Improving Access to Clinical Trials Act

David Traver

We had a lovely cruise on the Holland America ship, Eurodam. It was a quiet week with the girls, sand, sea, food, fun. etc. I highly recommend Holland America. Perfect.

Upon return from seven nights at sea, we raced to the airport for an early flight back home, pre-printed boarding passes from the ship in hand. We learned that the eastern seaboard was closed due to a blizzard. Our connecting flight was DOA.

AirTran would plop us into a direct flight leaving in 10 hours. Please come back then, no we cannot check your bags, no there is nothing else that can be done, etc. This was Super-Bowl weekend in Miami, and everything in southern Florida was full of people, including the hotels, rental cars, and the airport. Consequently, the airport and all of southern Florida was like a very large room full of mousetraps loaded with ping-pong balls, into which somebody tossed a shoe.

The prospect of spending 10 hours at the Fort Lauderdale airport was nasty. We ran through all of the options, discovering none. We almost consigned ourselves to 10 hours of flat butts, expensive restaurants, and sour kids.

Wisely, my wife went to the traveler's aid booth. The wonderful woman there knew just what to do. She picked up the phone, called the Hilton, and explained the problem. The Hilton promptly sent a free shuttle, picked us up, and let us enjoy the pool all day for free. We played, rocked in big comfortable hammocks, reclined by the pool, and had a nice time as the girls frolicked. Later, we ate at the hotel restaurant (not free) and then enjoyed holding our girls as they napped happily for hours on the soft sofas in the lounge. We watched the blizzard on the Weather Chanel, watched the news, saw a bunch of guys driving fast in a circle in a car race on another TV (a metaphor for something very weird I suppose), and drank diet Coke as the girls snoozed. Then the free shuttle took us back to the airport.

Thanks to the nice folks at the Fort Lauderdale airport and the great thoughtfulness of the Hilton folks, our last day of vacation was another day of rest and fun, not a wasted day of mild discomfort. The girls thought it was just another fun part of the vacation.

Thanks Hilton! We'll never spend another wasted day at an airport again.

CrescentCity · Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Posts: 108

I see God was busy this weekend in South Florida - working a small miracle for the Traver family and a huge miracle for the WORLD CHAMPION NEW ORLEANS SAINTS, the city of New Orleans and all of their long suffering fans. It only took 43 years!

WHO DAT!

David Traver · Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 04:44 am Post subject:

God should get his butt over to Haiti and let that traveler's aid lady do her thing!

I loved that game. It proves that the Packers are only one team removed from being world champs. The Packers lost to the best!