Trapped at "Liberty" Airport

My first great adventure on this trip occurred before I even arrived at my destination. Well, maybe I was SUPPOSED to have arrived at my destination... but the problem was that, see, I couldn't.

The tickets I'd purchased through the Star Alliance (United Airlines + Lufthansa, a German airline) ran thus (I was in Ithaca for my cousin's wedding, so I left from there):

Depart Ithaca 10:20 am

Arrive Newark 11:30 am

Depart Newark 5:25 pm

Arrive Munich 7:30 am (-6 hours)

Depart Munich 8:55 am

Arrive L'viv 11:35 am (-1 hour)

So simple. I have done this route three times before with nary a problem. Well, except that one time that United's computer system went down nationwide and I was held up for 4 hours or so. Anyway, I got to Newark with no problems. But THEN...

That first night my plane was delayed seven times. It was pushed back half-hour by half hour "due to aircraft maintenance," until it was finally cancelled around 10:30 pm. I went to talk to a customer service rep around 7 pm, at which point I knew I was going to miss my connection in Munich. He was unable to find me any other options, and went ahead and booked me the same route the next day in case the flight should be cancelled. He offered to put me up in a Newark hotel then and there, but as I would rather have been stranded in Munich than New Jersey, I decided to wait and see if the plane came. It did not. So then I waited in line for two hours until I finally received a voucher for a hotel and three food vouchers worth $7. What can you buy at an airport for $7? The answer is: just about nothing. The hotel was decent, a little shabby and right next to a prison, but hey, it was New Jersey. I got in around 12:30 and slept.

On Monday I left the hotel around 11. Since my flight wasn't until 5:25, I went to the airport to check my bag, then grabbed a bus to Newark Penn Station to take the PATH train out to see my friend Talia, who is currently interning for The New Yorker. I saw the new building at One World Trade Center and even got to go inside it-- to ride its futuristic elevators, and dine in the Conde Nast cafe on the 35th floor with a beautiful view of Manhattan and the Hudson Bay. Security was tight-- even after Talia had verified that she'd invited me, I had to show an ID, allow them to take my photograph, and to x-ray my bags.

It was humbling and haunting to stand below the new "Freedom Tower"

From the Conde Nast cafe on the 35th floor you could see all the way to the Statue of Liberty (right side, middle)

Talia was doing a summer internship at The New Yorker, so I got to see their offices!

After lunch and a brief tour of The New Yorker office, Talia had to get back to work. I was apprehensive about making the hour-long commute back to the airport in time for my flight, so I didn't take much time for sightseeing. I did, however, walk down to the end of the street to see the Irish Potato Famine memorial.

The top of the memorial resembled a piece of the Irish landscape, with a crumbling stone house

Underneath the garden was a wall engraved with quotations from newspapers about the famine.

"Our potato crop is lost without exception I believe throughout Ireland"

One enters the memorial from below, so that they come out from a dark tunnel engraved with quotations into the sunny, green "Irish countryside."

The overall effect was quite moving.

After visiting the memorial, I hurried back to the airport via train and bus to ensure that I could get through security and wouldn't miss my 5:25 flight.

I shouldn't have bothered.

Shortly before we were supposed to board, we were informed that our plane had come in from Venice, but due to weather had been diverted to JFK. Thus we had to wait for the plane to be "cleaned off" and "ferried" over to Newark. The flight was delayed. And delayed. And delayed. Five times. Until finally, around 11:30, the plane arrived. We were elated. The staff rushed us on board, telling us to hurry because they were facing "crew legality issues." By midnight we were all seated, and the plane had pulled away from the gate.

...then the pilot came on and announced that she was unfortunately unable to fly the plane, because she had been on the clock to long and was legally mandated to have a break. So we went back to the gate and got deboarded. And so, for the second night in a row, I got in line at the United Customer Service counter.

Except, unlike the previous night, it was half past midnight instead of 10:30, AND the flight at the gate next to ours had also been cancelled, so there were twice as many customers in line. Evidently many flights had been cancelled in the area due to weather-- we were informed that all hotels in the area were full and thus we couldn't get vouchers. Instead we were given pillows and blankets to sleep in the terminal. By the time I finally got through the line to be rebooked, it was 3 am. By the time I was actually rebooked it was 4:30. The problem was that if they had simply rebooked me to the next day's Munich flight, there would be no flight from Munich to L'viv until Friday, meaning I would be stuck in Munich for three days. When I asked if the airline would put me up for that long, I was told no. It seemed my best bet for getting to L'viv was to go through Vienna, but all flights to Vienna the next day were full. Finally, I got tickets to Munich (again!) then to Vienna, then to L'viv. And then I spread out my Turkish bath towel in a relatively quiet corner of the terminal and tried to get some sleep.

Of course, by this time it was nearly 5 am, and people were arriving for 6 am flights, so it was bright and noisy. Regardless, I slept a few hours, then wandered in search of the new terminal for my third plane to Munich. This time, United had added an entire extra flight to Munich, and it consisted entirely of people who had been on one or both of the cancelled flights. This was when I found out, through talking to other passengers, that some had actually gotten hotel vouchers-- they had just needed to find the hotel themselves and United had covered it-- but still they hadn't gotten to the hotel rooms until something like 5 am.

By this time my stack of boarding passes, itineraries, and vouchers had gotten frankly ridiculous.

Our third flight was again delayed twice due to baggage issues and weather. As we left more than an hour late, I was sure I would miss my connection in Munich, but I didn't care. I just was glad to be out of Newark. Like most of the customers who had faced more than one mishap, I had been upgraded to Economy Plus so I had more legroom, and there was an empty seat next to me, so I was able to sprawl out. I slept for nearly the whole flight.

Thankfully, we had made up some of the time on the flight, and my connection in Munich to Vienna was delayed, so I did catch it. I was slightly terrified my luggage would be lost, but it wasn't. Words can't express the joy I felt when, after FOUR DAYS of travel (and three days without a good night's sleep, a decent meal, a shower, or brushing my teeth!) I FINALLY made it to L'viv!!!

A more welcome sight I never did see.

Upon my arrival I was met by a student from the University, who escorted me to the home where I would be staying. I took a shower, ate some borshch and varenyky prepared for me by my new host mom, Pani Irena, and then I fell asleep. At 6 pm. I felt it was justified.