Any longtime readers here will know that seeing Sergio Mendes in concert is one of those bucket list items for me, and the chances that he'll ever get anywhere near my location (eastern Montana) are pretty slim.
So, a few things happened recently to suddenly make it doable for me to see Sergio. On a recent trip, we'd gotten "bumped" off one of our flights, so we suddenly had a pair of free airline tickets available, and my buddy and co-Corner moderator Harry had previously told me that there was a Sergio show coming up on April 13 in Orlando. He agreed to go to the show with me (my wife is not a Sergio fan, but I still love her anyway) and we love visiting the Orlando area in general, so it all just fell into place. The airline tickets were booked, hotel and car rental reservations made, and we were all set. We even booked our flight for two days before the concert, to allow for any transportation foul-ups.
About two weeks before the trip, the first "bad sign" came when the concert in Orlando was cancelled. The only reason given was "scheduling conflicts," but to this day I don't know if Sergio cancelled, or the venue did. But either way, the show was off.
Not to worry, though.... after looking at the tour itinerary I found another show in Miami, taking place the night before the Orlando show, and that one was still on. The best news was, great seats were still available. I asked Harry if he'd be up for the 3-hour-plus drive from Orlando to Miami, and he was, as long as he didn't have to drive. So, tickets were purchased and we were all set again.
Then, the weather changed. Even though conditions in our area were beautiful, the Minneapolis area (where we had a connection) was hit with a spring blizzard that dropped about a foot of snow. Our flight was delayed an hour, then delayed another two hours, then delayed until that evening, and then finally canceled altogether. The airline automatically re-booked us for the next day...which was the day of the concert. We wouldn't even arrive in Orlando until almost midnight.
So my wife began a frantic series of attempts to find us another flight -- she called Delta reps, talked to other airlines, just looking for an earlier flight to Orlando, or even a flight direct to Miami (we'd figure the rental car out later). Nothing was available...over 900 flights into Minneapolis were cancelled that day. And if you live in Montana, you don't have a lot of options. You have to go through Minneapolis, Salt Lake or Denver to get to any other major city, and there's usually only one or two flights out per day, and virtually everything was booked up due to all the cancellations.
So finally we threw in the towel and resigned ourselves to the fact that I wasn't going to see Sergio this trip. I changed our hotel and car rentals to move everything back by a day, and we still went to Orlando and had a great time doing other things, including spending half a day visiting and seeing some sights with Harry and Marie.
The concert just wasn't in the cards. However I just found out that Sergio's going to be in Seattle this fall, so....
So, a few things happened recently to suddenly make it doable for me to see Sergio. On a recent trip, we'd gotten "bumped" off one of our flights, so we suddenly had a pair of free airline tickets available, and my buddy and co-Corner moderator Harry had previously told me that there was a Sergio show coming up on April 13 in Orlando. He agreed to go to the show with me (my wife is not a Sergio fan, but I still love her anyway) and we love visiting the Orlando area in general, so it all just fell into place. The airline tickets were booked, hotel and car rental reservations made, and we were all set. We even booked our flight for two days before the concert, to allow for any transportation foul-ups.
About two weeks before the trip, the first "bad sign" came when the concert in Orlando was cancelled. The only reason given was "scheduling conflicts," but to this day I don't know if Sergio cancelled, or the venue did. But either way, the show was off.
Not to worry, though.... after looking at the tour itinerary I found another show in Miami, taking place the night before the Orlando show, and that one was still on. The best news was, great seats were still available. I asked Harry if he'd be up for the 3-hour-plus drive from Orlando to Miami, and he was, as long as he didn't have to drive. So, tickets were purchased and we were all set again.
Then, the weather changed. Even though conditions in our area were beautiful, the Minneapolis area (where we had a connection) was hit with a spring blizzard that dropped about a foot of snow. Our flight was delayed an hour, then delayed another two hours, then delayed until that evening, and then finally canceled altogether. The airline automatically re-booked us for the next day...which was the day of the concert. We wouldn't even arrive in Orlando until almost midnight.
So my wife began a frantic series of attempts to find us another flight -- she called Delta reps, talked to other airlines, just looking for an earlier flight to Orlando, or even a flight direct to Miami (we'd figure the rental car out later). Nothing was available...over 900 flights into Minneapolis were cancelled that day. And if you live in Montana, you don't have a lot of options. You have to go through Minneapolis, Salt Lake or Denver to get to any other major city, and there's usually only one or two flights out per day, and virtually everything was booked up due to all the cancellations.
So finally we threw in the towel and resigned ourselves to the fact that I wasn't going to see Sergio this trip. I changed our hotel and car rentals to move everything back by a day, and we still went to Orlando and had a great time doing other things, including spending half a day visiting and seeing some sights with Harry and Marie.
The concert just wasn't in the cards. However I just found out that Sergio's going to be in Seattle this fall, so....