Have you ever had to flee a country?
Have you ever had to flee a country?
Nov 27, 2006, 1:17 pm
#8
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Europe & Middle East
Programs: BA GGL (LTG), Marriott LT Titanium, EK Plat, Amex Cent
Posts: 899
I had to flee Gilgit in Northern Pakistan due to civil unrest. Took 3 days before the army managed to clear road blocks and the airport was closed.
We have contingency plans to flee Bulgaria with my family in the event of any sort of criminal incident (road accident involving a fatality etc...) due to the fact that I am foreign and the judicial system here is so corrupt. Hopefully it will never happen!
We have contingency plans to flee Bulgaria with my family in the event of any sort of criminal incident (road accident involving a fatality etc...) due to the fact that I am foreign and the judicial system here is so corrupt. Hopefully it will never happen!
Nov 27, 2006, 4:41 pm
#9
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: NYC
Programs: MileagePlus 1K
Posts: 101
I had to flee Manila a day early due to a car bombing in Makati (the area where our hotel was) fortunately for us, we have security that travels with us and we were able to get to Hong Kong a day earlier (fine with me!).
Nov 27, 2006, 4:50 pm
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Under an ORD approach path
Programs: DL PM, MM. Coffee isn't a drug, it's a vitamin.
Posts: 12,935
I had fleas in Italy once. Does that count?
Rented a stunning apartment (it had been published in a decor magazine), after three days my legs started itching- turned out the carpets all were infested.
Rented a stunning apartment (it had been published in a decor magazine), after three days my legs started itching- turned out the carpets all were infested.
Nov 27, 2006, 5:37 pm
#11
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: EWR
Programs: Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Gold (Current Platinum), United Mileage Plus, Avis Preferred
Posts: 850
I fled Hurricane Jean
Hurricane Jean arrrived in Puerto Rico on Wednesday, 9/15/04. I had flown in on Sunday evening 9/12/04, planning to work for two days, and then to fly back to EWR on the morning of 9/15/04.
On Tuesday afternoon, the satellite pictures on weather.com made it obvious to me that Hurricane Jean was bearing down on San Juan. I called Continental, but they had not yet cancelled or re-scheduled my flight, so they would not accomodate me.
I ended up checking out of my hotel that night and taking the 9 PM flight on AA to JFK. Had I not left on Tuesday when I did, I would not have left before Friday morning.
What surprised me the most was that as I was rushing out of the hotel to catch a cab to the airport, no one else seemed to realize that a hurricane was coming.
On Tuesday afternoon, the satellite pictures on weather.com made it obvious to me that Hurricane Jean was bearing down on San Juan. I called Continental, but they had not yet cancelled or re-scheduled my flight, so they would not accomodate me.
I ended up checking out of my hotel that night and taking the 9 PM flight on AA to JFK. Had I not left on Tuesday when I did, I would not have left before Friday morning.
What surprised me the most was that as I was rushing out of the hotel to catch a cab to the airport, no one else seemed to realize that a hurricane was coming.
Last edited by JohnneeO; Nov 28, 2006 at 9:01 am
Nov 27, 2006, 5:43 pm
#12
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Newport Beach, CA, USA
Programs: AA Gold, Husband AA EXP (yeah!!) Hya Dia, Marriott
Posts: 1,885
1968 - I was 11 & my family was in Prague. The Russians rolled in & we got in our VW pop-top & hightailed it back to Munich. Can't remember what happened at the border & how we got through when there obviously had to be thousands of Czechs trying to do the same.
In the late 70's in Madrid - Basque terrorists were bombing every train out & had blown up the Atocha train station with my brother's down sleeping bag left in a locker there. I swear what apprears to be snow in a photo on the front page of Le Monde was the remains of his bag! We tried to fly out & they started bombing the airport - ran across the tarmack to the plane & were told to make sure our bags were being loaded. They weren't there, but we got shoved on the plane & told better we make it out than our backpacks - was an interesting 2 weeks with no clothes, no money & only the Morrocan teapot I was hand-carrying, but somehow I survived intact! Did have nightmares for years afterwards about bombs going off & trying to find somewhere safe away from glass & calling my family to say goodbye.
In the late 70's in Madrid - Basque terrorists were bombing every train out & had blown up the Atocha train station with my brother's down sleeping bag left in a locker there. I swear what apprears to be snow in a photo on the front page of Le Monde was the remains of his bag! We tried to fly out & they started bombing the airport - ran across the tarmack to the plane & were told to make sure our bags were being loaded. They weren't there, but we got shoved on the plane & told better we make it out than our backpacks - was an interesting 2 weeks with no clothes, no money & only the Morrocan teapot I was hand-carrying, but somehow I survived intact! Did have nightmares for years afterwards about bombs going off & trying to find somewhere safe away from glass & calling my family to say goodbye.
Last edited by brendamc; Nov 27, 2006 at 5:49 pm
Nov 27, 2006, 6:55 pm
#14
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: ABJ
Posts: 755
been there, done that,
hmm, only too often.., with the civil unrest in the Ivory Coast I have had to flee/run/hide/skedaddle from abidjan not once, not twice but 3 times..!!
Fortunately for me my employers had things organized and booked a plane for us to fly out; once to burkina faso where we had biz class AF tickets to CDG, once i went to LHR via Ghana on C class BA, and the third time i had to run for cover to the "your nearest neighborhood UN safehouse"... ^
Thats why i have taken an extended break here in YUL..., time to smell the roses..!!
Fortunately for me my employers had things organized and booked a plane for us to fly out; once to burkina faso where we had biz class AF tickets to CDG, once i went to LHR via Ghana on C class BA, and the third time i had to run for cover to the "your nearest neighborhood UN safehouse"... ^
Thats why i have taken an extended break here in YUL..., time to smell the roses..!!
