Welcome to the Very Special Hurricane Ike edition of 12 of 12!  Not to make fun of what looks like it’s going to be a very serious storm, but Ike has played into my day in more ways than one, as I’ll relate below.

3:45 am: Sadly, this is not a trick photo.  I began this 12th in Veracruz, Mexico:

I was in Mexico for a little over a week on business, beginning in Mexico City, then to the colonial city of Puebla, on to the town of Xalapa–capital of the state of Veracruz–and finally to the port city of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico.  The temperature moved from the 20s in Mexico City and Puebla, to the high 30s in Veracruz (where the humidity was about 8000%).

The stay in Veracruz was stressful, not least because of the heat, but mostly because of the conflicting reports we were getting about Hurricane Ike.  There is only one flight out of Veracruz to the US each day (it leaves at 6:50 am, hence the crack-of-way-before-dawn wakeup shown above), on Continental Airlines to Houston. At a meeting on Tuesday afternoon in Xalapa, it was brought to our attention that Ike was aiming for Houston and that a couple of people from the University that we were meeting with had either postponed or bumped up their travel to the US in order to avoid the hurricane.

On Wednesday evening, I spent 20 minutes on hold with Continental Airlines’ reservations number on Mexico City.  Our meeting in Veracruz had fallen through and we were ready, able, and willing to leave on the Thursday flight if there was space.  There wasn’t.  However, I was told that the storm was scheduled to hit Houston on Saturday morning and that the airline was planning normal ops on Friday, so we should have no problem getting home.

4:15 am: Double checking

On Thursday morning, thus liberated, we did a bit of sightseeing in Veracruz until we couldn’t stand the heat anymore and went back to our hotel.  I checked my e-mail (which was only available in the courtyard of the hotel, which was hotter than blue blazes), and then went to my room with the intention of participating in the time honored tradition of taking a siesta.  Before I could, however, Natalie knocked at my door, laptop in hand.  “The storm sped up,” she said.  “Continental is planning to shut down its operations in Houston at noon.”

Over the course of the afternoon, I spent 400 pesos (~$40) recharging my cell phone while we tried to call Continental in Mexico City, but by that point the number was constantly ringing busy.  I contacted a coworker in the office, who called the university travel agent, who reported back that the flight out of Veracruz was still scheduled to operate, but that our connecting flight to Austin was looking “iffy.”  We went through a number of scenarios, but the only one that involved getting home before Monday was a contingency rental car reservation waiting for us in Houston just in case.

By the evening, our connection was definitely cancelled, and Natalie called her friend Paola to ask her to call the travel agent and tell them to call us in Mexico.  Paola is from Buenos Aires, and you don’t argue with a portena.  We were rebooked on a 1 pm flight to Austin, which made us both nervous because Continental still had a big notice on its Web site declaring that it was probably going to shut down Houston at noon.

4:40 am: waiting for the airport to open

So, we left our hotel at 4:20 am and headed to Veracruz Airport, keeping our fingers crossed.  What would have been nice to know, however, is that the airport doesn’t open for business until at least 5 am.  We sat around in the lobby, waiting for the ticket agents to show up (and start working), then had to sit around again waiting for the security agents to show up … and start working.

7:17 am: Sunrise over the Gulf

The flight left on time, and, not having gotten a lot of sleep last night, I napped most of the way to Houston.  The flight was rather smooth given the large hurricane out in the Gulf, although it did get a little bumpy toward Houston.

8:40 am: There’s a hurricane out there …

It was sunny in Houston when we landed, although from the air the edges of the storm (as above) were clearly visible.

8:50 am: Ghost Town Airport

Houston airport was a ghost town, hardly the bustling place that it normally is on a Friday morning.  We managed to get through US Customs quickly, by which point the luggage from our flight had not only circulated but been pulled off the conveyor.  At the recheck point, I asked if there was a chance we might make an earlier flight to Austin, knowing there was one scheduled for 10:10.  To our delight, the agent was quite enthusiastic about getting us on the earlier flight, handed us our new boarding passes, re-tagged the luggage, and sent us on our way to the next security checkpoint.

9:33 am: Bad day to fly

10:24 am: Clouds move in

It had been clear when we landed from Veracruz, but an hour and a half later, the first bands of clouds have covered Houston, extending almost halfway to Austin.

10:59 am: Waiting for luggage

And so, earlier than we had originally hoped, we were back in Austin, and once again the luggage was circulating by the time we got to baggage claim.

12:09 pm: Did you miss me?

I have a feeling that the sandwich on my lap had something to do with this…

5:20 pm: Storm clouds

After … well, I’ll be honest: it wasn’t a power nap, so much as trying to make up for the few hours of sleep I got last night.  Ray and I went out to remove the light objects from the back yard so that they wouldn’t blow around if the hurricane came out way after making landfall in the middle of the night.

5:20 pm: My shadow

Mocha has been following me around since I got home.  I think she might have missed me

We’re keeping our fingers crossed for friends in Houston and Galveston–it looks like it’s gonna be nasty.

Tags: 12 of 12, airlines, art, Austin, bla, blog, class, Friday, friends, fun, heat, Home, ice, khowaga, luggage, me, mexico, Mocha, Natalie, opera, power, Ray, SHE, stress, Travel, university, Will, work