Excellent stories! Everyone gets a calendar…keep those cards and letters coming. Hey–I’ll trade you your crazy holiday travel story for one of Marion Owen’s cool Kodiak calendars. Send it to me HERE. Don’t forget to give up an ACTUAL crazy story. And don’t forget your address!
VAL sent this story: No Passport? No problem. Well…ok…problem.
“Years ago, we were flying to Bermuda leaving from Anchorage; overnighting in Boston. Half way through the flight , we changed seats so I could have the aisle and so my friend, could sleep at the window. Upon landing, the flight attendant asked everyone to check around their seats including the seat pocket to make sure they have all their belongings.
“When we arrived at the hotel, Ann suddenly remembered that she had left her book with her passport as a bookmark in the seat pocket. (Remember, we had changed seats and I never used the seat pocket.) She called the airline but no book and passport were turned in. She then called her hubby but there wasn’t enough time to get her passport to her. Early the next morning we went to the airport’s baggage area way before the departure time. No luck. Finally went to the check-in and Ann pleaded her case. They let us board!! But when we arrived Bermuda, we were ushered into a room where the head of security sat. He asked so many questions that I wondered if Ann was going to jail! It must’ve been Ann’s sweet smile or my sniffling that caused him to let us go. At the airport counter on the return, Ann explained her story again; and again, they let us board!”
MARTIN shared this memory of a trip to Africa:
“In 1994…we were one hour out of Nairobi (NBO) on a BA 747 to London when the Purser and a flight attendant started frantically pulling all the hand luggage out of the overhead bins, asking all of us nearby to identify our bags. The captain announced that we were returning to NBO because some Entebbe passengers didn’t re-board and their baggage was still onboard.
“We landed without incident in a sea of flashing lights from emergency vehicles, then everybody had to deplane to the tarmac and identify our baggage. Several hours later we departed, I assume without the unclaimed bags, only to learn that the crew would time out before London, so we would land in Rome. Once there, after hours waiting for a replacement crew, we finally made it to London (LHR). But being late in the afternoon, all the USA-bound BA flights had departed so we were put up in a terminal hotel. The next morning we found our SEA flight had been downgraded to a B767, so it was fully packed, and my traveling companion was forced to gate check his backpack full of camera gear because it was slightly oversize…”
Here’s a fun story from ALEXIS:
“One of my fondest memories is the Christmas we went to Texas to be with the family. It was about 1984, when our daughter was 7 years old. We left Anchorage on a red eye and landed early morning in Dallas/Ft. Worth airport to change planes. We moved over to our next plane seating area. Although our daughter was not quite awake, she did notice we were seated in an area for a plane going to Orlando rather than Austin. It was at that moment we explained that rather than going right to Grandma’s house we were going to Disney World for a few days. It was a wonderful surprise and the best part is that the children in Florida were still in school so the park was not busy. We spent two days at Disney World and one at Epcot and went on our favorite rides two or three times with no lines!”
ROSE has two stories about passport surprises:
“We got to Fort Lauderdale after a 28-day cruise on Dec. 2, 2019. Going through security , I was ahead of my husband who has a bit of dementia. We thought we had it “All together” so we were in a hurry to get to our gate. As we were walking to the gate, among loads of people, my husband still lagging behind me, we heard “Richard?” I quickly turned around, thinking “Who would know my husband in Fort Lauderdale?” I saw this man holding my husband’s passport and comparing the picture to his face. I said “Oh my gosh, that’s my husband’s passport,” and he said “Yes, he dropped it as he walked through security, and I could not catch up to you right away, I picked it up, and all I could see was that the guy that dropped it was wearing a green shirt, so I’ve been to three gates looking for a guy with a green shirt. ”
“What??? This Good Samaritan went to three gates looking for any guy wearing green shirt, stopping and comparing picture and names. What are the chances that he spotted a green shirt while walking in the opposite direction and calling out the name “Richard???” And finally finding the right green shirt, the right name and a matching face to his passport picture. What a lovely man and we thanked him but forgot to ask his name.
“Our second story is when a few years ago before my husband became ill, we decided to go to Dawson and then on to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. We got all the way to the ferry by the Yukon River when I decided to dig out my passport, and remembered that I had forgotten it. Oh my gosh, we had to come all the way back to Anchorage and decided to abort our trip. All because I forgot my passport at home. “
SHARON shared this story that j-u-s-t happened about missing passports.
“So we were two days away from flying to Mexico to spend Thanksgiving with our sons and their families. I pulled out my passport and with a nod to my husband, Ron, reminded him not to forget his passport. Coming up empty in every place he might keep his passport, I thought that he probably left it in the glove compartment of our RV when we drove it down from Anchorage to Oregon this fall. A very likely scenario. In fact, extremely probable! Thanks to (lots) of Alaska Airlines miles he flew to Eugene, took a taxi to the storage facility our RV was stored, took the same taxi back and got back to Anchorage with passport in hand in time for our Mexico flight!”
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