ready, set, no go

I got all tarted up for my travel adventure, showed up at the airport only to find that there was nooo way I could get out of Atlanta to Paris. There is a baggage handlers' strike in Madrid, so all those passengers waiting to board a flight there had to be rerouted to Paris and then into Madrid. Presumably the strike will be over by the time the Paris flight is ready to go.

(As an aside, when Mr. C and I de-trained in Barcelona in 2004 there was a taxi strike. We exited the train station to find a completely deserted landscape. We learned pronto how to use the excellent Metro system.)

Along with the very helpful and knowledgeable Delta staff member, Arturo, I scanned all the available flights that might get me eventually to CDG before the end of my rental contract. We finally came up with this plan: tomorrow out of Sacramento to Minneapolis/St. Paul, then to JFK. Then via Air France to CDG. (Delta has a partnership with AF; I only have to pay the taxes on the ticket, $125.) When I got home I canceled the hard-won hotel (had to pay anyway; less than 24 hrs. notice), made my AF reservation (departs JFK at 7:05), notified the shuttle service, for the 4th time, of the change, and can now relax until 4:00 AM tomorrow morning when I have to get up and start this whole thing all over again. If I don't make the 7 PM flight out of JFK, there are two more, one at 9:45 PM and the last one at ll:30 PM. Surely I'll make one of them. If not, I'll either hang around JFK until the next morning and try again or I'll just kiss the whole thing adieu and return home. This Non-Rev is not for sissies. Or old folks, either.