Were you traveling on 9/11?

Old Feb 2nd, 2003, 08:37 PM
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Were you traveling on 9/11?

I hope that this question isn't in really bad taste, but it is something that I have always wondered about - and Patrick's response to the TV question made me wonder even more.

Personaly, I was in the middle of a vacation in San Diego. On 9/11 itself, pretty much all tourist attractions shut down, but Old Town remained open. Since we couldn't stand remaining in the hotel room all day watching the news, we did go to Old Town - but the mood there was very somber. We also made a stop at the Mission in San Diego - and while I'm not Catholic, it did help me deal with the grief a little.

We were scheduled to fly back to Minneapolis on 9/16 - and the planes were flying again by that date. But my traveling companions were very worried about flying, so we drove back instead. It was amazing how many people were on the interstates. Strangers were traveling together simply because there weren't enough rental cars available. I had never driven across the western part of our nation, so it was an eye opening experience for me. Feelings of patriotism were running high, and the words of America the Beautiful mean a lot more to me after that drive.
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Old Feb 3rd, 2003, 12:58 AM
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Your thread deading really captured my eye and brought back something I haven't thought of in over a year. My father was sickly on and off and it was going to be my parents 60th wedding anniversary with a big party. I hadn't seen them in over a year. I checked out air web sites and had it all lined up for us to go from Sept 5th as the party was the 6th and to fly back on Sept 11th but just as I went to click to buy them my husband (now my ex husband) came into the room and said he refused to go to trip and party unless I paid for all his airfare and all his meals and expenses too. I couldn't afford to pay for him too and I also was hurt that after 18 years of marriage he wouldn't pay his own way on a trip to see my parents with me. So we didn't go..the only relatives of over 45 people who didn't make it. But of course we would have been flying back on the afternoon of 9/11 (not it seems)....no planes were flying so we would have had to drive the approx. 2000 miles home with a rental car. My father died less than 6 months later suddenly and I never did see him again.
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Old Feb 3rd, 2003, 05:53 AM
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I live in New York, about a mile from ground zero. Ironically, on 9/11 I was in Washington D.C. on business. After the second plane hit the World Trade Center, a family member in New York called me while I was in a meeting to tell me what happened and suggested that I immediately rent a car because the airports were shut down and I wouldn't be able to fly home that day. The meeting I was attending was a short distance from the Pentagon and soon thereafter the Pentagon was hit. I was unable to rent a car and ended up spending another night in D.C. I was also unable to establish phone contact with New York for about six hours after that first phone call and called family in North Carolina to call my home in New York to let them know I was O.K. and to make sure that my family in New York was O.K. The streets in D.C. were cleared very quickly and military was all over the place including on top of buildings. The hotel was fairly full and people were quiet and dazed. The hotel was fairly accomodating but everyone was truly shell-shocked. I spent all day desperately trying to rent a car but was unable to. I was lucky the next day around 2:00 P.M. I was able to get a car and drive home. The highways were empty and you didn't have to pay any tolls. The most eerie part of the trip was when I was in New Jersey and as you approach New York you are able to see the Twin Towers -- on that day, of course, they weren't there -- just an empty space and lots of smoke -- I was very shaken up. I finally got home and was totally relieved. I decided to return my rental car that night and pick up my car which was in long term parking at LaGuardia airport. When I got to the airport I was turned away by the police who told me I would not be able to get my car. I kept the rental car for the next few days until I was able to get my car. When I was finally able to get my car the parking lot tried to charge me for all the days it was there -- even though I was not allowed to get it and picked it up as soon as possible. I actually had to fight with the parking attendant concerning these cahrges who took the view that it was not their fault -- I was enraged that they were trying to take advantage of such a tragedy -- and we all know how expensive it is to park at an airport! In the end they only charged me until 9/11 -- but how absurd that I had to fight about it. I can honestly say this was one of the worst experiences of my life (as I 'm sure most people feel).
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Old Feb 3rd, 2003, 06:43 AM
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My husband is military and was on travel on 9/11. He was desperate to get back to his base. Thankfully when the airlines were back up running they listened to his predicament and had him on the very first flight out even though that was not his scheduled flight.
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Old Feb 3rd, 2003, 10:27 AM
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My husband and I were landing in Nice to begin a tour of Provence at the time of the hijackings. We were informed about an hour and a half later, while riding a bus to Aix-en-Provence. I thought I'd drifted off and was dreaming since I'd been traveling about 20 hours by that time.

When we got to our hotel, the staff had turned everyone's TV to CNN so we could find out as much as possible. I thought this was very considerate of them. However, we had only about 45 minutes in our room before attending a "Welcome Reception" in which the tour members were all supposed to meet each other. It was very surreal to be trying to smile and be friendly when we all wanted to be watching the news.

In the meantime, my 11 year old daughter and 9 year old son were back in the US. My son was relatively protected from the information at school, but my daughter saw it all on TV before finding out that we were okay.

Rumors started at my daughter's school: first, that we were flying, but okay; then that we had been on one of the hijacked planes; then that my husband was one of the hijackers.

We were touched by the kindness and generosity of the French people at that time. There wasn't any obvious anti-American sentiment , just gestures of support.

We were on an evening bike tour through Paris right as the plot to bomb the US embassy there came to light. There were cordoned areas, police and flashing lights as we rode by that area.

As we were riding the train to the airport, we had piled our luggage at the back of the train car, and we were dismayed to see SWAT team members with machine guns open the back door and glare at us as we moved our luggage out of their way. We were one one of the first flights back into the US. There were big delays leaving Charles de Gaulle, and I was searched very thoroughly (almost invasively) by a female screener in Frankfurt. We were really glad to get back home.
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Old Feb 3rd, 2003, 11:01 AM
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I wasn't travelling but I was working that day. I live in Warwick, NY and work for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter on the 69th floor of 2 World Trade Center. I remember that day. I took the 5:50am bus into the Port Authority Bus Terminal. I then got an A train to Chambers Street and walked to the elevators to my building. I got through the turnstiles at 8:31. I then got to the 44th floow (MSDW's sky lobby). After that I got to my floor (69). I remember I entered with Tim S. and that I was the first off my elevator and had problems with the entry door on 69 that morning. My id card had to be swiped 3X to get it to open the door to the 69th floor. I powered up my PC and mailed an email or two. Then I got a cup of tea from the cantten on 69. I brough it to my desk, sat down and heard an incredible boom.

I was certain that a plane hit my building. I quickly thought that the hit was above me because I had phone and electric service. I thought it was a tourist plane because they would fly very close tot he building. Many meetings is 'outer' conference rooms were disrupted by people waving from airplanes. I quickly took an elevator back to 44. When I tries for an express elevator back to 1, they just shut off the elevators. I then started to run down 44 flights. I ran down with E.C. (an Orthodox Jew), N.A. (an Arab-American) and R.D. (an Italian-American).

I then got out on the South side of Tower 2. Ten seconds later the second plane flew right over my head. A couple of pieces of plane hit me but I was OK and ran away.

I feel that the Port Authority (owner of the WTC) did not know what was happening. There was no reason for anyone to die in Tower 2. No announcements of danger were made.
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Old Feb 3rd, 2003, 11:33 AM
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We were flying to Canada on the 11th to be with a relative who was having surgery the next day. We made it as far as Atlanta when the terrorists struck. We were stranded in Alanta until the Friday and were the 1st plane into eastern Canada from the States. I was not scared, I was angry.
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Old Feb 3rd, 2003, 11:36 AM
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dilbert - what about R.H. and J.K. Where were they?
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Old Feb 3rd, 2003, 11:37 AM
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There were a few positive things that happened in the days and even months after 9/11.

One of them is that people who had always flown had never experience the heartland of America from ground level. I both drive and fly. Five miles up its hard to imagine there are real people and real hisory down there. I have heard great stories from people who were forced to drive cross country, etc. for the first time, and had new and eye opening experiences.
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Old Feb 3rd, 2003, 03:43 PM
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9/11/01 found my SO, her daughter, myself and 213 other souls aboard SQ26 FRA-JFK.

As we passed the SW coast of Nova Scotia, the pilot announced the tragedy and diverted to Halifax where we stayed until the 15th - housed in Millwood HS, Lower Sackville.

We will never forget the kindness and compasion of our Canadian hosts. Nor will we forget the efforts of the Singapore Air people during those trying times.

The final approach into JFK ~11PM on the 15th afforded us a view of Manhattan. That sight is etched in our minds forever.

The next day, Saturday, we learned that 19 of our fellow parishioners, 3 of whom were good friends, perished.
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Old Feb 3rd, 2003, 04:06 PM
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After being in China for two weeks with my sister getting her new son, we were ready to get home. We were supposed to be the next flight out.

Luckily, we had a room at the hotel connected to the airport so we had a place to stay and made a million trips over to the ticket counters looking for news about when we could leave.

Some people were flying into Canada and driving home but the babies didn't have visas to land anwhere else but the U.S.

We were there four days and by then our tickets didn't guarantee us on the first flight out. So, we got up at 4:00 am to get in the standby line--it opened at 6:00 am. (All this with a baby!). It worked and we got to leave on that first flight when others didn't because they didn't try.

Boy was it great to land in the U.S. and especially to bring my new nephew to the U.S.

We landed in Chicago but my flight to DFW was cancelled and the closest I could get was Oklahoma City. My husband was only too happy to drive four hours there to get me. By that time I had been up well over 24 hours.
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Old Feb 3rd, 2003, 04:10 PM
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Yes, my wife and were staying at a renovated barn(inn) in Door County, Wisconsin. I was driving back from town with danish I got for breakfast when I heard about it on the radio. I called my co-workers in the commodities exchange I worked at in Chicago and they told me they were all going home.
I looked out the window and saw a beautiful field with a wheel-barrel full of colorful flowers. The scene couldn't have been more peaceful and tranquil. I felt guilty for being there. I felt disconnected from what was happening and strangely wished that I was evacuating the highrise I worked in with everyone else.
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