tabs on each other in the airport and keep me in the loop, and J got permission for Susan to come to the business dinner he would go to that evening if she was still stuck in Auckland, etc.

It was so perfect; it completely erased my stress, and Susan said that once that had happened, she wasn't worried about being stuck anymore, and could relax. She said that when she looked up and saw J, it was like he had been sent there just to make her feel better. Could you imagine being stuck in an airport an hour flight away from the people you're going to meet and then having one of them just walk up to you in the terminal? Pretty cool.

So, finally, at 5:15pm, Susan's plane made it down to the runway, and a tired but happy Susan arrived in New Plymouth. We have been having a great time drinking tea, catching up, and watching the rain ever since.

Now, J is due to arrive back in New Plymouth at 7:10pm, at at 4:45 it is overcast and looking like rain. I'm crossing my fingers that he doesn't also get turned around. Although, if it does, I wonder who he'll meet in the airport?