The Beginning

5 months after broaching the idea with work and being graciously granted a sabbatical, departure day had arrived. A hectic yet heartwarming weekend of catching up with close friends, colleagues, family, and some emotional farewells, it was time to depart the ‘rock’.

Á la perchôine

Next stop, London Gatwick before a coach to Heathrow for for a night in the Radisson. In true unpredictable Aurigny fashion, the GCI - GTW flight was operated by airline Swift Air with a Spanish crew, it felt appropriate having to Ben’s ‘family plan’ on Duolingo just days before with the rest of the boat crew. The aim, swat up on Spanish for our time in Mexico and Latin America. Heathrow to Atlanta. It should have been easy, but Milton had decided otherwise. SV Argonaut hadn't made it quite as far Belize City, the destination I had booked just weeks earlier. One is always to expect the unexpected with boats.

Just 4 days prior I tried to change my flight. I'd lost comms with Argonaut as she battled far more pressing issues, on the post refit shake down sail from hell, attempting to skirt one of the largest hurricanes in 100 years. The last email from the skipper was copying me into contact with a UK chandlery to order some specific Harken winch parts. When Charles didn't respond to their reply, Whatsapps stopped delivering and Milton was upgraded to Cat. 5 I took a punt that he'd quite like me to place the order and with just days before leaving I did just that narrowly getting the parts shipped to Guernsey and in my bag before leaving.

The Garmin inReach had Argonaut heading towards the worst of Milton for about 12 hours. Finally after speaking with Ben and the crew when they made landfall near Cancun, did I get an exclusive insight to the extent of the adventures they'd already endured. I was pleased to hear they were in good spirits, reading into GPS data on our side of the pond, a concerning picture was being drawn out, to the extent other Guernsey folk had contacted the UK coastguard, who in turn contacted the US and Mexican MRCC and Naval base in Isla Mujures. They had failed to make VHF contact too. Their voyage comprised wind, earth and fire, I guess you could say. Check out Alex's blog for the compelling details.

So, back to changing those flights. No bueuno without a charge of over a grand to rebook everything that late in the day. Flying from Belize - Cancun the biggest city in the vicinity of Argonaut's current anchorage, would have cost an exceptional amount too, and with no direct flights and the Belize - Cancun options going back via the States again, I ruled that option out as a nonsense.

Atlanta

The busiest airport in the world.

After an excessive amount of time on Air France's customer support line, I was confidently and repeatedly told best course of action was to keep my flights to Atlanta, and cancel the Atlanta - Belize leg and book another flight independently. I could cancel that leg and get a refund, only after taking the first one, apparently. It didn't sit right, but I was out of options. Check-in time. "Can I see your visa for Belize please?" Naturally I'd checked beforehand, the British passport didn't require one. But to the check-in desk, run by Virgin (the 4th airline in the mix so far) that didn't float and I couldn't check-in. Now with the flight fast approaching I must remove that leg of the flight to proceed. Good job I was 5 hours early to the airport. After nearly 2hrs on hold, calls and speaking with Delta, Air France and the Virgin staff, the seed that I might not get to the US today had been planted and watered.

After politely badgering a few more people, a more senior manager, said "sure, just punch in my credentials and check no visa required. You can drop the next flight in Atlanta.” Boy do I prefer dealing with people more than automated AI chats, websites, call centres, "sorry let me transfer you to someone else" and least of all, hold music.

The cherry on top? Security in Terminal 3 took a further 1.5 hours of comical queuing to join queues and being weaved around corridors, halls and rooms that had people increasing hot bothered and somewhat irate. I was just happy to be there. Asked by a friend what the travelling had involved thus far, I tried to keep it short.

From Guernsey, a car ride, flight from GCI - GTW, coach ride, night at Heathrow hotel, taxi ride, Delta flight from HTW - ATL, over night kip on the floor of Atlanta airport, flight ATL - Cancun, taxi ride, ferry to Isla Mujeres, and a dinghy ride on upgraded Argonauty had delivered me to home for the next 6 months or so, sailing vessel Argonaut.