Computer Glitch

Well, Africa is going to have to wait a little longer for the Howlands. After sitting on the tarmac for three hours at JFK today while South African Airlines tried to fix a computer problem the pilot broke it to us that the flight was going to be delayed further... like in 22 hours from the original departure time. So at 2:30pm we all got on buses to spend our afternoon and evening at the lovely Doubletree Hilton JFK. Thank God we used a travel agent as she was able to call Victoria and our aupairs to let them know what was happening. I was able to email Tori back and forth from my phone. We were all so bummed because we had a whole day planned to spend with Michelle, aupair #7. My biggest priority was making sure Tori would still be met at the Johannesburg airport by Michelle because she was flying in from Namibia an hour after our flight arrived. After a number of emails and calls we confirmed that Tori would be met as planned by Michelle. Jolene, aupair #2, said she would pick us up on Monday morning (thank you Jolene!). We will need to figure out still how to meet up with Michelle and Tori. At least the safari part of our trip doesn't start until Tuesday morning but we missed being with Michelle and her family!! One minor problem with the "delay" was that our luggage was being held on the plane. Big bummer as I usually never check luggage. We got a taxi to a Verizon store to buy a power cord for my phone as mine was checked. For dinner we had the fine dining at the hotel cafe because it was free. BIG MISTAKE. A not very good buffet was awaiting us. There were no other options without spending another 30 min in a taxi fighting traffic. Then to top off the not good buffet for dinner they were out of their signature cookies for dessert The good news is that things can only get better from this point! The bus picks us up at the hotel to try this again Sunday at 7am. Let's hope they got the plane fixed...