Nicaragua and Back: 3 states 3 countries 4 flights 1 day

I’m exhausted. The last 2 days have been a whirlwind. Here’s what happened.

Friday, Lynn calls to say he’s going with Katie and I to Nicaragua. Cool. Great news. So we drive down to Indy and stay with my friend Kory Pence. We go out to eat (some P.F. Changs is always great) and sat around and talked. Early in the morning Kory takes us to the airport. We’re on time. The flight’s on time. We check in with Delta, board, buckle and taxi out to the runway. Everything’s good.

Then everything falls apart.

Note: In the following recap of events, I’m not complaining, I’m merely recounting the story. Hindsight now makes it all funny, but trust me, this was a pure shot of stress hormones to the jugular.

The pilot announces that the flight plan has been lost. Delay. He returns a few minutes later with a new flight plan, but announces that we will have to be rerouted due to bad weather. More delay. Then he comes on again to announce that all flights into Atlanta are grounded until further notice. Big delay. We sit on the plane for over an hour.

When we finally get to Atlanta, we discover we’ve missed the only flight out of Atlanta to Managua, Nicaragua. Delta automatically rebooks us for the next day’s flight. Which means we would have to sleep in the airport and be late for Sunday’s big event. So I inquire about other flights, hotel, etc. No progress here. Only a discounted rate (still $56!) for a hotel room. Meanwhile, we can’t find our luggage. No flight, no hotel, no luggage.

Delta, I’ve got an idea. For your convenience you should just hang posters around the airport that say, “We appreciate our customers.” The picture in the background would be a big hand presenting a nice middle finger.

Long story short, we miss flight after flight and have to get ourselves and our baggage, which never made it, rerouted on different airlines so we can get to Nicaragua by Saturday night. Our flight path: Indy > Atlanta > Miami > San Salvador, El Salvador > Managua, Nicaragua.

The Good News

It’s Monday morning. Yesterday went really well. We played for 35,000+ people at an amphitheater next to Lake Managua near the heart of the city. We roasted in the heat, while the locals seemed to not even break a sweat. All in all, a great trip. We are finished here and will be heading home today with hopefully no problems.

See you all very soon!