Heartburn3

I put a 90 yr old man on a plane to Newburgh, NY and it left at 4:00pm. Got home to find out what had happened. I phoned his daughter in White Plains, NY and she had NO IDEA that the power outages were outside her little area of the world. She thought someone had an accident down the street and it was just her neighborhood that was affected!! We laughed and then she called the airline to find out the status of the flight. I just wanted to interject a little humorous story about how this affected some people. Here I was down in Florida watching all the news and seeing all the people walking in NY City and someone just outside the city had no idea what was going on. LOL!! I'm glad I called her.

The NE US is in my prayers until full power is restored. I'm glad to hear some power is slowly being restored. I'm proud of how everyone is handling this situation.

I just heard on the news that LaGuardia and Newark airports are open now.

razzledazzle

Margot55-A Lucky Lady you are!Glad to see all the East coast folks taking it rather calmly-(all we have is aerial shots on CNN and it looks quite orderly)I think I would have been more than jittery in NYC-I'll take my bi-weekly earthquake any day! The fog is just starting to come in here so I'll do my best to spirit some cooling comfort your way !
rjw_ljb_ca-I hear 'ya!-why do people
like to jab CA so much? I think every place has it's share of absurdities,
LOL!
R5

islandmom

They just said that lightening hit a power plant. I hope everyone remains calm when it gets dark.

islandmom

This is a good reminder to pack flashlights or other emergency items in your luggage.

Heartburn3

hindsight is 20/20

AAFrequentFlyer

Flashlight, gallon of water, can food???
Come on folks, give me a break. I'm on the road about 100-150 days a year, and I've never needed emergency items. You expect people to carry this stuff in their luggage on a billion to one chance of being caught in a situation like this? Every time I'm in a different city, different time, so can some math wizard figure out my chances of being involved in any 'abnormal' situation?
It's unfortunate when it happens, but please stop this thinking that we should "always" be prepared. As proof, me, a road warrior, sitting home tonight, not affected by any flight delays and/or hotel blackouts. My point is that a casual travelers chances are even less then mine, so unless you want to pack your house when traveling, just relax.

meganoreilly

I'm in Pittsburgh, supposed to fly to Newark at 7pm tonite, told to reschedule, so I did

flight was a half hour late if you look on the web...

lcuy

I don't know about other frequent fliers, but I always have a little flashlight, some energy bars, and a bottle of water in my carry on bag. Have often been glad to have them when planes are delayed, or if I need some extra light to search my bag in a dark plane or rental car.

Its not such a weird thing, and it takes so little space I leave all three items permanently in the bag. I also have a really lighweight black wool shawl that I carry...doubles as a blanket or a wrap, and fits in a little ziploc sandwich bag.

Cassandra

I have two small flashlights with me at all times and I've used them more than once. One is a small round halogen button-type that's on my keychain -- incredibly bright although short range -- and the other is a pencil-type that will throw a longer beam. Have used them to find keyholes in the dark, lost items under theater seats, signal a friend where I was in a huge crowd, and light the way down a darkened hotel hall when the power went out. Don't think there's anything over-cautious about it -- just very very helpful.

So I was imagining what it must be like for those poor folk caught in a subway between stations or in a dark elevator (never mind those poor miners in Canada) and thinking the ones with flashlights are temporary royalty in that situation, at least as long as the batteries hold out.

bluestructure

Wheres the duck tape and plastic sheeting when you need them? hahaha

OffToAfrica

Blue structure - funny about the duct tape and plastic sheeting, LOL.
However i have to say i'm a gadget-lover and travel-lover and they're pretty simpatico interests.
Living in the Gulf South - which is a hurricane zone not to mention that our power is taken out by lightning strikes at least once a month - I own a battery-powered TV. If I lived in NY I would have toted that TV down to the street and let everyone watch. And the suggestion of carrying a little flashlight in your briefcase/purse is good. Stuck on a subway, in a tunnel, is not a good thing.
Very glad to hear the airports have reopened - am leaving the country via NY on va-kay Sunday. My sympathy to all affected by this crisis.
I know it doesn't make it any better for those affected, but want to share this anecdote about living with no AC for short periods every summer- as soon as there is a tropical storm or hurricane nearing us, the wind picks up and the power may go out, even if the storm is not coming dirctly here. Our summer weather is really, really hot and humid, you New Yorkers get some of that but you get little breaks where it gets sooler.
And all you Calif. people, why do you feel so persecuted? Got tons of friends there. You either get it or you don't, and who cares about the people that don't get it? Call them "ugly Americans," the nationally recognized term for people we would not want to travel with. And go your own way!

BTilke

The power outage points out some interesting aspects of modern travel--thousands of visitors locked out of their hotel rooms because their electronic keys won't work.
Some of the people I feel sorriest for a those who were stuck with their little kids at the top of the ferris wheel in Times Square. Some of those kids will probably never go near a ferris wheel again (I wouldn't).
While we're relieved this wasn't a terrorist/criminal incident (they say), we hope this doesn't give terrorists any new ideas...

allan

Hello from midtown... Just another summer Friday in NYC.

Here's the deal from NY. The power os back at my mother's apartment at 56th ^ 6th, still down at my apt at 14th & 9th. Most of Manhattan still seeme to be down. There is power in Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, etc. No word on Staten Island. Subways won't be back for 6 to 8 hours after power is restored.

Everyone is fine over here and we dealt with it in true NY fashion. We deal. There was something of a party on my block.

How safe is NY? There was less crime reported last night than on a "normal" night.

buckeyemom

Glad to see everyone is coping and the power is slowly being restored.

There were people stranded on the Millenium Coaster at Cedar Point who had to take the stairs to get down. If you have ever seen these stairs they are nothing more than metal catwalks. Pretty scary.

Lilley

Hi everyone, I'm in Michigan and we have still no power.. ughh!!! It's going to be one of those days.. We are expecting a HOT weekend!!! One of the hottest summer days this year. I just made it home from work yesterday before the power went out. We also lost our water too. The water did start working again this morning. (yeah!) It's like a ghost town in Michigan today. Everyone was told to stay home today.
I'm just glad it wasn't a terrorist act! Thank goodness I can use my Laptop computer.

JohnD

Power was out at 7AM this morning, my building is slowly switching from emergency generator circuits to main circuits upper 60's east side.

bugswife1

Well, what a weekend! Cassandra, I could have used one of those flashlights. Why is it that there are no emergency lights in the stairwells? I had to go down 11 flights in the pitch darkness to get out of my office, and then back up 16 flights in the same manner to get into my sauna (apartment). No water either. They don't really tell you about THAT part of the blackout. Yuck. Our power came on at 9 PM on Friday but we were already long gone. We endured Thursday night in the brutal heat, and then bolted to Mystic CT and Mohegan Sun until today. Trip report to follow : - )
Expect to be bored with details of my 40 minute shower and 20 minutes sitting on the A/C unit.

Scarlett

Aww bugswife I can just picture it! Those stairs! The sauna!
I am happy for you that you were able to get outtatown! and that there was an available a/c unit to sit on.
Do send a trip report, sometimes holidays under weird circumstances are the most interesting & fun

Ozarksbill

Belated report on the blackout: our group returning from Scandinavia was in JFK terminal when the lights went out! Not a good place for older travelers from out of town to find themselves in such circumstances. All of us were lucky inasmuch as our 3:55 flight was quite early so we got through customs and had luggage before 4:11 outage.

We were luckier than some because we already had a room reservation and got a cab to JFK Sheraton a little before they closed down the terminal and forced everyone out on the street! Hotel staff treated us well and we were led by flashlight to a room. We did have a little travel flashlight so got down for sandwiches provided and had ten hours of sleep. Next morning a candlelit breakfast and then out to the terminal to learn that AA was shut down for two days.

For us things worked out, getting a AA evening flight to St. Louis from Hartford and getting a friend to get us there on time. But our traveling friends ended up on concrete floors with no food or water and desperate to get home to Arizona, Florida, Texas, etc.

Bill in Springfield, MO
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