How could we possibly end such an adventure without a little drama at the end?? Morning came and despite great sleeps, we all seemed to be dragging a bit. It was as though slowing down would stop the trip from being over. However, as the clutter in poor Elaine's spare bedroom slowly made its way back into our backpacks, the end neared.

After breakfast, we took pictures and Elaine gave us a kangaroo Christmas ornament and some key chains. She had been more than incredible (as all of our Australian friends had been) and we knew we might never meet such an amazingly energetic person again.

We headed to the airport and then said one last goodbye, thankful for Elaine's awesome generosity. Elaine's mom had a doctor's appointment so we arrived early. Margaret was much happier being early rather than late, and, as usual, it was a good thing we were early, as the next few hours would put us through our greatest test yet. If there is one thing we've learned, it is to never take anything for granted.

Our final disaster began calmly enough. At the check-in counter for our flight, the agent couldn't find our reservation using the information from our e-tickets. No initial worries, as this had happened before. The minutes passed, however, and we began to feel more and more anxious. Finally, she told us that she found the reservation but, because it was unconfirmed, we had not been placed on the passenger list and couldn't be issued boarding passes. Furthermore, the flight was overbooked, so we were officially stranded.

As we had made our booking through an internet travel agency (www.cheaptickets.com) with American Airlines (operated by Qantas), the agent told us there was nothing more she nor Qantas Air could do for us. She walked Barry over to a courtesy phone and gave him the 1-800 # to American Airlines. Although on the phone for 45 minutes, Barry didn't get very far. We were again told that we didn't confirm, even though we had done everything the website and subsequent emails had asked us to do, and $7650 had been paid as of October 29th - what more confirmation was required?! So, we were told that it was the travel agency's fault. We were then offered the opportunity to upgrade our tickets for $4000.00, but that would only get us to Toronto; or we could wait until January 10th for the next available flight to San Francisco. The man on the phone began pressuring Barry to make a decision which Barry was unprepared to do, so he hung up, frustrated but determined to figure out this mess.

Throughout our 6 months, there are many lessons we've learned, and one is that if we don't get the answer we want, try again. While Barry was on the phone, Margaret asked a different agent for help who said we'd need American Airline confirmation to go on standby. That made 3 separate people who were not giving us the answers we wanted, so we headed back to the kids who had been waiting with our luggage for 45 minutes. We noticed that they were standing by the Qantas standby desk (no pun intended) and, although we thought it was a lost cause, Barry went up to the desk and began our story once again, showing our E-ticket confirmations.

The standby agent was flamboyantly "dramatic". As he reviewed our file, he tsked and clucked and then became outraged. He explained that we'd done nothing wrong and were caught in the middle of a mix-up, and then he vowed he would do his best for us! He continued checking further, clucking and tsking some more, and squinting at the screen. Suddenly, he exclaimed in a dramatic voice, "Oh, dear! Five no shows from Brisbane to Sidney. Too bad, so sorry, you snooze, you lose, suckers!", and a bit later, still talking to the screen and virtual Brisbane group, "Let's see. Have you paid? No? Only reservations, too bad!" He looked up at us and whispered conspiratorially, "I can't guarantee it, but I'm pretty sure we'll get you through." He tagged our bags and sent us off for a coffee, telling us to return 45 minutes before the flight.

It was the longest 45 minutes of our lives. We went for coffee, shaking with a combination of fear and relief. We decided there was nothing to be done but wait to meet our fate, so we tried to stay optimistic. Tessa and Margaret had prayed earlier and we all crossed our fingers. At 2:45 pm, we returned and awaited the verdict.

It was good news. We were on the flight to San Francisco, but the agent warned us that once there, we'd probably go through the same scenario with the other two legs of our flight. We didn't care as there would be more options and less money involved once we were in North America. Right until the moment we took off, however, we kept waiting for someone to come and kick us off the plane but it didn't happen. We were on our way home. When we'd actually get there would be anyone's guess.

January 2, 2007 - Part 2

We landed in San Francisco at 10:00 am and made our way to the Alaska Airlines check-in counter, terrified of what awaited. We were steered to a computerized check-in terminal which not only recognized our confirmation number, but honored our seat choices. So much for being "cancelled". It printed out our boarding passes straight through to Edmonton. We couldn't believe it!

Relieved, we made our way to the gate and had been sitting in relax mode for about 10 minutes when we heard the announcement that our noon flight was delayed until 3 or 4 pm, which meant we'd miss our connection from Seattle to Edmonton.

Barry spent an hour at the desk re-routing us and, in the end, our San Francisco / Seattle / Edmonton routing was replaced with San Francisco / Vancouver / Calgary, with standby connections to Edmonton at 10:30 pm or confirmed connections at 7:15 the next morning. Relieved again, we took our $64.00 worth of food coupons and went for a 15 minute lunch. When we picked up our boarding passes, we discovered with delight that they were first class seats. Hurray!

At boarding time, Connor had just disappeared down the corridor to the plane, when an announcement boomed:

"Sorry, ladies and gentlemen, there is a mechanical problem, an oil leak, and the captain has called an end to boarding. We will update you in 10 minutes."

Our situation was just too crazy not to laugh. By 4:00 pm, it was obvious that we'd missed our new connecting flight. Barry went back to the desk once more and returned with yet another $64.00 for food and reservations at a Best Western hotel in Vancouver. The new plan was that we'd fly into Vancouver when the mechanical problems were fixed. From there we'd stay the night and catch a 6:45 am flight to Edmonton. It was the best we could do and as long as the flight actually went through, we'd be OK. However, Robert Frost's poem haunted our thoughts: "And miles to go before I sleep…"

While we waited, we met a nice couple from Vernon and enjoyed their company very much. They, too, were waiting to see about flights but we all felt confident that we were on our way this time. Finally, we were called to board our flight. They announced that we needed to board quickly because the crew was close to timing out, meaning they wouldn't have time to complete the flight. We got on quickly and were happy to be in first class for the 2 hour flight. We watched as the rest of the passengers boarding the plane. The couple from Vernon grinned at us in our first class seats and an older woman Tessa had charmed earlier smiled as she went by. Everyone was happy to finally be headed for Canada.

And then the announcement came: "Sorry, folks but the crew has timed out. You will have to disembark the plane and make alternate arrangements." People around us began to cry and we felt really bad for them. We knew what it was like to be far from home.

Back to the desk and an hour later, Barry returned once more. We could fly to Los Angeles on the 10:20 pm flight that night, arrive at midnight, spend what was left of the night at the Ramada hotel, catch a 6:30 am flight to Calgary, rent a car, and drive to Edmonton. We were exhausted but OK with any plan at this point, as long as we somehow got home. So we ran and got our luggage and sent it on its way to L.A., saying a quick prayer that we'd actually see it again...

With the bags checked and seats assigned for the morning flight, we headed for security. Wouldn't you know it? We'd been identified as a security risk. We couldn't believe it! First, we had to stand in a booth, exposed to puffs of air to check us for explosives. Then they went through our entire carry-on luggage, item by item. Arghh! Miraculously, we weren't arrested and at last were on our way. We stopped at Subway for supper (paid for by the airlines) and some time to regain our sanity. This had been the craziest, most bizarre day of our trip and the worst part was that it was still January 2nd. We couldn't wait for midnight to come and for this 43 hour day to end!