9/11 Travel Memories?

[prescottbob]

Ahoy!
Since we have two active TSA threads going on I thought I'd start one that, although a bit premature, deals with the occurances on 9/11 and the coming anniversary next month. I direct this totally toward traveling on that day and not personnal non-travel, extensive antedotes. Needless to say the 'world' was shocked and most of 'us' were 'glued' to the tube that day with 'our' emotions were certainly at a level beyond 'civilized' description.
However, my basic questions include:
1. We're you, a member of your family or friends flying, cruising or traveling by rail that day?
2. How did you/they find out about the events that occured while, say, flying in the air, or cruising on the sea, etc?
3. What problems occurred when the planes became grounded, and transfer to other modes of transportation were non-existant for you or others you know that were traveling that day ?
4. Did the cruise ship captain / on-board chaplin make any sort of announcement(s) that day? Were you / they diverted from ports?
5. What sort of security enhancements did you / they notice that day and within the weeks to come following the tragedy?

Perhaps I'll think of more questions as time goes on. Feel free to 'chime in'.

In any event, a safe trip for one and all.
Bon Voyage and Good Health!
Bob:)

[hammybee]

I was there. I made it home. Now I am here. And that's all I have to say.

[tomc]

I found out on the Internet after hearing a pax say something. The captain made an announcement; the chaplain led a service. I later learned I lost someone.

[innlady1]

I was here at our inn and our then 18 month old granddaughter had just come to visit for the week...by herself. Her mother called from work to tell me that a woman she worked with had just arrived at work after putting her husband on the AA flight out of Boston.

The events came on the TV as our guests were eating breakfast. One family got up and left the inn...and the island...without a word. The young woman told another guest that she managed the Starbuck's in the WTC. Another guest cancelled a reservation for the next weekend because her boyfriend had died in the WTC.

Just last week, we had a guest who told me that two of the children of one of the pilots were in her classroom in NH that day.

Living in New England, it hit very close to home.

[sungoddess]

I was on the Statendam in Ketchikan. The ship was locked down for crew members, meaningwe couldn't go ashore for a week. We were doing a northbound cruise, so when we got to Seward none of the passengers could fly home, so most of them stayed onboard and sailed back down to Vancouver.

It was a very somber time onboard.

[gg3]

I was home watching "Good Morning America" as the tragic events unfolded, but two members of my family were traveling. Brother was in Vegas. He had flown in from Houston to attend a company convention and was to fly out 9/11. As he and friends were driving their rent car to the Vegas airport to return the car, they heard the news and also heard all flights were grounded. They just kept driving that rent car...........all the way home to Houston. Uncle was also at Vegas .......gambling, but was at the airport about to fly home to S. Calif when all planes were grounded. His neice drove from L.A. to get him, since he was 75 years old and so shook up by the disaster.

[bepsf]

My boss was returning from a trip to Ireland that she had organized for her husband and herself along with her Son, her Daughter and Son-in-Law and her grandchildren who were on different airliners.

She was re-routed to Edmonton, Canada and had to wait it out there, but in relative luxury as she was able to get a hotelroom for herself and her husband. Her children and grandchildren were not as fortunate as they were landed in Newfoundland and were among the thousands trapped there aboard useless airliners and shepherded to local churches and gymnasiums. My boss was unable to contact her children for days until the Red Cross could find them and get word to her where they were and that they were safe. Meanwhile, she also learned that her nephew was one of the NYFD lost in the towers...

...meanwhile, the head of our department was stuck in Southampton for nearly a week after her Northern Europe/Baltics cruise aboard a Rennaissance ship.

As for myself, I was glued to the TV/frantically trying to call my mother as she was working for the government outside DC/watching from my livingroom the SF skyline wondering which building would be hit next.


As I walked home from a dinner out that evening (I had to get out of the apartment) I looked up and realized that there were no airplanes circling the city making approach to SFO - no traffic helicopters, no contrails, nothing - just how utterly peaceful & beautiful the skies were above my City and how I'd likely never again in my lifetime see such a sight.

[Sunshine91]

I was working in a busy doctor's office. We wound up closing before noon, calling as many patients as we could, so that employee's could be with family, get their kids from school, etc. The husband of my immediate co-worker is the one who called to tell us what happened- he was in Omaha or OK City - he wound up renting a car & driving home to MD.

My cousin & his girlfriend, now fiancee, had just recently moved to NYC. She had been awarded a trip to Hawaii from her bank, & they were on a cross-country flight that day. But because she had started at a Philly branch, that's where their flight originated from. They were grounded in Little Rock. On the bus to Dallas they met an official from.................. the airline or a hotel or someplace very helpful. They were very fortunate not to have to stay in a shelter for the week. Once planes were flying again, they went on to Hawaii.

At the time John & I lived in Maryland, directly in the flight path of BWI. The silence was astounding. :o

We had our 10th anniversary cruise on Veendam booked for that November. Not once did we consider cancelling simply because we had to fly to Ft. Lauderdale. We weren't going to let the terrorists prevent us from flying. As soon as we arrived on Veendam, a plane leaving JFK? crashed into Jamaica, Queens. That was a terrible tragedy as well.

[onthegogirl]

DH and I were on the Whitestone Bridge, on our way to JFK to fly out for our Tahiti cruise, when we saw the smoke. Turned on the radio and heard what was happening pulled over to the side of the road and watched the first tower collapse.

By the time we turned around, all bridges from Long Island were closed and all roads toward the city were reserved for emergency vehicles.

We headed east on Long Island and tried to return to CT by ferry but they too were reserved for emergency personnel. Was finally able to find a room and made it home on the twelth.

The following year we flew to Hawaii on 9/11. Guess I'm stubborn.

[missygirl]

We were at a hospital awaiting the birth of my first grandchild who indeed shares the 9/11 birthdate. The doctor who was to arrive at 9 am to induce labor didn't come to to around 1 pm due to his son living several blocks from the WTC. He apologized because he and his wife were trying to get in touch with their son and had taken a while because of the phone service. Luckly their son was found safe and unharmed and my grandchild was born later that evening, a beautiful, healthy boy.

One thing that I did was to keep several magazines (Time, People) to show him when he is old enough to understand what happened on the day of his birth.

Missygirl

[Scrumpy]

I was not glued to the TV. We'd lived in Colorado Springs less than a month. I didn't even have the satellite hooked up, so I had no TV to watch. I'd been up all night; now, I don't remember why I hadn't slept. It was pure chance that I happened to have a radio on or I wouldn't have known anything was happening. DH was working in Austin, TX. I was alone in a new place and it was frightening. I didn't know when the attacks would stop and didn't know right away that they'd halt all air traffic. DH should have been coming home later that day and I had an irrational fear that he might be in some kind of danger. I don't remember when I learned all the flights were grounded, but it wasn't for at least several hours. Or maybe it took that long to sink in. Someone in DH's office had heard about the first crash into the tower on the news, but I told him they needed to stop and listen for updates because things were even worse than the initial reports.

I took my cell phone, drove up to Starbucks and encountered some of our local military. Some must have been called in early; still half-asleep and in shock. They looked very, very grim. I was reminded that I'd just moved to a military town and that some of those people had already realized they would likely be called for some kind of mission when those responsible were identified. I'd already called DH, but it was only the first of many calls. I sat in the parking lot and phoned all our friends and loved ones. I had to know if everyone was safe. For hours, a friend who was in NYC could not be located. His family was frantic. The phone lines were all jammed. I imagine a lot of people were like me. We wanted to make sure everyone we knew was accounted for, so communication problems were the result. Our friend turned out to be all right. He was supposed to fly out later that morning, but went to NJ for a few days until the flights resumed and things were sorted out. Other friends and family with an NYC connection were okay. That was my immediate concern because some frequented the WTC. The people the most shook up were probably my grandparents; I visited them shortly afterwards and they were still not themselves.

DH was stuck in Austin over that weekend. There was no easy way for him to get home to Colorado. It was too far for driving to be practical. He stayed put until the next weekend. That missed weekend with him seemed like the longest weekend I'd ever experienced. I had a flight planned for a week or two later and took off as scheduled. No way I was going to let anyone intimidate me when I needed to fly. It was on that visit with my grandparents that I first saw any of the video footage. I was glad I didn't see it when it first happened.

Our airport immediately had armed military personnel on-site. They also did random in and/or under-car inspections. They started strenuously enforcing the "pick-up only/ no waiting" policy and they barricaded the front of the parking lot. For months, there was a whole section of parking no one was allowed to use. It also seemed like the fighter jets were out a lot more often and I figured they'd increased the training exercises. At the Knoxville airport (where I went), they were using mirrors to look under ALL the cars and also having people open their trunks.

We were not travelling at the exact time, but he was only hours away. It hit pretty close to home because of the amount of time he spends in the air, along with other loved ones who also travel a great deal. Our new home was in the flight path of the airport. The first few weeks, I'd taken him to the airport, gone home, then watched the planes go overhead until I was sure he was on his way. I could pick out his plane. It was a long, long time before I was comfortable watching those planes again. I was afraid I'd see his plane crash right in front of me one day. I started to see and hear a lot more of the huge military planes going over; they share the runways with the airport. It seemed like within a week or two the military air traffic of all kinds was significantly greater. We started having more frequent (but brief) departure and arrival delays for a while since the military aircraft were more active.

[OleSalt]

We were booked to fly to Alaska and board a Princess ship for a southbound cruise to Vancouver.

When the flights were all grounded, I called Princess to advise them of my problem. Her reply was, "The ship will leave Friday whether you are on it or not."

Have boycotted Princess since than.....

[sungoddess]

Ole Salt,

It sounds like the Princess rep may have been rude to you, but what did you expect them to do for you? They didn't have any control over the flight situation.

[jtl513]

My daughter had just passed through the Pentagon Metro station on her way to work in D.C. about 10 minutes before the plane struck there. Then in July '05 she and my other daughter had just left downtown London and were on their way to Heathrow airport about 10 minutes before the bus bombings. I don't want to travel 10 minutes behind her anywhere! :)

[Krazy Kruizers]

Like gg3 - we were home watching everything on Good Morning America.

It was very strange not to hear any planes going over our house for days.

We did learn within hours that Flight 93 went over our house before it went down. We live about an hour from the crash sight in Somerset County.

[froggykat]

My daughter lived in Battery Park City (2 blocks from the Towers) and took the subway under the Towers every morning to work in the Bronx. Thank God, she likes to go in early. We heard it on the radio and watched the Towers fall from our office building in New Jersey. One momemt they were there and the next they were gone. The longest hour of my life was trying to find her. This was before everyone had cell phones. She was an Assistand DA and we couldn't reach her by phone. She was finally able to call us. She couldn't get back in her apartment until Thanksgiving. We later learned we lost friends on the 105th floor.

In December my husband and I took a cruise from Ft Lauderdale for our anniversary. Security was still extreemly tight at airports and at the docks. National Guardsmen were patrolling with docks with M-16s. My husband was in the military and we were told not to bring our military ID.

We continue to travel and refuse to let someone else rule our lives. My duaghter lived in NYC until she got married in 2004 and only moved to NJ because her husband wanted a house. She still works in NYC as and Asst US Attorney and tells me every day how safe it is.

[Copper10-8]

My sister was in the air on a AA flight from Long Beach to DFW that morning. That flight made it in to Dallas since that was the closest facility when the FAA started clearing the airspace.

I watched the tragedy unfold on CNN and then rushed in to work. As soon as I got there we started making contingency response plans for the possibility of a pottential terrorist attack on Los Angeles targets. We held briefings and placed all our personnel on notice re: the possibility of going to twelve-hour on - twelve-hour off shifts. Our Emergency Operations Center was opened and staffed, logistics put in to place and we started monitoring intel.

We were one of the first ones on a plane after commercial flights were given the go ahead to resume by the FAA on September 13. We were on AA flights from LAX-JFK and JFK-LHR. I remember the captain standing first at the boarding gate door and then at the entrance to his aircraft giving everybody that boarded a critical once over. I remember him coming over the PA system before leaving the gate giving us all instructions and suggestions on how to respond to a potentail highjack. Anything from outnumbering the hickjacker(s), to using seat cushions and meal service carts for protection, and using fire extinguishers, throwing hot coffee and/or soda cans at highjacker(s). A lot of folks were stressed on those flights.

[Robin7]

Other than the horror over what happened, our lives were not directly affected by the terrorist attacks until two days after they happened.

One of our family's hobbies is high-powered model rocketry. (Engines range from teeny-tiny AAA to the Y engine that boosts the space shuttle. We are licensed to shoot up to an H engine.) We try to attend a regional rocket shoot called "Hellfire" every year, where we have seen engines on rockets as large as an N, which had to be hauled out to the launch range by pickup truck. It is held out on the Salt Flats west of the Great Salt Lake. (That's where they filmed the 'heaven' sequence with Johnny Depp in the latest 'Pirates' movie.)

In 2001, it was scheduled just a couple of days after September 11th. (As if anyone felt like going anyway.) NORAD shut the shoot down completely. We always have to notify the FAA and get a waiver when we shoot rockets, but that year, NORAD told us we weren't even allowed to shoot the 'baby' rockets, let alone the big stuff. We were disappointed but completely understood.

Since we (nor anyone we knew) weren't traveling that day and we didn't know anyone in New York or DC, we were surprised when even our seemingly mundane lives were affected by terrorists.

Robin

[mr green]

My wife and I flew to Boston, from Vancouver, via Montreal, for our New England cruise, two weeks after 9/11. We were supposed to leave from New York, but of course this did not happen, so we left from Boston, the cruises first port of call. We were on the NCL Sun, fortunatly, we chose to go Air/Sea, so our flight was changed.
HOWEVER, those who made their own arrangements to get to the ship, were never informed! Too much work, was NCL's excuse. Busses were laid on to take those who first went to New York, but I have to say, I have never seen such an angry bunch of cruisers in my life. Although we were O.K. with our arrival, to us, it was the final nail in NCL's coffin, we have not used that line since.
The main part of our tail however was the ease our 'Entry?' into the United States. We had a 'red eye' to Monteal, and it seemed that U.S. customs, were just standing about in the airport, looking for customers! One spotted us and we were given the usual form to fill out, staiting, in part that we did not have more than $10,000. U.S. Since we had four bags' we approached the officer, carrying said form in my teeth. He took it, smiled, and said 'Wecome to the United States!'
That was it! We never saw another officer, either in Boston, or the dock! How times have changed.

john

[lka1012]

Since Memphis is the main FedEx hub and has the ground facilties to handle a large number of planes, this is where the FAA directed many planes. As soon as one touched down, they sent it over to the FedEx hub and another landed. They were asking for donations of pillows, blankets, etc. We were probably among the last cites to have aircraft (non-military) flying overhbead.

[Chetsky]

We were in London along with my recently widowed 77 year old mother waiting for a tour bus. A bus conductor informed us that the "Twin Cities" had just been bombed. We immediately went to our hotel and stayed glued to CNN for the next four days. We soon found out that it was the twin towers and actually saw the fall of the second tower on live TV.
After 9/11 every Brit we encountered expressed their sympathy and treated us like Royalty everyplace we went. We went to a special changing of the guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace and for the first time in history of the ceremony the American National Anthem was played - needless to say there was not a dry eye anywhere.
This was the first time my mother had been outside of the US and she was terrified that we would never make it back to the states. As luck would have it, Heathrow reopened the day befor we were scheduled to fly home. As you can imagine security was very strict - it took us four hours to clear in London and three more in DC to clear from the International terminal of the airport to the domestic terminal.
We certainly will be able to remember where we were on 9/11 !

[innlady1]

My boss was returning from a trip to Ireland that she had organized for her husband and herself along with her Son, her Daughter and Son-in-Law and her grandchildren who were on different airliners.

She was re-routed to Edmonton, Canada and had to wait it out there, but in relative luxury as she was able to get a hotelroom for herself and her husband. Her children and grandchildren were not as fortunate as they were landed in Newfoundland and were among the thousands trapped there aboard useless airliners and shepherded to local churches and gymnasiums. My boss was unable to contact her children for days until the Red Cross could find them and get word to her where they were and that they were safe. Meanwhile, she also learned that her nephew was one of the NYFD lost in the towers...

...meanwhile, the head of our department was stuck in Southampton for nearly a week after her Northern Europe/Baltics cruise aboard a Rennaissance ship.

As for myself, I was glued to the TV/frantically trying to call my mother as she was working for the government outside DC/watching from my livingroom the SF skyline wondering which building would be hit next.

As I walked home from a dinner out that evening (I had to get out of the apartment) I looked up and realized that there were no airplanes circling the city making approach to SFO - no traffic helicopters, no contrails, nothing - just how utterly peaceful & beautiful the skies were above my City and how I'd likely never again in my lifetime see such a sight.

I know exactly what you mean, Brian...looking up at the sky and seeing nothing.

I took my granddaughter home on the ferry on Friday (9/14). After leaving her at my daughter & SIL's house, I went to our house in Hingham before returning to the island on Sunday....we're not that far from Logan...direct route over our house into the airport. When we're there in the late fall/winter/early spring, we see planes from our living room window every few minutes making the descent into Logan.

But nothing that weekend...the sky was scarily quiet. All I heard were the planes way overhead...protecting our borders.

It was a very eerie and scary time.

[innlady1]

My boss was returning from a trip to Ireland that she had organized for her husband and herself along with her Son, her Daughter and Son-in-Law and her grandchildren who were on different airliners.

She was re-routed to Edmonton, Canada and had to wait it out there, but in relative luxury as she was able to get a hotelroom for herself and her husband. Her children and grandchildren were not as fortunate as they were landed in Newfoundland and were among the thousands trapped there aboard useless airliners and shepherded to local churches and gymnasiums. My boss was unable to contact her children for days until the Red Cross could find them and get word to her where they were and that they were safe.

Meanwhile, she also learned that her nephew was one of the NYFD lost in the towers...


So sorry to hear about your boss's nephew. That is tragic.

[jaja]

I still find it hard to talk about. We live in Northern New Jersey-only a few miles from NYC....I was teaching at the time --and the entire day was devoted to "keeping things normal" for the children ..it was the longest day of my life---when I finally got home-I sat,watched TV and cried for hours....
We are in the flight paths of 3 airports-so I can totally relate to all the comments re: quiet skies.just so eerie...though, ours was occasionally puncutated by the roar of the military jets on patrol-they would circle over our house after crossing the Hudson River..
.
Everyone in this area knew someone who lost someone...
We will never forget...

janette

[arabrab]

Though we live in Colorado, my husband worked at the time for a company whose owner lived on Long Island, though the employees were all out here. People went into work, only to get called into a meeting later that morning (about 1PM NY time) and told that the company was being shut down and everyone was being laid off immediately.

My husband says that it was the weirdest layoff imaginable. Weird that it was happening that day, and that a doctor on Long Island could ignore what was going on in the city at the time and still conduct a telphonic layoff meeting, and weirder still that nobody here cared about the layoff given the real problems at the WTC and the Pentagon.

[MSammy]

I was sitting in my hotel in mid-town Manhattan working on a presentation and watching the morning news. I saw a clip about a plane flying into one of the Twin Towers and thought it was a movie promotion. Turned up the volume and learned it was real. Called my husband in Texas and told him to turn on the news. Felt like a sitting duck.

Stood on sidewalk outside hotel watching people walk up-town--some covered in dust--all looking up. Went to hospital to donate blood--they only wanted O+. Sirens constant. (Still freeze up everytime I hear sirens.) Called my husband again and told him to call the kids schools and tell them I was OK since they both knew I was in NYC. My daughter's class cheered when they brought her the news.

I was traveling with 5 other people and by pure luck one of us had a rent car. The five us drove out at 5am the morning of the 12th. The city that morning was like nothing you've ever seen. No newspapers, no traffic...a very scary ride across the George Washington Bridge.

[Randyk47]

We were at work that day.....unfortunately work then was the Pentagon. Obviously and luckily my wife and I made it out safely that day. Seven of our friends were not as fortunate and were lost that day. In 2003 we moved to San Antonio, largely due to the lingering memories of September 11, 2001.

[Boytjie]

We were going to leave on a trip to the Pacific North East on the 13th. Well, that got canceled. Everyone was fine with the cancellations: hotels, airline, rental car, National Parks - except for the lady at Crystal Lake who was going to charge us a cancellation fee. I said: "Lady, we have been attacked and cannot get out of the city and you are going to charge a cancellation fee"? She relented.

It is a day that those of us in the city will never forget.

Well, we are off to the Pacific North East again this September....

[hammybee]

We were at work that day.....unfortunately work then was the Pentagon. Obviously and luckily my wife and I made it out safely that day. Seven of our friends were not as fortunate and were lost that day. In 2003 we moved to San Antonio, largely due to the lingering memories of September 11, 2001.

Similar story on this end. We left NY in 2002. I took a peek at your pictures. We have too many Christmas trees, too. :)

[kidznp]

On 9/11 my husband left our house north of Dallas for an early morning AA flight to Newark NJ for a sales meeting for the company he worked for at the time. Flight was scheduled to leave at 8:30 so he left home about 6:00. I had to be at work at 8:00 and was just leaving home when I saw the film of the first crash into the WTC. I was watching when the second plane hit but in my mind something was wrong with the Air Traffic Control or something. I left for work and got there a few minutes late and listened to the talk of terrorism and the additional planes that were crashing. When I got to work I was shaking and immediately tried to call his cell. Nothing. We did not have a TV but did listen to the radio news. I tried calling every few minutes but could not get the phone to ring--just dead air. Finally, about 11:30, he called my office to let me know he was OK. He was at the gate but not boarded when the flight was cancelled. It took 2 1/2 hours for him to get out of the airport. I was so thankful that he was OK and like the rest of America we spent the next few days glued to the couch praying for survivors.

[Quenby]

I was assigned to Emergency Management at the time - in fact working on WMD training and threat assessment. I heard it on the radio as I was getting ready for work. I scooped up clothes and makeup in case I had to stay at work for several days. As I was driving up to the Emergency Operations Center, the first tower collapsed. The rest of the day was a blur, gathering information for briefings and doing liaison with the cities, other counties, and the state. I got home at 10:30 that night and had to be back at work at 6:00 for the beginning of a week 12-hour activation shifts. After pulling into the garage, I got out all my Fourth of July decorations and put them in my front yard.

[luckysadie]

DH and I were at Walt Disney World at a character breakfast when the first plane hit. We went over to EPCOT and rode a few rides. We were waiting to go into the World Showcase and, when it didn't open at 11a.m., DH asked if it was going to open. He came back and told me that they were closing the park because of what happened in New York. Of course, he didn't ask what had happened, so we didn't find out until we were standing in line to get a bus back to our hotel and talked to some people who had seen the events on TV.

That night, the hotel was very crowded as everyone was eating in the hotel restaurants. Disney did send characters to the hotels to entertain the kids.

When we to the airport the following Monday, our shuttle driver told us that this was his first day back to work. There were hardly any people in the Orlando airport and it was eerie to see the uniformed people with guns and dogs walking in the corridors.

Our flight back to Detroit had 30 people (at the most). When they started boarding, the gate agent asked for first class passengers, etc., and then said, "You can all just come on up."

When we landed in Detroit, it was strange to see all the Northwest planes parked everywhere, and there were no lines at the gates or ticket counters.

Needless to say, we were very glad to get home.

[mafig]

We watched it at home on TV. We had a cruise coming up on Sept. 22 and I remember thinking, well, everything will be back to normal by then. :o Little did I realize our lives would never be the same.

I'm originally from NJ and called my son in Secaucus. They could see the NY skyline from their office windows. I was on the phone with him when the second tower fell. I could hear the crying in the background, and the shaking in my son's voice. After that, they all just left work and went home.

My DIL was a manager at a day care center in Morristown, NJ. Many of the parents were single parents. If you recall, it was terrible trying to get out of the city that day. The day care stayed open until 11 pm until the final parent (thank God), made it. She had no way of knowing if all of the parents were OK, since many of them worked at the Trade Center.

[DFD1]

This is a wonderful thread. Thank you all for sharing these touching memories. There is a scar left by 9/11 which will be a long time healing....if it ever does.

[Katink]

Just the night before, my husband and I had started packing for our long-awaited trip to Washington, DC to visit our son who was in the Army, stationed at Arlington National Cemetary as part of the Old Guard.

As soon as I heard the news, I started calling him but didn't get an answer but wasn't especially worried because the Pentagon hadn't yet been hit. I left for work and had just pulled into the parking lot when I heard the news about the Pentagon. I still couldn't reach my son and within minutes the circuits were overloaded and no calls were going through. Needless to say, I was a basket case. It wasn't until 6 hours later that we got a collect call from him that he was OK. By then he was already at the Pentagon performing "rescue and recovery" where he remained for the next two weeks. Not knowing if he was OK for those 6 hours was the worst thing I had ever experienced to that point in my life until he deployed to Iraq for what started as a year and ended up being 15 months - that was worse!

We cancelled our trip because we knew our son would be unable to leave his post and because all the monuments would be closed. We took a quick trip to Las Vegas instead where it was one of the stranger experiences of my life to be on the Strip and not see another car anywhere. It was just as unreal as not seeing Southwest jets flying over every few minutes. The mood was subdued, the casinos eerily quiet and we should have stayed home because if just felt wrong to be in a place where people go to have a good time in the face of such incredible tragedy.

Thanks to all who've posted. I'm reading them with tears in my eyes.

Katink

[sapper1]

I cannot let the comment about the passengers being unfortunate to be stranded in Gander, Newfoundland pass without speaking out.
Seven thousand unexpected people landed without warning in a very small town that was ill equipped to deal with such an influx. After the passengers were allowed to leave the planes, which was a slow process due to security concerns, ordinary citizens within a fifty mile radius sprang into action.
Striking school bus drivers threw down their picket signs to man the busses to ferry people to church halls, gymnasia, hockey rinks---whatever was available. Local people turned up with blankets and pillows from their homes. Volunteers from the towns gathered to cook food which was donated by local businesses. Local stores donated emergency comfort supplies as baggage remained on the planes. Local people invited complete strangers into their homes for showers and meals. They worked tirelessly to help them contact their families. Local schools offered internet services.
A book was written about this heartwarming side story to 9/11 and it is called "The Day the World Came to Town---9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim Defede--an American journalist.
I would suggest that the people who came to be stranded in Newfoundland were very lucky to have experienced old fashioned care and concern for one's fellow human beings. If the wonderful people of Gander and environs had not risen to the occasion the result would have been very unfortunate indeed.

[DFD1]

I have read many accounts of the wonderful help given by the good citizens of Newfoundland on that dreadful day. For me it is a classic example of the goodness of ordinary people.

Thank you, Gander.

[haligonian37]

I cannot let the comment about the passengers being unfortunate to be stranded in Gander, Newfoundland pass without speaking out.
Seven thousand unexpected people landed without warning in a very small town that was ill equipped to deal with such an influx. After the passengers were allowed to leave the planes, which was a slow process due to security concerns, ordinary citizens within a fifty mile radius sprang into action.
Striking school bus drivers threw down their picket signs to man the busses to ferry people to church halls, gymnasia, hockey rinks---whatever was available. Local people turned up with blankets and pillows from their homes. Volunteers from the towns gathered to cook food which was donated by local businesses. Local stores donated emergency comfort supplies as baggage remained on the planes. Local people invited complete strangers into their homes for showers and meals. They worked tirelessly to help them contact their families. Local schools offered internet services.
A book was written about this heartwarming side story to 9/11 and it is called "The Day the World Came to Town---9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim Defede--an American journalist.
I would suggest that the people who came to be stranded in Newfoundland were very lucky to have experienced old fashioned care and concern for one's fellow human beings. If the wonderful people of Gander and environs had not risen to the occasion the result would have been very unfortunate indeed.

Thanks sapper1 for expressing exactly what I was thinking. What came to mind in regards to Gander was last year on the fifth anniversary of 9/11. CBC radio had a special on live from Gander with passengers who had been stranded there that day and local residents and they related their memories from those solemn days. From stories about residents who, when it was discovered that there were animals in the cargo area of the planes that had been sitting on the tarmac for hours, sprung into action and managed to get to the animals and provide food, water and a calming influence....to stories of passengers who, while on flights home to the US, collected thousands of dollars between themselves to start up a scholarship fund for students back in Lewisporte. Newfoundlanders may be the butt of many a joke here in Canada, but they are, without a doubt, the most generous and heartwarming people in the country.

[Love Cruises]

On September 11, 2001 we were on the CRYSTAL SERENITY traveling from Hvar, Croatia to Catania (Sicily), Italy.

I had been sitting out on deck all afternoon and decided to go to the cabin for a little rest before dinner. My husband was going to a meeting so I know it was approximately around 4:00 pm (ship time). I turned on the television flipping the channels to see what was on. CNN was broadcasting and I saw only one of the towers left with smoke coming out and within a few minutes it crumbled to the ground. I couldn’t believe it and really started to shake. Shortly afterwards the captain made the announcement that there seem to have been a deliberate attack on the twin towers in NYC, the Pentagon and a plane crash in Pennsylvania.

All remaining activities for the day were suspended. The captain and cruise director conducted a memorial service that evening and it was quite touching with beautiful patriotic music and songs sung by the ships talented singer/dancers. Tears were flowing from everyone. It is something I will never forget!

Other than this service people remained glued to their televisions the rest of the evening watching the disasters aftermath.

We finally went to bed around midnight. Soon after the main desk called and told us someone had been trying to contact us by e-mail from NY. (We live in a suburb just north of the city.) We never register for on-line service when we are cruising. The computer room was closed and would not open again until 7:00 the next morning. Since our daughter-in-law travels quite a bit and also goes into the city quite often for work, I really started to panic thinking that maybe she had been in the city at that time and something might have happened to her. We implored the main desk to notify the computer class teachers to open for us. Regretfully, the computer instructors would not open the room. We didn’t sleep all night and were at the door of the computer room before 7:00 am waiting for the instructors. We told them how disappointed we were that they would not open for us during the night under the circumstances. No apologies were given. They logged us in. The message turned out to be from our Cruise Agent telling us about his experience of walking in to work and seeing the 1st plane go over his head and then crash into the first tower. We were relieved that our family was safe.

The cruise went on as planned. It was ending in Athens, Greece on September 19th. CRYSTAL Line always has great security at all the ports they go to so nothing seemed different. Our flight home to NYC was scheduled on OLYMPIC AIRLINES (Greek airlines). A majority of our fellow passengers did not feel safe in going with Olympic Airlines and cancelled their flight plans with them. Many of them booked AMERICAN AIRLINES and DELTA. When we got to the airport, security was very tight. I believe we went through 4 different security areas before we were allowed to proceed to our gate. Most other airlines out of Athens that day had cancelled their flights to NYC. Our fellow passengers were stuck in Greece for at least a couple of days. OLYMPIC took off without any glitches and we landed at home at the scheduled time. It was so sad when we landed and we were taxiing to the gate and saw the smoke where the towers stood.

A dear friend of ours worked in the towers and was able to get out without any injury. He said he just ran and ran and ran to get as far away from the area as possible. He saw terrible burn victims though. ---- My nephew lost one of his best friends and the best friends father who both worked for the same company in one of the towers. His friend’s wife was one of the wives who was pregnant at the time. She had a beautiful baby girl a few months later. ----- Another acquaintance of our lost her 21 year old daughter.

[prescottbob]

Ahoy!

Just thought I bring some earlier memories and thoughts back from an earlier thread. I recall being paniced (my daughter lived close to the Pentagon at the time) and pissed (for obvious reasons) that day. I'm just one of those 'oddballs' that still observe such events like 9/11 and those that occurred 7 December, 1941 (and I wasn't even born yet).

God Bless America and thank you for such wonderful posts.

Bon Voyage and Good Health!
Bob:)

[sungoddess]

I was on the Statendam in Ketchikan. I had just boarded the ship in YVR as an officer and had to go through immigration in KTN. The first thing I heard at about 6am was that all flight seeing tours had been cancelled. I turned on the tv and saw a little bit of what was going on; I knew it was bad, so I ran off the ship and called my dad. I told him to turn on the tv, that something major was happening. I then returned to the ship and we were not allowed ashore for a week. It was a very somber time onboard. We made ribbons for all of the passengers, had church services and sang patriotic songs.

[airlink diva]

I work in the airline industry and 9/11 was a day none of us would never forget. Everything was going along like a normal morning when control call and told us to start parking anything that arrived at your gate (at that time we were working mainly Saabs,33 seater aircrafts) and to park them tight to allow additional aircraft. When the leads try to question this, we were told just do it. Planes were landing back to back,including some that never fly out of Memphis.
We were hearing comments from the gate supervisors that something big was going on,but didin't know what. When it was announced about the plane crashes,everyone was in shock and ran upstairs.
I wasn't up there watching when the second aircraft crashed into the WTC, but one of the gate agents stated that a hush and a gasp occurred when it happen.
It was ironic that on Friday I was heading out for my first cruise. My friends and I got together the next day to decide if we wanted to go. Our TA had contacted us and told us that we could go at a later date. But we decided to drive from Memphis to Miami instead.
That was the first time that I ever been on a cruiseship with only half the cruisers. Due to the small number of people, everyone had one dinner time. I recalled during the captain's cocktail hour that we expressed on behalf of his multi national crew that they joined the U.S. in morning for what happen and pray for strenght in the days ahead. It was very touching.

[SarasMommy]

My in-laws were in Mexico City when it happened. My mother-in-law is a nervous flyer to begin with, so after hearing about that, she wanted to drive home to Toronto instead of flying.

My husband and I had booked a trip to London that morning, so we were afraid that it was a bad omen, but our trip went off without a hitch. However, the hotel we stayed at was the same one where the double decker bus was bombed right outside two years ago.

[jhannah]

I didn't have any travel experience during that time ... but I had to deal with it. On that Monday morning I had just begun a meeting in Las Vegas of office managers from our newspapers across the country. We had our 4-day meeting, and some of them got to spend another week in Las Vegas. One manager rented a car and drove to Tennessee. Others tried, but every agency's inventory was stripped!

[Jade13]

I cannot let the comment about the passengers being unfortunate to be stranded in Gander, Newfoundland pass without speaking out.
Seven thousand unexpected people landed without warning in a very small town that was ill equipped to deal with such an influx. After the passengers were allowed to leave the planes, which was a slow process due to security concerns, ordinary citizens within a fifty mile radius sprang into action.
Striking school bus drivers threw down their picket signs to man the busses to ferry people to church halls, gymnasia, hockey rinks---whatever was available. Local people turned up with blankets and pillows from their homes. Volunteers from the towns gathered to cook food which was donated by local businesses. Local stores donated emergency comfort supplies as baggage remained on the planes. Local people invited complete strangers into their homes for showers and meals. They worked tirelessly to help them contact their families. Local schools offered internet services.
A book was written about this heartwarming side story to 9/11 and it is called "The Day the World Came to Town---9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim Defede--an American journalist.
I would suggest that the people who came to be stranded in Newfoundland were very lucky to have experienced old fashioned care and concern for one's fellow human beings. If the wonderful people of Gander and environs had not risen to the occasion the result would have been very unfortunate indeed.

Which planes were diverted here? I never heard this story.

[haligonian37]

I had to do a little bit of "googling" to verify my memory but there were over 50 planes diverted to Gander, just about doubling it's population in one day. Here's a link to a story recounted by one of the cockpit crew of a Delta flight that was diverted that day:

http://www.butlerwebs.com/tragedy/default.htm

[dutchess43]

We were supose to go to a wedding in Ireland on 9/17. A lot of planes cancelled their flights to europe. In order to get the couple home to Ireland we gave them our tickets because Aer Lingus still had flights. We felt it was a lot more important for them to fly then us.

[LDVinNC]

I flew in to LaGuardia on the night of 9/10 about 9pm. It had stormed earlier in NY, so my plane had been delayed about 4 hours. It was then crystal clear and we flew around lower Manhattan, with a fabulous view of the WTC. 12 hours later, they were struck. DD was on a business trip in Dallas, fortunately with colleagues, and they rented a car and drove back to Boston together.

[prescottbob]

Ahoy!

Thanks again. Time for this thread to near it's end till next year.

For those who perished, the relatives and the friends of the aforementioned and 'all of us' as a nation that mourn and observe that terrible day I offer the following: (For those whose 'wounds' have yet to begin healing please skip this link)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8adcnJSH-I

We will endure. God bless us all.

Bob:o

[lexxity]

I can't belive it has been six years!

We were in Texas. Amarillo. James and I were driving coast to coast. We were woken up by the chamber maid and we asked her to wait a minute whilst we got ready. James turned on CNN and then woke me "the twin towers are on fire!"

WHAT?!?

I knew my parents were due to be in New York about that time on the SS Norway, as it happens they had been there a few days before and were safe in mid-Atlantic.

We watched the whole thing unfold in the hotels lobby with staff, train drivers from the local train depot and some construction workers. I vividly remember making lots of coffee for everyone, because that was something normal. Something real. Whilst what we were watching was like a movie.

I remember we tried and tried to get a phone line home (to the UK) to tell our families we were safe and well, but we couldn't. We later learned that most of the transatlantic lines were routed through the WTC. So we decided to send a telegram. Off we went to the supermarket, which had the nearest western union. The peoples faces were just blank, unable to comprehend what they had seen. We weren't able to send a telegram, I forget now why, but were told to go the library instead. So we did and managed to send a group email.

We spent another night in Amarillo where the hotel fed and watered us for free! Amazing. We thought our options through and finally managed to talk to friends and family back home. We decided we wanted to come home, be with our loved ones. Then we called American and couldn't get our flights changed or book new tickets until who knew when. Same story again and again. So we thought we would check ships crossing. We came across the QE2. Leaving on Sunday from New York. That would later change to Boston as her normal pier was set up as a temporary morgue.

We booked on that the next day. Then dorve hell for leather across the US. We passed so many longdistance plates. People just couldn't get a flight anywhere, we had to renew our hire in Oklahoma city anyway and the day we did that was the day the first flight arrived after 9/11. 8 people were on it. 8! The car hire people were dreadful. Tried to take our car away even though it was booked for another month. Even though the renewal was a formality check in with the rental people.

We arrived in Boston late on the evening on the 15th. Found a motel and slept. The next day we packed all of our stuff up and headed to the dock. We sat outside opposite Boston Logan Airport for about 10 hours as there was a bomb scare and the ships were held offshore. We finally made it onto the QE2 and the horror stories we heard will stay with me forever. We honsetly drank the ship dry, but there was never any trouble. It was just people sat talking into the early hours. Trying to comprehend what had just happened. Trying to figure it out.

My industry collegues have their own tales to tell about that horiffic day. Too many to write here, but each poignant and heartbreaking.

About a month after we attended a memorial service in the UK with New York's finest. Heroes to a man.

[J&R Cruisers]

Sailing into Bermuda and watched all the action on the tv in our room. On landing in Bermuda all the ladies we given flowers in sympathy. Called home and everyone in the family was safe and accounted for so we felt fortunate. The airport in Bermuda was packed with planes and people in Bermuda were asked to take people into their homes as the hotels were full of passenger not being allowed to land in USA. The people in Bermuda rallied to help all they could.

[monsoon20009]

I was at Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC for a flight to Cincinnati. The first plane hit while I was on the Metro, but I checked in and went through security with no problems, and no one said anything. As I walked to the gate, I could see groups of people crowded around televisions at the bar, but I didn't stop to look. After a few minutes of waiting, someone came up and said that a small plane had hit the WTC. I was right beside the gate for the Delta Shuttle to New York, and after a while noticed that there was a lot of Delta staff running back and forth, then an announcement was made that all flights into and out of NYC were grounded. Then I noticed a lot of activity at all of the gates. Another passenger who had been watching TV at the bar said that both towers had been hit. I was sitting facing DC and happened to look up when I saw a large mushroom cloud of smoke go up about a mile away when the Pentagon was hit, although I didn't know at the time that's what had happened.

The Delta staff said that a plane had gone down at the end of the runway. Then there was an announcement that the airport was being evacuated. When we got outside, there was no one telling us what to do or where to go, so everyone walked across the street and stood in front of the parking garage. There were a lot of rumors going around (the Metro had been bombed, the Capitol was on fire) and most of these came from Airport security screening people. We could also hear explosions, and I assume now that these were from the Pentagon. After about 15 minutes, uniformed security came running out of the terminal in a panic telling us all to leave the airport as quickly as we could. We all walked (some ran) to Crystal City, which was a madhouse--all of the offices had closed, so the streets were packed with cars, passengers from out of town wandering around not knowing where to go or what to do. Security guards at the Metro entrance were not allowing anyone to enter, so I walked home across the 14th Street bridge from Virginia to Washington. It was a very eerie scene; the bridge was closed to traffic, so a couple of people walking on the bridge with the Pentagon on fire behind us. Walking up lower 14th St, there were guys in suits carrying machine guns at every corner from Pennsylvania Ave. to H St. (the White House is only a couple of blocks to the West). You could hear aircraft overhead, and everytime one went over, everyone on the street would stop with a look of "what now?" on their faces.

I didn't know what had happened until I got home and turned on the TV. By that time the first tower had fallen. I stayed glued to the TV the rest of the day. Not a day I will ever forget.

[Orcrone]

My mother and stepfather were flying out of Newark Airport that morning!! After the first plane hit (not knowing it was a terrorist attack)they were going to still try to fly. After the second one hit my stepfather's son picked them up. They stayed there for a few days, rented a car and drove back to Florida.

My mother and stepfather (from Newark Airport) and my brother (who lived in Brooklyn) all saw the towers come down.