New York UPDATED

I got out Sunday, but John's there til Wednesday. He was connecting through Munich, that's what screwed up his return plans.

We were all talking about our combined misery, this volcanic black swan that has many of my colleagues from the EBAN Congress in Istanbul unable to get home, not right away anyway. John Mactaggart was the first to react; he'd changed his itinerary from west to east and would escape through Dubai into Australia and get home before his original plan. I was reluctant to start over reacting, perhaps things would settle out by Sunday. That's my nature; I'd play it cool.

The Brits were in a pickle. John May was relaying details of Tony Clarke and Kit Hunter Gordon. London was one of the first cities to be closed. Then Phillippe Gluntz showed up; he was off to dinner with his Belgium friends; might as well, Paris was closed. I never heard from Anna Hejka, her return to Poland had more gravity. The state funeral had to be on her mind, of course. Warsaw was closed quickly.

When I bumped into Rene Reijtenbagh he was checking out of the hotel. He'd made a route that he hoped would get him within driving distance, but it would still take days to get to the Netherlands. He was eager to tell of how he'd lost his passport! Which made my problems seem trivial. He had to use the hotel's security cameras to determine that he had returned from dinner with his passport. He found it somewhere in his room. Although he's easygoing, I'm sure the experience left his heart pounding.

Yesterday up on the 15th floor executive lounge John Huston surprised me. I didn't see him when I walked in. He and Liz were heading to Paris for a week, but now that plan was in serious jeopardy. They were gonna head to the airport and get a close look at the situation.

John May and I had planned all long to spend Saturday touring Istanbul. Since I'd been there a week and stayed 4 days across from the Hagia Sophia, I offered to be his tour guide for the day. We spent a carefree afternoon seeing the sites, the Blue Mosque, the Topkapi Palace, the Sophia Museum, and my favorite coffee shop near the Bazaar before finishing up over a beer and a Turkish quesadilla at a funky cafe that sat high above the sidewalks; we could watch the pilgrims heading home. Distracting? As best we could, our travel schedules were weighing on our minds. I was slow to want to depart, our hotel being in an industrial area wedged between a landfill and the airport; soon enough we'd be back. Then it's back up to the executive lounge where the wine pours were generous and free.

As I sat at the computer printing a boarding pass, in walked John and Liz Huston. Seeing them meant they hadn't got out, but they didn't seem phased. They announced a new destination in lieu of Paris. They'd found a route to Barcelona instead. They were all smiles. Liz's only concern: Barcelona would be warmer than she packed for. I suggested a whole new wardrobe to celebrate the serendipity.

That left me and John May. My itinerary was maddeningly devoid of any commentary. The only email stated: "it's time to check in", as if nothing other worldly was happening.

John decided he'd follow the Huston's approach and visit the airport. It was only 1 metro train stop away. I saw him later at dinner. He had a way out, but it was hard to feel so great about it. Wednesday was 3 more nights in Istanbul and he had only been able to confirm one night at the hotel. More concerned about me than himself, he insisted that if I failed to get out to come back to the hotel and bunk in with him; that was a comfort.

He was pleased with the service, even timing the call to United at 23 minutes to get the last seat on a flight to Chicago Wednesday night; connecting to Dulles was easy after that.

As we parted at dinner we said, "see you in San Francisco!".

In the morning I went to the airport. Delta was happy to tag my bag all the way to LAX. I had a ticket. Would there be a plane?

When I got to the gate, there was.

UPDATE: 2pm PDT Monday April 19, 2010 Newport Beach
Spoke to John May via Skype. He's chilling in Istanbul still, waiting for his Wednesday flight out. Anthony Clarke has moved to southern Turkey. John and Liz Huston never made it to Barcelona, nor Paris, but are in Greece.

John looks forward to sharing all these tales of travel woe at the Angel Capital Association's Annual Summit in San Francisco May 5-7. Guarantee: no travel restrictions, so make plans now to attend.