The Return Odyssey, Part 2

The next day, I woke up with the intentions of figuring out how I was going to make it home (after my complimentary breakfast, of course). I met up with a couple from San Diego who was trying to get home from a vacation in Europe, so together we all attempted calling the British Airways hotline. All BA passengers were advised not to come back to Heathrow unless we had confirmed a flight reservation with our airline, so naturally the BA hotline was down. I figured that avoiding the airport may be a good decision, so I booked myself on a Eurostar train from London to Paris via the Chunnel (the tunnel that goes underneath the English Channel). After my booking was completed, I received a message from Eurostar saying that there were problems with some of the trains due to the weather and that certain trips may be disrupted. Thanks for the advance warning.

I checked out of the hotel and hopped on the Tube to St. Pancras International train station. What was to be found there? All Eurostar services had been suspended following the failure of several trains entering the Chunnel and passengers were being advised to postpone their travel if it was "non-essential." Back to the drawing board. I sat down on the metal benches in the station (open air station in England I should add- a certain region of my body was numb by the time I was finished) and tried to Skype British Airways to rebook myself. After about 20 minutes I was put through to an operator and booked on a flight later that day. I packed up my things and hopped on the Tube once again for an hour long journey back to the Lion's Den, better know as Heathrow.

Once in Heathrow, everything went (mostly) as planned with only a small delay to my flight. I arrived in Paris around 11pm, finally in my destination country but with no more trains leaving the city for the night. Thankfully, my incredible former boss from my semester abroad in 2007 told me I could spend the night at her house (I am forever grateful, Carrie!). The upside? I got to spend all of the next day walking around Paris. So unfortunate...

Friday night rolls around after a day in Paris and lo-and-behold, there's snow in the south of France. Trains are being delayed in departure and slowed during the journey adding 1-3 hours to the journey. Or so I thought. My train left at 10pm, and throughout the night the conductors kept making announcements pushing the arrival times back. 2:30am in Montpellier. 3:30am. 5am. In the end, we pulled into the train station at 6am, just as Saturday's early travelers were arriving to find their trains.

And so concludes the 1 day journey that turned into 4 days spread over 3 countries. Unexpected? Yes. Ridiculous? A bit. Worth the travel story? Definitely.

The Return Odyssey, Part 1

Now that I've made it back from the holidays at home and settled back into this side of the pond, I would like to submit for your reading pleasure The Return Odyssey of 2010:

Rewind to the night of January 5. Location: Ellicott City, MD. I was booked on a British Airways flight direct from Baltimore to London Heathrow Airport, with a connecting flight to Paris. After this, I had timed my arrival perfectly so that I could catch a train direct to my town and arrive by dinnertime. I logged onto the BA website before leaving the house to make everything was in place for my flight when I saw a message at the top of the screen: "Attention- UK flight disruptions due to severe winter weather. Check the status of your flight here." I proceeded to check my flight and as luck would have it I had no delays or cancellations.

I arrive at BWI, went through security (with my extra carry on I was hoping wouldn't cause any problems in tow), and made it to the gate with plenty of time. Fast forward to 7 hours later when we're landing in London to the double-edged news that the UK is currently experiencing the worst snow storm in a decade, but that Heathrow is one of the only airports still open so we would be landing without a problem at 9am local time. Not worried in the slightest, I gathered my bags, went down the moveable staircase, and got bussed into the terminal. Enter chaos.

With the winter weather wreaking havoc up and down the UK, flights were being cancelled left and right. I found out my Paris connection was cancelled (when I confidently tried to stroll through security to my next gate), so I did an about-face to find the hour and a half long line I had to wait in to rebook. As the British would say, I queued for the better part of two hours until I was finally rebooked on a later flight that day. Still unworried, I went through security and found a place in the Terminal 5 waiting area (about the size of a moderate sized airplane hangar) where I could eat lunch and relax. Next flight time comes....and goes. We sit at the gate for about 45 minutes before they finally put us on buses and get us out to the plane. Add another 2 hours of waiting inside the plane to be deiced and the final announcement that Heathrow Airport has been closed and all flights are cancelled. So close.

We waited a bit more for the arrival of the moving stairs and bus to return us to the terminal and finally made it back inside. I later found out that we were among the lucky ones, since some planes arriving throughout the day had waits of up to 6 hours before crews could come to unload them. Back inside the terminal, I've now realized that I have missed my non-refundable train from Paris, will not be leaving London tonight, and have to stand again in a line for hotel vouchers that now stretches at least a quarter of a mile. After that 2 hour wait, I then had the great fortune of having to stand in the "Other Passports" line (all non-UK and EU citizens) to go through customs. An educated guess would tell me that there were around 1000 people in this line.

Almost 3 hours later, I was allowed through to go downstairs and find the bus to my hotel. On the way, I passed the battlefield of unclaimed bags that covered the floor after airport officials stopped letting passengers reclaim their bags.

I arrived at the Ibis Heathrow around 1:30am. Mind you, I first arrived in Heathrow at 9am. Myself and a few other stranded flyers enter the hotel to find that they have been inundated and are booked, but have called a taxi service to take us to the Ibis Earl's Court in central London. We finally arrive there and get into our rooms around 2:30am, where I checked in with my parents stateside and passed out in bed.