Where were you on Sept 11 2001?

This may take awhile, so I'll apologize up front!

My now-ex, my then 4yr old son, and I left Grand Rapids, MI airport at around 7:00 am on a flight to Disney World. When we got off the plane for a 35 minute layover at Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport (one of the busiest in US), my wife went into the bathroom to change into a pair of shorts, as it was cold in MI, and warm in ATL! I called my Mom to let her know we had reached ATL safely, and told her I couldn't talk long as we only had a few minutes until we boarded the other plane to ORL. She then told me that we wouldn't be going anywhere, and I said what are you talking about?? She told me that a plane had hit the WTC, and they think it was terrorist related, and they planned on shutting down all US flights! I then looked toward our boarding door, and sure enough, everyone that had already got on the plane, was getting off! Of course, everyone was on cellphones as they got off, and many were freaking out. We all went to a TV and watched it all for awhile--still unsure of what was really going on. All flights were cancelled until 6am tomorrow, supposedly, so I went to our airline terminal's help desk, and the line was over 2 hours long, and they told me they had no idea what was going on, yet. So, here we were in one of the busiest airports in the US--along with tens of thousands of others--as it was on lockdown--noone in our out of the airport. They wouldn't let our luggage off the plane, for fear of terrorist acts, etc. So, we all sat around staring at each other and the TV, watched the National Guard patrol the airport with dogs and M-16's in hand--and trying to keep my 4yr old son content.

Finally, around 6pm (we arrived around 9:30am) we were told that the airline would put us up in a room in downtown ATL for the night since we had a small child. So, still without luggage, we took the tram downtown to the hotel, and they checked us in. The rest of the night we watched it on TV in the tallest hotel in ATL (72-Story Westin!! Yes, I felt a tad uneasy about that...)

Unfortunately, the next morning, I woke up at 5 expecting to get our new flight info to ORL at 6am. NOT! They told me all planes were still grounded until futher notice!! Now I'm freaking out....So, I called Hertz/Avis, etc to see if I could get a car rented and just drive down to ORL. They said most of the cars had been booked the day before since all planes had been grounded. ARGH!! I did eventually get one, and we drove the 8 hours to ORL, stopping to get new clothes/luggage/toiletries, etc in Southern GA. Arrived at Disney around 11:30pm on 9-12, so we basically missed 2 days of vacation time! Our luggage flew in the following day, so I had to drop off the rental then get a cab to get back to Disney! For those that don't know, Disney is 50 minutes from the ORL airport for some reason??!! $50 for the cab sucked, but we got our luggage finally!!

To top it all off, Tropical Storm Gabrielle had arrived during our drive to Disney from ATL, so it rained the entire way there, and for the first 2 days we were at Disney! Yep, we bought cheap, crappy rainsuits for the 3 of us, and were soaked those first 2 days!! Not such a fun vacation so far....

After civilian flights were resumed, our return flight to GR was pushed back one day so that the country could get caught up on the thousands of missed flights. That meant we had to stay at Disney another night--at MY expense (another $400...)!!

It was quite the adventure--and one I will NEVER forget!! If only our flight times had been 15 minutes earlier, we would have been in ORL instead of being stuck at ATL....DAMN!!!

But, like others have said...it could have been a lot worse, and we made it through unscathed. I watched in horror as the stock market collapsed and I lost a significant amount of money! The brand new, 1 month old BMW M5 (sig name) was lost to me (among many other nice things!) due to the happenings of that day.....

9/11 was a horrible day for myself, and our country!!

But, we move on....

Sorry so long...

HotRodM5
 
I was recovering from a bender the night before. I woke up in a hotel with a Military buddy home on leave and a some chick? :confused: I rolled over and woke up with a 2 at 10. FUnny thing is I went to bed at 10 at 2 lmao. So I get up and go to shiit My buddy Jon is in on the hopper, So I turn the tv on and see the planes going into the twin towers and yell to Jon Hey we just attacked. He say funny "####" but that won't sgueeze it out any faster. LOL those were the days, but thats where I was.!

The good ole travel lodge in Lancaster PA. :props:
 
At home (west coast); then a coffee shop; then to the gym; then back home. Never left sight of a TV. I remember wanting to do something to help, but couldn't.
 
I was in fort lauderdale training for my job with Sound Advice
 
I was in Okinawa, caught in a typhoon...waiting for the weather to clear so I could fly to my next assignment. It took several days to get a flight and it took a lot of approvals because they did not want us flying.
How about this....alcohol on post was banned for the USAF guys...but the marines were able to purchase...albeit....rationed! LOL
 
I was at Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, In. until 1300 hrs. when the CO decided that since we had 3500 bunkers of Ammo. for the US Navy that everyone should leave except essential personnel. Then I went to a bar right outside base, with most everybody else to watch the news and drink beer. Even the XO was there. I ask him why he wasn't essential personnel and he said if they attacked the base, he would still be there to take command.
 
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I was an American Airlines flight attendant on my days off, anxiously awaiting to hear the names of my fallen fellow employees to see if I knew them.

How much my situation has changed since then!
 
I was in Mrs. Groff's 4th grade class when the principle called on the loud speakers asking for the teachers to turn in their red folders. I learned later that that was code for a code red lockdown.

She closed the windows, closed the shades, turned off the lights, told us all to move towards the back of the room away from the windows and kept on teaching. Probably a smart move on her part.

Then my mom picked me up, told me someone bombed a building, and went home where I saw the towers on TV and was then told to go watch cartoons, not the tv in the living room.
 
At that time I was in the Philippines. When I heard that news I was really shocked.... Now its just a memory in our past since it happens 10 years ago..
 
I was in the Marines at the time. Remember it like it was yesterday and will never forget.
 
I was in 4th grade, getting ready for school that morning, watching it on a little 5 inch tv in my grandparents kitchen. I knew something was wrong but I didn't know what. I do remember that the second I blew my nose, the second tower was hit. I'll never forget that. When I got to school, we just went on like nothing happened and our teacher didn't really talk about it. I think we had a prayer around the flags that day or the next day, can't really pinpoint it.
 
Freshman in High School right after lunch it was broadcast on TV.
 
Internship with the DOT and was scheduled for a telecom with a few people that afternoon.

I remember a woman spreading the word and running to the front conference room to tune a tv to the news. was maybe 2 minutes after the tv was turned on, we watched the second plane hit.

made my way a bit later to the room to find every seat filled and several standing while watching. I forget which co-worker said "i bet those building are going to come down". in return, a contractor replied "they will never come down. wont happen."

within 10 seconds of him saying that, the first building fell.

after work, i remember driving back to the duplex i was living at via back roads, then making a 20 mile drive to visit my parents.

passing through a small town with 1 gas station, i noticed traffic lining both sides of the road. passed it off as an auction in process. on the drive back home, passed another gas station and saw traffic a traffic backup of 1/4 mile.

drove to the same gas station on the way to the gym the next morning, at 4:30AM and had no line or wait to pay at the pump.

chris<pixelmonkey>:D
 
I was across the street at 3 WFC when the first plane hit; 45 minutes into my work day. I was then on the side of this building when the second plane hit. I was in Jersey City when the first tower fell, was right in the middle of the street and saw the whole thing. Remember the whole day like it was yesterday. The next day I made it to Penn Station and walked there from the west side shore. I ran into 3 people the whole 25 min. walk at 9am.
 
I was a senior in HS.Ironically I was taking an English class with an emphasis on "current events" and that morning the teacher refused to allow us to watch the news in class.Instead we had to review and discuss "lord of the Flies"
 
i woke up that morning and turned on the tv to see the 2nd plane crash into the 2nd tower. i felt alot of fear. not fear of further attacks, but fear from remembering the way i was treated during the gulf war. i was in high school at that time and was treated very badly even though i'm not middle eastern nor muslim. that didn't stop the beatings, the insults and the hatred.
watching that building crumble my hand moved to right side and felt the improperly healed fractured ribs that still cause trouble with my breathing.
i went to work that day expecting the worst in the next few days, but to my surprise the america that i have always loved despite what happened in the past came thru with flying colors.
the america that i proudly pledged my allegiance to 5mths ago at my citizenship ceremony and have called home for the last 25 years showed me that you can't let the actions of a few misguided individuals color your expectations of an entire nation.
 
First period english, sixth grade. It's strange, though: the school system here decided against informing the students about the news, but I remember that first period class clearer than any other moment that day.

I recall the social studies teacher from the next room over entering the room quietly with a few peices of orange paper. Upon handing the paper to my english teacher, the social studies teacher quietly walked back to her room (My first period class had no access to hallways, it was inbetween two other classrooms). Upon reviewing the information on the orange paper, the teacher headed to the math classroom next door with one of the orange peices of paper in hand. I found out four years later that the news was communicated to the teachers through passing paper around, but at the time, this event seemed normal.

At the time, my dad was in the military, and they locked post down for a day or two.
 
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