When you travel, especially during the peak travel season you should always expect hiccups, changes, delays and even frustrations. We arrived at the airport two hours before our flight, which for us is incredible. You can imagine that with four kids we typically arrive at the last minute, running through the security and sitting down just as they closed the doors.  So this time we were pretty proud of ourselves. That is until we handed our passports and itinerary to the ticketing agent and he gave me that look. I have flown enough to know that look, either something was wrong or we were in for an adventure. Actually, no matter what it is the best thing to do is remain calm and just let them explore the options, which is just what we did. 

We soon found that our flight to Atlanta was delayed by over two hours. This definitely put a kink into our one-hour layover in Atlanta connection to Prague. While Curt, our agent was trying to figure out a better solution, Delta emailed me twice and called me three times letting me know something I was now well aware of. They had automatically re-routed us from Salt Lake to Los Angeles to Amsterdam to Paris and finally to Prague. Not the best solution in my mind. So we waited while Curt typed away like a teenager texting after drinking three cans of Cola and he came up with a much better solution, a non-stop flight to Paris and then a short flight to Prague. However, because this flight was so full, he couldn’t provide us with seat assignments. Hummmmmmm, new problem, new adventure. In addition, the new flight wasn’t until later in the afternoon, but to our surprise Curt provided us with $60 in food vouchers, which took care of our lunch and was a wonderful surprise. 

We finally got to our gate only to find out that coach was totally full. The only seats were the new Economy Comfort seats Delta sells for an additional $60.00 each, but they do have more legroom and recline twice as far as typical coach seating. To our delight, and because those were the only seats available we were all upgraded at no charge. 

In the end, the lesson learned was; Relax, count on a few delays. Also remember that the frustrations often turn out to be blessings. First, we were wondering what to do about lunch as there was no meal service on our original flight from Salt Lake to Atlanta and we had such a short layover. In this case we had a complementary lunch on Delta. Second, we were upgraded to better seating and a much more palatable itinerary. Yes we have had to spend a few unexpected hours in the airport but we received over $400 in compensation and had fun playing card games with the kids. 

Keep this in mind the next time you run into either a hiccup, change or delay on a future flight. Your outcome will largely be dictated by how you react to the adventure ahead of you. Tomorrow we will be in one of the most beautiful cities in the world and our adventure will not begin, it will just continue. 

We didn't rent a car while in NYC. Why would you? The cost for parking would probably exceed the cost of having the car and who wants to drive in the city anyway? We did however decide to take a side trip to New Hampshire and stay a night with some friends and visit with our publisher of, day trips from salt lake city, Available now at Barns & Noble for pre-orders. 

We had taken a shuttle from the airport to our hotel when we landed, which wasn't the fastest way as we landed at about the same time the evening rush began. The cost after tip was about $40.00 for both of us and we figured it wasn't too bad. We did hear however that once you take the subway and airport train, you'll never use anything else. 

Well our story begins with us believing this is true. Now don't get me wrong, I love the ease of the Subway in New York, but when your not as familiar as you need to be and it is crowded and you have your luggage, I'm just not sure if the savings are worth the cost. Here is the cost... The station was right across the street from our hotel, big bonus. However we soon learned there are two blue trains that go towards the airport. One has a stop for the Airtrain and one forks off and heads in a different direction. We, of course, were on the fork train. We realized this and decided to get off at a mutual stop and catch the correct one to the Airtrain. The trained stopped, We got up and headed out the door, Michelle had a little delay from her luggage and when I got outside, turned around and I saw the doors shutting with Michelle still on the train. She thought she could stop the doors and stuck he foot between them and as the train proceeded to take off I watched Michelle lose her balance and fall back into the train. So I grabbed my cell phone... no service. I then proceeded to the person at the ticket booth, no help at all. I proceeded up out of the subway to get cell reception with the hope that she would get off at the next stop and do the same. After only a few minutes we connected on the phone. She stayed at that stop next to a very helpful policeman and I got on the next train heading in her direction. It so happened to be the one we also needed for the Airtain. 

We met back up, got off at the Airtrain and made it to the car rental place no worse for the adventure. Total cost for both of us to take the train, $4.00 for the subway and $10.00 for the Airtrain, a $25.00 savings but we're not sure it was worth the gray hairs. When we returned for our last night in the city we took a taxi and then a hired car to head home. The shuttle, taxi and hired car are all about the same cost and I haven't decided which I thought was better.