July 15, 2014. Newark, N.J. The Best Laid Plans.

It looked dire. We left 2 hours late leaving San Antonio. Upon arrival in Newark, we were told that our flight to Halifax was cancelled. We were now booked tomorrow on the 9:00 flight. The weather caused the cancellation so the airline is not responsible for finding accommodation. When we arrived at the hotel shuttle section, it was crowded with frantic people searching for hotel rooms. I called everyone on the list but they were full. Our situation was dire. It was 8:00pm and more people arrived with flight cancellations, all searching for rooms. People were talking about staying all night at the airport. Ken and I decided to take the shuttle to the best hotel, which turned out to be a Marriott. Our thinking was that the hotel would have a nice restaurant and a large public reception area. We intended to sit in their lobby until they found us a room. "Someone is bound to cancel". we said to each other. So that was what we did. Of course, I talked with the check in people and basically begged for a room but I was pleasant. And Ken with his cane gave us the sympathy vote. We sat in the lobby waiting to have a drink but before we got to order, the nice young man came to say they had found us a room. We are in room 806 and it is lovely. The nice young man who found us a room said to me "You always win when you are nice." We certainly got lucky tonight.