9/11 Travel Memories?

[J&R Cruisers]

Sailing into Bermuda and watched all the action on the tv in our room. On landing in Bermuda all the ladies we given flowers in sympathy. Called home and everyone in the family was safe and accounted for so we felt fortunate. The airport in Bermuda was packed with planes and people in Bermuda were asked to take people into their homes as the hotels were full of passenger not being allowed to land in USA. The people in Bermuda rallied to help all they could.

[monsoon20009]

I was at Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC for a flight to Cincinnati. The first plane hit while I was on the Metro, but I checked in and went through security with no problems, and no one said anything. As I walked to the gate, I could see groups of people crowded around televisions at the bar, but I didn't stop to look. After a few minutes of waiting, someone came up and said that a small plane had hit the WTC. I was right beside the gate for the Delta Shuttle to New York, and after a while noticed that there was a lot of Delta staff running back and forth, then an announcement was made that all flights into and out of NYC were grounded. Then I noticed a lot of activity at all of the gates. Another passenger who had been watching TV at the bar said that both towers had been hit. I was sitting facing DC and happened to look up when I saw a large mushroom cloud of smoke go up about a mile away when the Pentagon was hit, although I didn't know at the time that's what had happened.

 

The Delta staff said that a plane had gone down at the end of the runway. Then there was an announcement that the airport was being evacuated. When we got outside, there was no one telling us what to do or where to go, so everyone walked across the street and stood in front of the parking garage. There were a lot of rumors going around (the Metro had been bombed, the Capitol was on fire) and most of these came from Airport security screening people. We could also hear explosions, and I assume now that these were from the Pentagon. After about 15 minutes, uniformed security came running out of the terminal in a panic telling us all to leave the airport as quickly as we could. We all walked (some ran) to Crystal City, which was a madhouse--all of the offices had closed, so the streets were packed with cars, passengers from out of town wandering around not knowing where to go or what to do. Security guards at the Metro entrance were not allowing anyone to enter, so I walked home across the 14th Street bridge from Virginia to Washington. It was a very eerie scene; the bridge was closed to traffic, so a couple of people walking on the bridge with the Pentagon on fire behind us. Walking up lower 14th St, there were guys in suits carrying machine guns at every corner from Pennsylvania Ave. to H St. (the White House is only a couple of blocks to the West). You could hear aircraft overhead, and everytime one went over, everyone on the street would stop with a look of "what now?" on their faces.

 

I didn't know what had happened until I got home and turned on the TV. By that time the first tower had fallen. I stayed glued to the TV the rest of the day. Not a day I will ever forget.

[Orcrone]

My mother and stepfather were flying out of Newark Airport that morning!! After the first plane hit (not knowing it was a terrorist attack)they were going to still try to fly. After the second one hit my stepfather's son picked them up. They stayed there for a few days, rented a car and drove back to Florida.

 

My mother and stepfather (from Newark Airport) and my brother (who lived in Brooklyn) all saw the towers come down.