Going, Going, Gone!!
Posted by Norm Bindon
Our second Youth Exchange departure this summer happened Sunday morning. Annie Webber was scheduled to depart last Tuesday. The weather and the Air France crash caused the cancellation of her flight. Departure was changed to the next day and then the next. Finally a firm booking was made for Sunday morning.
Annie and her family were on the highway, driving through torrential rain, when they heard that an Air France A340 had slid off the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport. By the time they arrived at the airport her flight to San Francisco with connections to Bangkok had been cancelled.
Annie was now at the airport with seven other Rotary Exchange Students, some returning home, some departing for their year away, some from our District and some from our neighbors. With three stops and two different airlines it is not easy, in the peak summer travel period, to put together an alternate plan. The flight to San Francisco was easy but ongoing connections were not available until five days later. Annie returned home with her family.
On Sunday morning Annie was again in the departure line-up, and excited, as she waited to board Air Canada Flight 757 to San Francisco with connections on Singapore Airlines to Singapore and Bangkok. John Lomax, Jeed and I caught up with them at the last minute. We had both gone to the wrong terminal. We have two excuses; it was 6:30AM and we hadn't had our morning coffee.
Despite the frustrations of her late departure, Annie was excited and ready to go. She had returned from a month as a counsellor at Camp Wanakita just two days before the original departure date. Her mother was delighted to have her home for five more days of hugs and tears. Annie will spend her year in Northern Thailand. Jeed, who returns home on August 10th, already has plans to visit her.