Moderator: Information Desk, Women Travelers, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Chicago, IL, USA
Programs: AA Gold
Posts: 15,649
Not me but...
My Mom is a former travel agent and used to be president of the "travel club" in her NJ town, which often took group trips together.
My Mom organized a fall foliage cruise, sailing out of Manhattan, to depart Sept. 15, 2001. Not surprisingly, the ship was diverted from Manhattan and instead departed from either Boston or Baltimore (I can't remember which). This necessitated a last-minute scramble for my Mom, because instead of 40 people each getting themselves into Manhattan (easy under normal circumstances), she had to arrange for a bus to transport 40 people to a port a few hundred miles away.
The day of the trip arrives, my Mom & her (now deceased) boyfriend are playing tour director to get 40 people accounted for at the meeting spot, and to get people and their luggage loaded onto the bus and off to the port. About 90 minutes into the bus trip, my Mom & her boyfriend realize that their own luggage was still sitting in the car at the parking lot where the group gathered.
My Mom's boyfriend gets the bus to pull over at the next rest stop or exit ramp, finds a cab & tells the cabbie that he'll pay meter plus a generous tip if the cabbie gets him back to the car in under an hour. Boyfriend makes it to the car, jumps in, speeds to the port and is one of the last people to board the ship--with their luggage!