What a start !!!

What an adventure!
Here Vincent (and Rob and Phyllis):
Our flight to New-York got cancelled because of strong winds, so the only way to make it and not miss our flight to Bangkok was to drive to the Big Apple.
We started in a blizzard on route 15 and saw 4 cars (and an 18 wheeler truck) in the ditch...It took us 8 hours to get there. On the way, we stopped at McDonald's (see the picture of Rob and Phyllis: Phyllis is holding a happy face!) and it was -30c with the windchill factor.
Got to NY, missed 1 hour of our Broadway show "Wicked" (that we had booked month ago), and slept like babies...
The next morning, snowstorm in NY! We drove to JFK and made it on time, except for our plane, which got delayed by 1.5 hour for de-icing. Then, all onboard for a 18 hour flight non-stop to Bangkok: it was long and uncomfortable. Of course, we had a tight connection to Ho Chi Minh city: 1.5 hours... So we were the first to get off the plane and then, a nice Thai lady with her long dress was holding a sign with our 3 names on it: we ran onto the runway, jumped into a van, got to our plane, and where is my passport? I had misplaced my passport in my bag: so here I am, on the runway, with my daybag opened, papers flying everywhere and me sweating like hell (33c) trying to find my passport...Finally, I found it near my M&Ms bag and we were the last to board.
Luggage? No way they would make it!
After 10 minutes taxiing to our runway, the plane turned around and went back to the gate. I was praying that we turned back for our luggage, but NO! There was this Mr. Happy (from Dubai) who had to be onboard (VIP person). The captain then made an announcement: "let's applaude when he gets onboard!" What the hell! I felt like I was in the movie "Airplane". So here we are, clapping our hands for this Mr. Happy with now, a 2 hour delay to our final destination. If we would have been onboard Air Canada, we would have killed this guy and thrown tomatoes at him (or my M&Ms !).
Luggage? My prayers did not do much...
So, I am writing you with the same clothes I have been wearing for 2 days (but I washed my underwear and I had an extra shirt). Our luggage should arrive today from Bangkok (with the one for Mr. Happy!)

As for Mai-Anh, her flight got delayed in Vancouver (9 hour delay due to a mechanical problem), she missed her connection to Hong-Kong, then missed her connection to Vietnam, so instead of arriving a day earlier, we were on the same flight last evening. As for her luggage: they are lost! No where to be found yet...She only has a bikini and a pair of thongs in the daybag. Will that help our team???

This was our first ROADBLOCK and the race has even not started yet!

We know we will be meeting 4 other teams tomorrow: there are only 6 teams racing. So, c'est a suivre!

Vincent