Day 1: The Joys of Delta Airlines

The group sits and waits for the plane to arrive at the airport. It is 10:56 am on a beautiful Sunday morning in Detroit. In 30 minutes we are set to embark on the first of two flights on our way to Guatemala City. We are predicted to have a 3 hour 40 minute layover in Atlanta while we wait for the second flight to Guatemala City. As we wait for the plane, groups split off and some play KEMPS while others play Euchre. Once we finally board the plane we are told that there is a small wire issue with the plane and it should take about 20 minutes to fix.

This 20 minutes comes and goes and the flight attendant comes back on the announcement system and tells us that there is definitely an issue and they do not have the tools o fix it. The only way they can fix this issue is for a  part to be flown in from Atlanta. This delays the expected departure to 5 pm. Our connecting flight leaves at 5;59 pm, so the odds of us making it on this plane are very low. They tell us that there is another plane coming that will replace this one.

The 17 of us go to the other side of the airport and wait to board the next plane. We board the new plane at 3:45 pm and everyone thinks we will miss our next flight. If this is the case, we would have to spend the night in a hotel in Atlanta, This also means that we would have to split up and travel via two different planes. One would leave at 10 am and the other at 6 pm. Luckily, we make our connecting flight. We run as fast as we can from one side of the airport to the other and make it with two minutes to spare. They actually had to wait a couple minutes for us.

This new plane has television screens and a wide selection of movies, songs, games, and TV shows. The flight attendants also provide us with turkey sandwiches, drinks, and plane snacks.

We collect our bags and load them into the vans as we meet Andres, our guide. We make our way through the city to find some place to eat. They drive so fast here, it is amazing they do not crash. We decide to eat dinner at Pollo Campero and we all learn how to order in Spanish.

The food there is amazing. The meals were fairly cheap, as my meal of three pieces of chicken and two sides was about $6.

We head out for our retreat house and everyone is glad to finally get some rest.

Written by Robert Cornwell