Awake at 5 AM, and do not even bother to go to the "breakfast" that is provided for us, figuring it's the equal to our luscious snack/dinner the night before. The bus is awaiting us at 6 AM to take us to the airport. As we arrive in the airport, there is pure madness as it's the "rush hour" at 7-9AM. I go to the LOT reservation desk and to no avail cannot find an earlier flight to get back to New Jersey any sooner. At this point and time, am soon to realize that some countries have not heard of the terminology "customer service" or "take care of your customer" or "the customer is always right", which is important in the USA. I think their idea of customer service is "just feel lucky you will be on a flight soon", leaves a lot to be desired.
After sitting around in the Warsaw airport for the next 5 hours, the time has come for me to go to the gate from which our flight will depart to New Jersey. What a welcome relief at the sight of the 767 sitting at the terminal waiting for us to board. As always with LOT, our plane was delayed by 45 minutes to depart, once again was checking my connecting flight time in New Jersey and was relieved that there was a 2 hour lay-over.
8 hours of flying had us land in New Jersey only 30 minutes late. We had to fill out a customs declaration form during the flight, and while waiting for my luggage, again was checking for my flight connection time. Once I retrieved my luggage, had to pass through customs which was a breeze, went to my connecting flight gate, had one hour to spare, so telephoned Kathy to let her know that my flight was on time to arrive on Continental Airlines in Phoenix at 10:40 PM.
Had an urge for an ice cream cone, so stopped at a McDonalds located in the airport terminal. Upon going back to my departure gate, was greeted by a notice that my flight had been changed to another gate. So, with 30 minutes to spare was able to rush to the gate and boarded the plane. 10:45 passes by and then the dreaded announcement that our flight has been delayed for 2 hours because the co-pilot is delayed on another flight because of bad weather. So all passengers had to exit the plane, and we were told that possibly this flight could be cancelled and we would be bussed to a hotel overnight. GREAT!! Another overnight delay. But as 1.5 hours passes, the co-pilot arrives. Scurrying to telephone Kathy to let her know the flight would be arriving in Phoenix at 12:45 AM; and then we boarded the plane and departed New Jersey on the 4.5-hour flight to Phoenix.
Slept the entire flight as we arrived into Phoenix at 12:45 AM. Fortunately, had been able to carry on both of my bags, and was able to proceed from the plane to the terminal where Kathy, Jason, and Jeremy were waiting for my arrival. Was really in a daze as I gave everyone a summary of my trip to Lviv, during the 20 minutes it took to drive home from the airport. Once home at 1 AM, jumped into the shower, got to bed at 1:30 AM and woke up at 5 AM to head into work.
Felt good to be home and sleep in my own bed.