SAN ANTONIO – Travel agent Alice Petry said she tries to plan for the unexpected. But the call she woke up to on Saturday was something unwritten.
“A lot of things have to change before anyone goes back,” Petry said.
Petry owns Petry Travel. She helped arrange a 12-day trip for a group of 40 people from the San Antonio area to travel to the Middle East.
Day five of their journey was when Hamas attacked Israel on Saturday. As Israel declared war, Petry said her main priority was getting her people out of the Middle East and back home safely.
“At the end of the day, Saturday, we knew what they were going to do,” Petry said.
The group got on a bus from the Jerusalem area and traveled to Amman, the capital of Jordan, on Sunday, according to Petry. From there, she was able to help book multiple flights for the group.
Some were able to get a direct flight from Amman to the United States, and others had to stop in Turkey or Egypt first.
“We got eight seats here, two seats here and three seats here,” Petry said. “We pieced it together.”
Petry confirmed as of Wednesday afternoon, her entire group of 40 had safely returned to the United States.
A similar journey was had by a group of 19 people with Concordia San Antonio, a Lutheran Church on the North Side.
Senior Pastor Bill Tucker is one of those travelers. He confirmed in a video sent to KSAT 12 on Wednesday morning that his group made it to Jordan and was awaiting flights.
“We were able to go through the border crossing this morning,” Tucker said. “We were able to get flights as early as tomorrow and then continue to get folks flying out and flying home each day.”
He said everyone in their group was safe, but in a statement sent to KSAT 12, Concordia San Antonio prayed for those affected in the Middle East.
“Please pray for all those affected by and victimized by these attacks, and that peace would be restored to this region quickly,” Concordia said in a statement.