Impromptu Visit to New York

We arrived at the airport for our trip to Jordan/Israel/Egypt on Saturday (March 13th) morning at 8am and got all checked in, past security and to our gate.  Unfortunately, we found out our flight was delayed and eventually canceled due to bad weather in New York.  That left about 45 of us at the SLC airport without a flight to New York so we could catch the connection flight to Amman Jordan.  There were about 45 other people all over the country who were also stuck that were going to meet us in New York for the same flight. 

We spent the next 3 hours at the airport, waiting while our travel agency got us all booked on different flights to New York the next day.  They were amazing!  There were thousands of people stuck all across the country, trying to get into JFK, and somehow, our travel agency got all of us on flights.  While waiting, Tracie, Ann, Mark, Wade, and I played a fun card game called Millebornes.  We also began to get to know others who were going on the same tour.

So, we all went back home on Saturday and prayed a lot that our flight wouldn't be canceled the next day.  Smitty and I had a flight at 10am, and the others in our group left at different times throughout the day on Sunday.  Smitty and I were lucky enough to travel with Michael and Laurie Wilcox (he was the educator on the tour) and we got to know them a bit.  They are amazing! During our connection in Minneapolis, Smitty and I ate dinner at Subway, which had a cool window that looked out on the airport.  We had fun watching people and taking snapshot pictures. 

We arrived in New York around 7pm and were taken to the Fairfield Inn where our travel agency had booked hotel rooms for all of us because there was no flight to Jordan on Sunday.  The first chance we had to get another flight was Monday night at 10pm.  So, we spent Sunday night and all of Monday in New York.

Our travel agency arranged for buses on Monday and we were able to visit Ground Zero, Battery Park, and Times Square.  

I really enjoyed some of the comments that Brother Wilcox made about New York.  He talked about George Washington and a couple of times that he showed "unrehearsed demonstrations of character".  He also talked about how Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty are symbols of what being an American is.  He mentioned that you are not born an American, you choose to adhere to certain principles and ideals and that is what makes you an American. 

We made the most of the day in New York, and headed to the airport at 4pm to catch our flight to Amman that left at 10pm. We all miraculously ended up on the flight and our real vacation started.