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.
