Multiple Post Day! #1: Traveling

So this is that thing, you know, where I catch up on all the blog posts I should have been making for, I don't know, the past week or so.

So on Tuesday the 12th I had my flight back to the UK. It either a) went better than I could have ever expected or b) failed on an epic scale. I'm still undecided, and you might be too after you finish this entry.

I departed Columbus on a short regional flight to Chicago around 6 or 7 in the evening. This flight wasn't so bad, and in fact I got a little sleep, which is unusual for me. So I was pretty grateful for that. The plane itself was a little rickety and some of the seats were broken, but I don't expect a lot out of regional jets.

Then I had a three-hour layover in Chicago. I hate layovers. This one in particular consisted of me failing to connect to the terminal's wireless network, doing Sudoku until I thought my eyes would fall out, and following news of the Haiti earthquake as it was presented on Larry King Live. I was approached during this layover by a man who was apparently doing some sort of survey for international travelers to rank their favorite flight service, or something like that...? I wasn't exactly sure why he picked me, of all people, but I went along with it. To spite him, I might not send back the second half of my form.

The first indication I should have had that things were about to go Very Wrong was the way the flight crew decided to board this jet. Usually, when people board a plane, there's a little Group number on their boarding pass that determines when you're supposed to board the plane. I don't know if they do it in reverse order or not, but usually the first group to board the plane (after the usual Platinum, Sapphire, 4chan Gold Account, and Business Class members) goes in the back, and people file in after them to fill in the seats further to the front, and it's all very orderly. On this flight, we all boarded at once. It was stupidity in motion, especially since the flight crew were on the terse end of professional (instead of the kind end). Also, this jet was filled. Filled. Every seat was filled. Every single one.

So of course we had to have a problem, because that's the way Murphy's Law works. I fell asleep practically after take-off and was disappointed to wake up for dinner around 11 PM EST, but once I fell asleep after dinner, apparently the pilot made an announcement nobody heard and we continued going about our business. But then the cabin kept getting louder and louder as people were gossiping about something, and a flight attendant came over the PA to tell us that the de-icing belt on the plane wasn't functioning properly and so the authorities in Heathrow weren't going to let us land in the UK like that.

Now, you have to understand something to see why I found that so absurd: The airport was frozen in Chicago and they let us take off. I understand that London was freaking out because it was snowing there for about a week and a half straight, and that never happens, but really? If O'Hare could let us take off, I think Heathrow should have let us touch down.

As it was, we stopped at JFK in order to see what could be done about it. We did not de-board the plane, but we were grounded for three hours while a maintenance crew did... something to make everything work. At least I got a good amount of sleep; I woke briefly on take-off and I woke up finally around breakfast.

So, by the time we landed in Heathrow, I was already around three hours behind schedule. When we touched down, there seemed to be some kind of problem with attaching the corridor leading to the terminal to the plane... so we were delayed about another hour. Besides this, the plane we were using was also the most run-down trans-Atlantic service I've ever used. Seats were broken, utilities were not well-maintained... but at least they had a touch-to-use television screen that could TURN OFF.

Once I de-boarded, it still took me 45 minutes to get through my passport/visa screening. Oh, joy of joys. I suspect some of the problem was caused by people who were underprepared. At least I know what papers I need for things like that.

The one good thing was that I was able to grab my checked luggage quickly and board a bus to Oxford with all speed, but I was still around 5 hours late for when my best estimate was for getting into Oxford. I got in at 6 o'clock and, as happens in England, everywhere I could have gone for food was already closed. I was not pleased. In addition to this, England has not heard of snow shovels, so all of the sidewalks were still filled with slush. I didn't have far to go to reach my flat, but still, it was annoying.

At least when I got in, I was told that all the other Americans got back safely, and AJ even let me have a can of soup instead of letting me go out and spend money on Hassan's. And at least I felt much, much better than the last time I took a trans-Atlantic flight in this direction. I'm still mildly jet-lagged, but I'm nowhere near as sick or homesick as I was last time. So, all in all... with everything that happened, I'm still more than pleased that things worked out as well as they did.

- Jen -