story2660.xml

story2660.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

I work in the travel industry. I was at work that morning when the tragic events occurred. The next hour, day, week seemed to be an endless string of phone calls. We had travelers all over the country and out of the country who just wanted to be home with the family and friends. We couldn't help them. All we could do was to encourage them to rent a car and start driving. We had about 300 or so travelers out in Seattle, and probably 90% of them drove home. The one call I remember most vividly was a woman who called to cancel her flight home from Seattle to New Orleans. She cried saying that she just couldn't do it and if it took her several days to get home, she would just have to do it. I cried along with her. We did what we could. We donated money to the Red Cross. We donated blood to help the victims. We watched the news for hours at a time though nothing changed. Over the last year we have seen drastic changes in the world of air travel. I have flown myself, and feel confident that everything that can be done will be done to avoid the same thing happening again elsewhere. I'm 28 years old, and I cannot imagine that I will ever witness anything so devastating again in my lifetime. At least that is my hope. My thoughts go out to all those directly effected by the attacks.