Crucial Thought

This is the story of the trip down to Peru.

Arriving at the airport in Charlotte, NC we anticipated an easy flight to Peru with a short connection in Miami.

Boy were we wrong.

As we waited at the departure gate my wife and I met a man named Carlos. He was also traveling to Peru, the country of his birth. He makes his home in Charlotte now and works in sales. I didn’t catch the company name. We made small talk about the differences between American and Peruvian culture as the time wore on.

The first delay announcement came roughly an hour before the flight was to depart. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 9:35, arriving in Miami a short time later. Our flight from Miami to Peru was scheduled for 1:35 AM, which would have left us a short layover in Miami, which was bearable.

The first announcement said the flight would be delayed one hour. It would be close, but we could still make it.

We huddled together and tried to plan our plane exit strategy. Carlos would help with our carry-on bags since we were traveling with two small children and a bit too much in the way of luggage. We thanked him repeatedly for offering to help, and took him up on his offer. Peruvians are known to be helpful folks, and he was no exception.

A short time later the announcement came that the flight was further delayed due to in-climate weather. There was nothing they could do, sorry. Carlos pounced on the check-in gate to find out what we could do about our ticket to Lima since it was clear we were going to miss the flight.

There is no other flight to Lima for three days.

As tears began to fall Carlos pressed on at the gate, wasn’t there something that could be done?

Remember, I am traveling with not only my wife and girls, but my parents as well, and mom is in a wheel chair.

As the stress levels rose exponentially Carlos announced that they would be able to reaccomodate us on a flight to Lima the following afternoon. We celebrated! But wait, where were we going to spend the night?

The airline informed us that there were no available hotel rooms in Miami due to a number of flight cancellations and delays. We would have to “rough it”. A one-year old baby doesn’t know how to “rough it”. Carlos never left our side, always offering to push the wheel chair, helping check to see if check in was open, always making sure we were ok.

Carlos took good care of us. All we did was buy him lunch the next day.

We landed in Miami in the wee hours of the morning. Once we collected ALL our baggage from baggage claim we nestled down to rest. None of us actually rested very well, the least of which was the baby. By now she was tired, cranky, hungry, and fussy.

We slept on the dirty carpeted floor of MIA, snacking on vending machine fare and stashed snacks in our luggage. Dad found his medicine and our attitudes were hovering around punchy.

At 4:30 that morning we got in line to check in, thinking that when the ticket counter opened up they would allow us to rid ourselves of our bags. At 5 and some change we were greeted sleepily by the ticket agent who promptly informed us that since our flight didn’t leave until 5:30 that afternoon the earliest we could check in was 1:30. That meant eight more hours with enough luggage to stop a train.

Sigh

We managed to get breakfast in shifts and napped through the morning, watching the people come and go and wishing the every-half-hour time announcement would go away.

After breakfast and a few cat naps and a cup of Starbucks a lady came by who worked for the airline. She told us we could check in. Eureka! We hurriedly got in line and she ushered us to the front and checked us all in, and even allowed a bag that was overweight to slip by. Whew!

With some relief we got lunch then decided to brave TSA security and hit the terminal. We got to the terminal to find our flight number happily greeting us in red LED lights.

That lasted ten minutes.

No sooner did I find a power outlet to charge my daughter’s portable DVD player did they decide to change gates.

To a gate clear across the airport.

Did I mention we were traveling with a wheel chair and two young kids?

We ended up walking for over half an hour to reach our destination gate.

And then they announced that the flight was delayed.

And again.

And delayed still.

All the while Carlos kept vigilant watch over our family and we over him. He kept an ear out for any announcement and we made sure he was kept in the loop.

We finally arrived in Peru in the wee hours of the morning. We made it through immigrations without too much hassle and headed for baggage claim. To no surprise, there was Carlos with a set of baggage carts looking for our luggage, which had become all too familiar for him.

He helped us load our bags onto the carts and then he quietly slipped out, a selfless man without desire for recognition.

I know he won’t read this, but in the off chance, let me say thank you Carlos. Wherever you are in this city of 10 million, thank you. You will forever be a part of our family. If we can ever return the favor, you need only ask.

How can you be someone’s Carlos today?