Finally made it here
After four rebookings, seven flight delays, and a mad sprint I’ve finally made it here in Fairbanks, Alaska. Every single flight I was scheduled to take or actually took (except one) was delayed by 1 hour or more. This caused me to continually miss my connecting flights, which demanded all the rebookings. Minneapolis was the worst. The flight from Newark was 2 hours late, and when I land my watch says that the Fairbanks flight left 15 minutes ago. I’m talking with the gate counter and the lady says the best she can do is 8am Monday morning. Sigh. I was supposed to get there 1am Sunday Alaskan time. But she doublechecked the Fairbanks flight again and says “oh wait, that flight is delayed too…” She calls the gate agent, points towards the gate, and I take off sprinting. Two concourses later I make it to the gate and board. Whew.
First reaction to Alaska: wet. This is the rainiest time of the year. Fairbanks is the 2nd largest city, with 50,000 people living within 20 miles of its center. The University of Alaska-Fairbanks is just four miles from the airport. The head of PARS, Dr. Roger Smith, was waiting for me at the airport and kindly got me settled. Nader met up with me at the dorm. We’re living up here on the third floor, hall style dormitories. Last night I got a snack and the two of us plus an Indian student from the University of Maryland-College Park took a walk around the campus a bit and talked well into the night about a lot of different things. It was nice.
We’re heading down to breakfast soon.
