Roughly 30 minutes after being on the plane (we had to wait for the cleaning crew to come clean up a kid's throwup).
Okay, it's not looking good....but I'm still hopeful.
Hmmmm......
Um.......
SHIT.So, we waited for 3 hours on the plane while the crew worked to "de-ice" the plane. This is all new terminology for me....but apparently it's a two step process and we only went through the first step which took forever! While on the plane they closed the entire Heathrow airport. I really shouldn't complain because others had it worse. Some people were stuck on their planes for 7 or 12 hours! The BBC article about this is actually kind of funny. But, read on to see what else happened....
So our flight gets cancelled and the captain says, "There will be agents waiting for you at the baggage reclaim, and they have a plan for each and every one of you." I personally was so hopeful at this point, but later learned that was complete bs. We also had to go through customs before we could even get our bags, which was ridiculous because we never left the country!
Once we get to the baggage reclaim area, there is the longest queue in the world to "speak to the agents." My friend and I both get in the line and then take turns to get our luggage. I was so glad she was there throughout the whole process- it was actually complete coincidence that we happened to be on the same flight and on top of that by some weird coincidence our seats were booked next to one another- totally not planned! She got her luggage pretty instantly, but I literally waited for 2 hours to get my bags! The problem was that they placed 7 different cancelled flights on the same baggage carousel. It was the craziest thing ever. In the meantime, my friend had gotten to the front of the long line just to find out that we were standing in line to receive a sheet of paper that gave us the American Airline reservation number. What the hell. It was a nightmare because everyone was calling this number at the same time and some people could never get through. I was fortunate that some guy was nice enough to pass on the person he was talking to to me and I was able to get my flight rebooked for three days later....on a nondirect flight, which is really frustrating!
My friend got a flight that was to leave Heathrow that day, but at a later time when the airport was supposed to open. Unfortunately I found out later that the airport closed entirely the whole day and she lost that flight as well and now can't fly out until 6 days after she was originally supposed to!!
While in the long line for the AA agent, we also met a college student from Little Rock, AK. I ended up letting her use my phone to try to get a hold of the AA reservation line, but it ended up being a nightmare. She was on hold with my phone for over an hour, and that was the point when I was really desperate to just leave the airport because I had gotten my luggage and it was already 4pm and I didn't have lunch yet and was running on 3 hours of sleep! On top of that, at one point she walked away with my phone for a long time and I couldn't find her!!
I finally get to leave the airport, and I withdraw a ton of cash because at that point, I didn't care the price...I just wanted to get the hell out of there! Unfortunately, there was the longest queue ever to get a taxi. There were at least 100 people waiting out in the cold snow. Ugh!
So, while dragging two jumbo suitcases, I headed down to the Tube...only to find a massive crowd of people. It took me probably 30 min just to get through this crowd. I finally make it to the Tube....and embark on a super long and slow Tube ride back to Chelsea. However, because I couldn't get a taxi, I had to walk 1/2 a mile in the snow while in my flats...which is really really not what you should be wearing in 5 inches of snow! I was desperately dragging my two suitcases, backpack, and purse up the stairs of the Tube station and all the way home. It's quite difficult dragging suitcases through the snow, by the way! Several people stopped to ask me if they could help which is nice because I did look pretty pathetic. Thankfully, Jessica and Joe were on the way (I'm so glad they live nearby!). I was so happy to see them because right before they came by I had just fallen in the middle of the road in dirty snow and ripped my one pair of skinny jeans!! I made it back home and instantly popped a bottle of champagne I had been saving for a "special occassion." I think it was a well earned occasion to break out the champagne haha.
The one nice thing about the day is that I met so many friendly people. There was a lot of solidarity at Heathrow. I met the man that was traveling all the way from Kuwait to Brownsville, Tx. He had already been traveling for like 40 hours and is now stuck in London....and on top of that his family didn't know he was coming because he was going to surprise them. In order for him to get home he will have to travel to New York and then spend the night there on Tuesday and then fly two more flights on Wednesday to get to Brownsville. He was actually in such a good mood the entire day and he was the one who passed his phone to me, and he also came by to keep me company as I waited desperately for my luggage. I met many nice people who were joking and laughing at the situation while waiting for luggage, etc. On my Tube ride back I talked with two girls both around the age of 19- one from Kentucky, the other from Ireland. We both talked about how terrible our day had been, but it was nice to share stories....especially since my phone was close to dying and I was losing human contact!
So, for now I remain in London. Fingers crossed I make it to the sunshine by Tuesday!
The markets are pretty much German themed, I guess because this all started in Germany. Here is a stand completely devoted to cookies.
