Geeky Girl Engineer

I remember in school when I would come back from Christmas break or it was the start of a new school year, and my English teacher would have us write a paper on what we did over our break. I have always assumed the entire point was just to get us to write. Here was a topic that surely everyone would have some material to use to write something. Generally a good assumption I suppose. I haven’t written a paper like that in a long time. Then again, it has been a very long time since I was in some sort of English class. However, this Christmas break necessitates me writing one, so here goes.

Normally for Christmas, I go to Houston. It is where I grew up. It is where my mom and sister live. It is where much of my larger family lives. However this year, we weren’t sure how much of the larger family was going to be there for Christmas, so my sister and I decided we should somewhere fun, with my mom of course. We ultimately decided to go to Baja California. We would spend a few days in San Jose del Cabo, then join a tour group that would take us to La Paz for a four-night cruise in the area. The cruise would be a tour company that we have traveled with before and we like. The cruise ships are small. This one had maybe 60 passengers or so. There tour company is on the higher end of price, but they do a first rate job with lots of naturalists and fun activities.

We made the decision somewhat last minute, so there were lots of things to get done quickly. The main problem was my mom’s passport had expired, so we all had stress that she could get it renewed in time. [They gave her an appointment a little to close to our departure date for comfort, but then she went in a Friday and had the new passport on Monday. They never said they could do it that fast.] Her passport renewed, we just needed to get there. I was so excited to get away. I was loaded with work that had to be done for my job, I was working overtime to get it done, then frantically packing, then finally the day came to leave.

Looking back, the passport was a sign of things to come. I got up at 4 a.m. to catch my flight. I had to change planes in Dallas-Ft.Worth (DFW), so I had picked an early flight to make sure I would make the connection and have time to eat. I caught my first flight that was supposed to leave at 7 a.m. We left the gate on time. Then we sat on the tarmac for 1.5 hours. The pilot came on a couple of times to say there was a maintenance issue, and they could not figure out is some maintenance had been done. They were on the phone with Dallas (presumably where the maintenance was supposed to be done), but couldn’t get it resolved. We returned to the gate. It wasn’t clear if we were disembarking, but a third of us got up to use the restroom. Very shortly after returning to the gate, maintenance had come on board and done whatever needed to be done, but then the pilots needed the log books back. Then we got the log books back, and finally we left over two hours late. Finally we are on our way.

Luckily I had packed a couple of protein bars in my purse. We arrived at DFW, and I went as fast as possible to my connecting flight. No time to stop for the restroom or buy some food. I got there on last call. I sit back and relax. I made it. I am on my way to Baja. I arrive in Cabo and meet my mom and sister, who arrived on an earlier flight. Amazingly my luggage made the connecting flight also. Also amazingly, my sister’s luggage did not make her direct flight. She and our mom arrived plenty early for their direct flight to Cabo. Our mom’s luggage made it, but hers did not. We all made it safely to Cabo though. The airline says it will deliver her luggage to the hotel the next morning, so at least she will get it before we leave for the cruise.

Before we even left, my mom was really worried about us getting sick from the water in Mexico. My sister and I are not really worried. We just won’t drink the water, and we are careful about the food we eat. We buy bottled water. We stay at this adorable, authentic hotel in center of San Jose del Cabo, which also supplies bottle water, and we all enjoy ourselves thoroughly. My sister’s luggage finally arrives the morning after we arrive. We enjoy some wonderful food. We all buy more stuff than we need. We all love the wonderful handmade goods we find, much of which we are told is from Oaxaca. We don’t get sick.

The second morning of our trip arrives, and it is time to pack, do last minute shopping, and get a taxi to the airport where we will join the cruise group. The cruise representatives meet us, take our luggage, show us to the nice buses, and give us more bottled water. Now we relax for the three hour drive to La Paz. Not very long after we leave the airport, an older woman on the bus goes to the restroom at the back and starts vomiting. We are near the back and can hear clearly. She vomits numerous times during the ride. I feel bad for her, but I try to relax, read, and enjoy the countryside.

We arrive in La Paz and board our U.S. owned, registered, and crewed cruise boat. The boat is on her maiden trip in Baja. It is just lovely. That night at dinner, we see the woman who was vomiting on the bus in the dining room. She appears to be better, so that is good. The next day we cruise in the area, and then we anchor near shore, where there is kayaking, paddle boarding, snorkeling, and hiking. I do some hiking. The scenery is beautiful. I am eager for the next day, when there will more shore time. I have brought a bunch of camera equipment including my tripod, and I hoping to have some fun playing with my camera. That night I talk to one of the photography experts on board, who is there to help guests with photography if they want it, and he says he can show me a couple of filters and such. Vacation is good.

That night the real trouble begins. My sister and I share and cabin, and my mom is in a cabin next door. My sister is up all night sick. I am fine though. The next morning, I find the ship’s doctor, who in his real job is an emergency room physician in the U.S., and he gives my sister some pills for vomiting and advice.

The next morning, we are snorkeling with sea lions. There is a small island (giant rock really), where there is a sea lion colony as well as birds and fish of course. There are a lot of rules, but you can snorkel (not allowed to dive) alongside the rock. The sea lions like to swim around the humans, and as we have been warned, like to naw on them also, like a puppy might. My sister is sick, but I go and have a blast. [Photos and more on that to come.]

After my snorkeling trip, I find out the reason I didn’t see my mom at breakfast was that she is sick also. The ship’s doctor has seen my mom already. I play nursemaid for my mom and sister getting them drinks and asking for some food to be delivered to their cabins. Later the physician starts on IV on my mom because she is so dehydrated. She is not in immediate danger, but he just wants to get fluids in her. I think he is worried more about her simply because she is older. My sister has stopped vomiting. However both my mom and sister are losing a lot of fluid to diarrhea.

Later, the ship arrives at another island, and I go ashore to do some hiking. I am not there for very long, when nausea starts. I fight it, but then I start really salivating, and I find the next Zodiac back to the ship. I know I am probably going to start vomiting soon. I get back to the ship and sit down to read. The nausea subsides, and then it comes back with a vengeance. Now I am vomiting. My sister by now is well enough to at least walk around the ship just a little, so she plays nursemaid to me. I vomit once again that night, but then my stomach calms. That night both of us (and my mom next door) are up with diarrhea. The next morning the physician sees me. I say to him, both of us knew I was going to get sick also. Yes, he agrees. He confirms what I have suspected that this is most likely norovirus. I learn a few other passengers and crew are also sick. He tells me what he had already told my sister, which is mainly to stay out of the dining room.

I spend the entire day in the cabin. Luckily we had a cabin with a little balcony, so I spend some of the day sitting on the balcony reading and watching the lovely landscape. My sister who has been walking around a bit and trying not to touch anything sees the hotel staff wiping all the railings on the ship. That night the hotel staff arranges for mom, sister, and I to eat in the lounge away from everyone else. None of us eat much, but we are well enough to eat a little bit of food. We talk with the hotel manager, and she says two crew members and one other guest are also sick. This seems to exclude what I am quite sure was Patient Zero, the woman on the bus vomiting. She says when we all disembark the next day, there will be extra cleaners brought on board to help the crew disinfect the entire ship.

The next morning we leave for the three-hour bus trip to the San Jose del Cabo airport. My mom, sister, and I are not completely well, but none of us are vomiting and the diarrhea has subsided for the most part. At the airport, my mom and sister hug me goodbye, and I board my plane to DFW looking forward to getting home.

The plane ride is uneventful until we start getting near Texas when we start flying near and through storm clouds. The ride is rather bumpy, and the pilot informs us we have to circle for a bit as there is a back up because of the weather. Finally we are cleared to land. We start our approach, the landing gear is down, and I am looking at Christmas lights on the house below and also getting worried about the lightening I am see in the clouds we are in. All of the sudden we start accelerating fast and gaining altitude. After a bit we are clear well above the storm clouds and not in them. The pilot informs us we are going to San Antonio. I never learned if the pilot or the control tower called off the landing, nor what the precise problem was (obviously the weather, but I mean the specific issue since we had lending gear down). We land in San Antonio about 30 minutes later. We join about 12 other diverted flights. We sit. We were originally supposed to land at DFW a bit after 5 p.m. It is after 7 p.m. now. We get refueled. We sit. The pilot gives us updates, but he doesn’t know what is going to happen either. I text my sister and find out they were diverted to Austin. They sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes before being refueled. [She later texts me they finally left Austin and landed safely in Houston.] Also while sitting on the tarmac, I call and email the petting company I use to get someone out to feed Ferdinand. Luckily they are fantastic and could and did even though by the time I called it was well after office hours.

Finally the pilot tells us the crew has reached the end of their duty tour and are not allowed legally to fly anymore. We are going to a gate and have to go through customs. We taxi to a gate and sit. They have to find a jetway operator. We disembark and go to customs. We wait for our luggage because I am quite sure there was no one over there to get it to us. We go through customs, and I wonder exactly how fast and how they got the customs officers there because San Antonio is not a bustling international airport, and I have my doubts that any international flight was expected. We are officially in the country around 10 p.m., and now we go stand in line for over two hours at the ticket desk while they patiently help us individually to get us to our final destination.

When I finally get to speak to a ticket agent, it is midnight. My connecting flight from DFW to DCA has already been cancelled, and the airline app helpfully informs me I have been rebooked on a flight, but it can’t seem to recognize that I am in San Antonio not DFW. I tell the ticket agent to just get me to the Washington DC area. We start with DCA and Dulles, but the earliest she can get me there is midnight of the next day (i.e. 24 hours later). She finds me a flight to Baltimore that gets in around 6 p.m. More inconvenient, but I take it because everything is booked with all the cancelled and diverted flights. She gives me a voucher for a nearby hotel as well as all my boarding passes.

I get to the hotel sometime before 1 a.m., and I am on a 8:45 flight to DFW. The airport promises to be a madhouse with all the diverted passengers as well as normal holiday travel, so I know I need to get up early. I think I got 3.5 hours sleep, but at least I got a shower and a little bit of sleep.

The airport is a madhouse the next day. My flight as well as a few others are considered to be the continuation of the flights from yesterday. They are not planned flights, so are not showing up on boards, and I have to ask to find my gate. I am fairly sure it is the same plane and crew. I arrive safely in DFW to a madhouse that made San Antonio look calm. DFW is packed. Everyone’s gates keep changing. Flights keep being delayed. Flight crews are just as confused as everyone else. I overheard a pilot say he was called to come fly this morning on overtime pay because he wasn’t scheduled to work, but he doesn’t have a plane or crew. Flights have crews but no plane. Planes don’t have crews or gates. Gate agents are amazingly calm even when it is clear they are just as much in the dark as everyone else. Electrical outlets are hot property. Restaurants are selling lots of alcohol.

I have three or four hours between flights. My gate changed at least two times. My flight was delayed by at least a half hour. I get lunch. I get to my gate, and blessedly finally, I get to board, and we are on our way to Baltimore. We are warned that we will hit turbulence over Tennessee over the same storm cell that reeked havoc yesterday. We do hit a little rough air, but nothing compared to yesterday. Finally, finally, I land at BWI at 6 or 6:30.

Just as wonderfully, my luggage arrives also. I find out how to get to the MARC trains (commuter train between Baltimore and DC) and make a mad dash to the train. I make it with about 10 minutes to spare. If I hadn’t made that one, I would have had to wait another two hours. I could have tried to catch an Amtrak train at that same station, but Amtrak is more expensive, and it could be sold out with the holiday travel. It is a over 30-minute ride to DC. Finally I arrive at Union Station. I get a Lyft. I get home. I have never been so happy to be home from vacation. Ever.

So how was your Christmas vacation?