Thursday, July 29, 2004
Visit 2 - Days 1 and 2 - Getting to England One Line at a Time
Hello all,
Well, I have returned to England and ready to fill you all in on the trials and travails of getting here.
Monday started out great. Got to the airport at 10:30 for my 1:53 flight. Checked in by 11, heading to
terminal B and had plenty of time to do some work. I did some work, used the restroom, came out and saw in
flashing print - Flight 248 to Chicago - Cancelled - See Gate Agent. Lets be clear, this is not what I
wanted to see. But, hey, no reason to panic. Still had two hours til flight time and have an extra 1:40
in Chicago, so no problem, right?
Well, first I walk all the way down to my gate (at the furthest end of the airport). Ask the Gate Agent (as
the sign instructed). They say, ?No, you need to go talk to Customer Service.? So, I trudge all the way
back to the Customer service area with my heavy backpack. The line is something straight out of
Disneyland. It just goes on and on and on and ?. Well, I wait. 12:00, 12:30, 1:00, and finally at 1:30
(by which time the 1:26 Chicago flight has taken off), I get to the desk. They tell me, well, they tell me I
can forget making it to Chicago any earlier than 6:20pm. My BMI flight leaves at 6:25. Things look
doubtful. So they book me on the 3:05 flight to Chicago and tell me I will probably need to take the
United flight to London and then get a connecting flight to Manchester. But, there is still hope.
Hope is sometimes wasted. This was one of those times. The plane was packed an ready to go at 255 and
the pilot told us that it would be only 1:51 to get to Chicago. Excellent!!! That means I could still make
my flight. Well, they closed the door, started to pull out, and then? they stopped, rolled back up, and
let someone on the flight!!!! So, we didn?t end up leaving until 3:05 (still might make it), and didn?t
take off until 3:20 (I hate traffic on takeoff). Okay, don?t panic, I can still make it. Just going to
have to run.
We land in Chicago at 6:11. Okay I can make this. Will take some good sprints but I can make this.
Wait, where are we going? Can you believe that we literally have to circle the entire airport to park at
Terminal C (where you have to walk a half mile to get to Terminal B!!!). Okay, its 6:20, I can still make
it. BMI is delayed by 5 minutes. If only these people weren?t in my way (why do they even tell the
people on the plane that if you are not in a rush to make a connection stay seated ? no one ever does!!!).
I?m on the concourse, sprinting to the escalator to head to the walkway to Concourse B. Why is there a
huge crowd? All of the escalator are turned off, and everyone is having to carry their luggage down the
stairs (which some people evidently have forgotten how to use). Yikes, I am not going to make it. But wait,
a quick dodge into the elevator and I am back on my way. I run to Concourse Being, up the escalator, onto
the train. Three stops later I am out onto Terminal 5 when, at that very moment the BMI flight changes from
Boarding to Departed. Dejecting strikes. I have to go back to Concourse B and figure out a new way to get to
Manchester. I trudge back on the train and then go to the special desk for waylaid passengers. The very
nice gal at first tells me there is a price differential on the tickets (What!), then realizes
that there is no way they should be charging me. She books me on the 9:30 flight to London Heathrow with a
2 hour layover, then on a short hop BMI flight to Manchester. I thank her, she takes back my ticket,
changes something, then hands it back. Hmm, Row 21C? Turns out, she put me in Economy Plus ? extra leg
room!!!! May God bless that young lady!!!
Big difference between flying BMI to England and flying United to England. BMI is always about 90%
Brits. The United flight ? 90% Americans. Loud Americans. Slightly intoxicated Americans. Obnoxious
Americans. Oh, this is why the rest of the world doesn?t like us.
Great flight. No bumps, no bruises, no food (I actually slept through ?dinner? ? fried vegetarian
squirrel ? hmm, I think it was squirrel) and we land at London Heathrow ten minutes early. Great, I can
take my time, relax, and rest before I fly to Manchester.
Wrong!!! It is a little known fact that Heathrow comes from the old Saxon word meaning ? place of many lines.
First there is the line to get off the train. Then there is the line to wait for the bus to take you over
to the connecting gates. Then there is the line to get on the bus. After the bus there is the line to
enter the terminal. Then of course there is the line to wait to be admitted into the security screening
area. Followed by the line in the security area. That of course was followed by the queue at the BMI ticket
area for my boarding pass, where I was then directed to the queue for the passport control. After that I
was surprised ? no line, just a long walk to the BMI gates where my plane was boarding! I had literally
been standing in one queue or another for 2 hours!!! If this was old Soviet Russia I at least would have
gotten to buy toilet paper after all that standing. All I got out of this was a seat on the smallest jet I
have ever been on. I am pretty sure I was able to look over the pilot shoulder, that was, if I was still
able to see (dog tired at this point).
By the way, never ever, no matter what, fly into or out of Heathrow. Its not just the lines. This place
was so large and the security so lax, that I am pretty sure I saw Osama hoping out of a car and going into
the terminal through a backdoor. Yikes.
BMI is so good. On this little half hour flight they still gave us a sandwich (okay, it was on white bread,
but I was starved ? I?d have eaten an animal at that point) and drink. I love BMI!!!
Land in Manchester, grab my big suitcase (personally amazed that it was able to catch up to me), head out,
find my ride (who this time remembers to bring the ticket so we can get out). On to school, where I make
it with ten minutes before my meeting with Dr. Noble, who it turns out is running late. We meet, nail down
the changes I need to make to my 10,000 word proposal (which at the time was only 1500 words) and I go back
to my room. Run, get phone card, call Tan, have dinner with a friend, come back, and at 7:00 figure
its time to get the other 8500 words written since I am supposed to give the 10000 words to Dr. Noble on
Wednesday at the conference (yes, I flew into London, flew to Manchester, so I could turn around 15 hours
later and head back to London). Great idea. Instead I literally fall asleep on top of my laptop at 7:30 or
so. Oh well there is always tomorrow.
Manchester • Summer 2004 • (10) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
