Remembering 9/11: Trapped Abroad

This month marks the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that killed thousands at the Pentagon, World Trade Center, and in a field in Shanksville, Penn.

Check Patch every day this week for new 9/11 stories from Fairfax City council members, school officials, religious and business leaders. Share your 9/11 stories with Patch by emailing whitney@patch.com.

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I was in London getting ready to fly home when the airport was evacuated. I tried for the next four days to get home. I took the first flight to Canada as U.S. airspace had not reopened. Rented a car in Toronto and drove over the border to Buffalo, then I flew home on first day airspace opened.

It was an experience I will never forget.

I got home on Friday/Saturday after the Tuesday event. At one time I was holding over $20,000 in airline tickets (to Los Angeles, Chicago, Brazil, Mexico City, Vancouver, etc.) hedging my bet on first flight home. I even had tickets on the Queen Elizabeth cruise liner. 

I'll never forget the feeling of isolation knowing I had the Atlantic Ocean between me and home. I remember my wife calling me with the fear of driving to get the kids at two different schools and not knowing if more planes were going to hit home. 

Each day I would get up at 3 a.m and go to the airport in the hope I could find a way home even if it meant flying anywhere to North America and renting a car to drive the rest of the way. When I finally arrived in Toronto I was told there were no rental cars and it would take over 48 hours in backups to get across the border. I got lucky and found a lady at a restaurant who was about to turn in a car.

The fear of worrying what was going to happy to my family until I returned home is a feeling that I will never forget. Not knowing if or when I would make it home was a feeling of total helplessness. To this day, every time I fly oversees, I get a knot in my stomach. 

Robert Lederer
Mayor, Fairfax City