My husband worked for a major airline for 5 years and was given 5 years of standby flight privileges after he took a buyout. So, the only way we can afford to fly to the States for the summer is by flying standby. I think I've written about this process before, but it's a process that can employ a large amount of patience. At any point, we have the possibility of being stuck there for days. So, my husband has to have at least 3 possible flight route options in case one of the flights fill up and there aren't any seats available. So, last weekend our plan A and plan B routes both became nonviable. Saturday night found Jason planning our plan C route for Sunday morning.
Here's how the flight plan shook out:
-4 hour bus ride from Amman to Aqaba
-5 hours in Aqaba in 108 degree weather
-8 hour flight from Aqaba to Brussels
-7 hour layover in Brussels (extremely tired at this point, REALLY wanted to get on a plane)
-got the last 4 first class seats for the 10 hour flight from Brussels to JFK (this is an amazing outcome, so thankful we made in the first flight we tried to get on)
-2 hours in JFK and got the last 4 seats on the 4 hour flight from JFK to Denver.
The whole trip was God's providence and grace because it's not common for us to make it on the first flights we try for AND to get first class. Not deserved or necessary, but we were very thankful for the ease of the trip. Total cost of trip was under $1,500 for all four of us.
Now we are in the mode of jet lag recovery and retraining ourselves to this culture. We catch ourselves wanting to light the stove as if it's run on propane, putting TP in the trash can, climbing in the backseat of the car from only the passenger side and forgetting to buckle our seat belts. We're already missing the fresh food of Jordan. But we're enjoying the pizza, root beer, cereal and milk that we all missed so much.
