The research group is back, although not without numerous obstacles on the way home. It began with everyone waking up early to the volcano making a lot of noise at 4AM, sounding a lot like a train chugging, but significantly louder. Our van driver had trouble navigating one of the steep hills after picking up our luggage at the cabins, and we almost thought we might not leave. Without the weight of passengers in the van it didn't have the traction it needed, but eventually did make it and we piled in to get to San Jose. Not long after getting through the mountains our driver had to stop because the brakes were getting hot, since the traffic was stop and go in the mountainous section and he was on the brake most of the time. We transferred everything to another van, and made it to San Jose in time for our flight. However, the new van necessitated a drop-off on a city street and not the airport itself (the new van didn't have the necessary placard for the airport), so each person was carrying a 40lb backpack on his/her back, and another 25lb on a second on the front up the steep hill to the airport itself.
The biggest obstacles didn't happen in San Jose, but in Atlanta. We arrived again in a thunderstorm (as with the departure last week), and after circling the airport we sat for an hour on various taxiways while air traffic held during lightning was cleared. We rushed through immigration and customs to grab bags and get to the gate on time for the connecting flight to DFW, but we might have in retrospect been more leisurely. Due to various stated causes (weather, lack of crew, the crew timing out, etc.) our 9:50PM departure was pushed back to 10:30, then 11, then 11:30, 12:30AM, and 1:20AM as we sat at the gate with 200 other similarly inconvenienced passengers, and when we finally lifted off from Atlanta at 2AM, the group was still getting along but exhausted.
We arrived safely in Dallas just before 4AM, marking about 22 hours from wakeup call to touchdown in DFW, and naturally everyone is exhausted but glad to be home. The data analysis begins in earnest on Tuesday, and we will be posting here additional photos, data updates and other stories of the trip.
The biggest obstacles didn't happen in San Jose, but in Atlanta. We arrived again in a thunderstorm (as with the departure last week), and after circling the airport we sat for an hour on various taxiways while air traffic held during lightning was cleared. We rushed through immigration and customs to grab bags and get to the gate on time for the connecting flight to DFW, but we might have in retrospect been more leisurely. Due to various stated causes (weather, lack of crew, the crew timing out, etc.) our 9:50PM departure was pushed back to 10:30, then 11, then 11:30, 12:30AM, and 1:20AM as we sat at the gate with 200 other similarly inconvenienced passengers, and when we finally lifted off from Atlanta at 2AM, the group was still getting along but exhausted.
We arrived safely in Dallas just before 4AM, marking about 22 hours from wakeup call to touchdown in DFW, and naturally everyone is exhausted but glad to be home. The data analysis begins in earnest on Tuesday, and we will be posting here additional photos, data updates and other stories of the trip.
Glad you made the trip, with all the fuzz and the adventure around. Trips are really unexpected.
Stanley Lee from Calcul pension alimentaire