Not sure I can beat the coup d'etat story, but here goes. We were in Akumal for a friend's wedding when Emily struck. My friend moved up the wedding a few hours and had a very quick reception as they were boarding up the restaraunt and asking guests that wanted to stay at the resort past 4 PM that day to sign waivers. You know it's bad when a country that isn't nearly as litigious as the U.S. asks people to sign waivers!

We spent the night before the hurricane hit in our beachfront condo, while the resort owners boarded up. We just asked that they leave the front door unboarded so we could get out in the morning. We drove off in a caravan inland at 6 AM (did I mention that our 3 year old was with us) after loading up on groceries, candles, flashlights, and anything else we thought we might need. The rest of the wedding group drove to CUN and tried to get out on the last few flights. As non-rev, we didn't even bother. None of our friends made it out, either (after spending 4+ hours in line at the ticket counter and security, only to get turned away at the gate)...and they ended up driving back inland to meet us. A few, though, that had turned in their rental cars, ended up at the shelter.

The hurricane itself wasn't too bad - just loud. Our 3 yo slept through it and we had to wait an extra day for the roads to clear before driving to CUN. The rental car company charged us through the nose for the "extra" day that we kept the car - never mind the argument that had we turned the car in at Playa Del Carmen (where they suggested)...the car probably would have been trashed. They said that we should have called

The lines at the airport were long (2+ hours), but we got out on the 2nd flight we tried.

So...again...not topping many of the stories here by any means - but that's my worst in 10 years of travel as an airline employee.

Other notables include...

- Flying Bali-HKG-LAX...arriving in LAX to find that AA pilots are on strike. Trying to negotiate for an OA ticket (I was revenue passenger) was just exhausting.

- DFW-MCO with a 1 year old with an ear infection and having the FA stick her hand in ice to try and "help". 1 year old proceeded to scream the entire trip

-DFW-SEA 1-year old is now a 2 year old...and loves to watch Barney when we get on the plane. We get 2 year old very excited about watching her video only to find the DVD screen has gone dead. It was a looong 4 hour flight! Needless to say, we bought a new DVD player in SEA.

- Trying to go CDG-DFW and arriving at CDG to find that ATC is about to strike. Then, trying to buy a Eurorail tkt to LON only to have the price go up drastically and literally as we were talking with the agent trying to decide if we should book. We ended up back at the airport and did get on the 2nd flight we tried....although, ended up escorting a minor that was also a non-rev to DFW, via MIA. She was a really nice kid, though.

Lisa