Utter Chaos in Heathrow
I woke up really early today.... with barely 3 hours of sleep due to yet another late nite conversation with my friends, i made my way to the airport.....£20 poorer from the train ride to the airport, i arrived at 7am at the airport, to be greeted by a huge crowd at the departure terminal..... there was a lot of anxiety, due to the heavy fog hanging over the airport, which resulted in many flights being delayed or even cancelled..... all domestic flights were cancelled, but my flight to madrid at 920am was still on, or so it said on British Airways' and Heathrow Airports' websites......
after waiting my turn, i managed to speak to someone regarding my flight, only to be told that my flight was one of those cancelled..... but how could that be i asked, i checked it online, i told her..... i just get a shrug of the shoulders, and a mumble of how such things arent really reliable..... so much for the communication era..... so what do i do, i ask......
like many other travellers, whose flights were cancelled, i was led outside the terminal building to a huge tent that was erected for us, and we had to wait in line to get a ticket number.... a ticket number to line up for reservation enquiries.... i ended up queeing in order to queeu.... just great, i thought.....hmm..... about 45 minutes later, i managed to get a number..... no. 251...... what number is it now i wonder...... 20 minutes later, my questions was answered..... no. 130..... great, a long wait this will be.....
finding myself a chair, and a blanket that someone had left behind, i took up my spot and waited alongside hundreds of other tired travellers.....despite what was going on, i found that a majority of people here were very patient, which is not the usual reaction you'd get from people back home in similar like situations.... they were also serving out hot drinks, complimentary biscuits, sandwiches and bottle drinks were also made available to all of us....blankets were also being distributed.... and so the waiting game began.....
what made it very difficult was the bitter cold.... while i felt that it must have been close to freezing, it only got colder despite us being in a tent.... you could see the breath of everyone in the air, everyone was shivering, my toes were numb, i could no longer feel my nose.... i felt sorry for the senior citizens and the young children, who must have felt the cold even more than i did..... boy was i glad i spent so much money on that winter jacket!!!!
i noticed a few performers, a woman in very colourful stockings, not to mention a striped mini skirt, with her basket of balloons.... and a guy with a hat, and one wheeled bike, as he balanced himself on it while pushing his baggage trolley.... a few hours later, the British Airlines staff managed to get their act together and started to manage the crowds better, with the setting up of a proper queeing up system, by simply adding velvet ropes.... things got a bit better.... though a mere one hour after i got my ticket, i overheard someone saying that her ticket number was 421.... and it number 160 was being called out..... another hour later, tickets were no longer being given out, instead, they were being booked into hotel rooms near the airport and were given toll free numbers to call regarding the rescheduling of their flights.....
i considered myself very lucky, i only had to wait a mere 4 and a half hours in the bitter cold before my number was called out.....i couldnt get a flight out that day, or the day after.... the earliest flight out available was on xmas eve, but i was grateful i could actually get out of london..... while i would miss the 1st day of the southern spain tour, at least i will arrive in madrid while my family are still there,..... according to our itinerary, we are due to leave madrid only on xmas day..... and so with that, i rebooked mu flight, and made my way back to the city of london, tired and cold, but glad to know that my tour of spain was still somewhat salvaged.....
its not the most ideal of holidays, and it wasnt nice being one of the 40,000 travellers affected by the fog in london, but i refuse to be stressed and upset while i'm on my break!!!!
after waiting my turn, i managed to speak to someone regarding my flight, only to be told that my flight was one of those cancelled..... but how could that be i asked, i checked it online, i told her..... i just get a shrug of the shoulders, and a mumble of how such things arent really reliable..... so much for the communication era..... so what do i do, i ask......
like many other travellers, whose flights were cancelled, i was led outside the terminal building to a huge tent that was erected for us, and we had to wait in line to get a ticket number.... a ticket number to line up for reservation enquiries.... i ended up queeing in order to queeu.... just great, i thought.....hmm..... about 45 minutes later, i managed to get a number..... no. 251...... what number is it now i wonder...... 20 minutes later, my questions was answered..... no. 130..... great, a long wait this will be.....
finding myself a chair, and a blanket that someone had left behind, i took up my spot and waited alongside hundreds of other tired travellers.....despite what was going on, i found that a majority of people here were very patient, which is not the usual reaction you'd get from people back home in similar like situations.... they were also serving out hot drinks, complimentary biscuits, sandwiches and bottle drinks were also made available to all of us....blankets were also being distributed.... and so the waiting game began.....
what made it very difficult was the bitter cold.... while i felt that it must have been close to freezing, it only got colder despite us being in a tent.... you could see the breath of everyone in the air, everyone was shivering, my toes were numb, i could no longer feel my nose.... i felt sorry for the senior citizens and the young children, who must have felt the cold even more than i did..... boy was i glad i spent so much money on that winter jacket!!!!
i noticed a few performers, a woman in very colourful stockings, not to mention a striped mini skirt, with her basket of balloons.... and a guy with a hat, and one wheeled bike, as he balanced himself on it while pushing his baggage trolley.... a few hours later, the British Airlines staff managed to get their act together and started to manage the crowds better, with the setting up of a proper queeing up system, by simply adding velvet ropes.... things got a bit better.... though a mere one hour after i got my ticket, i overheard someone saying that her ticket number was 421.... and it number 160 was being called out..... another hour later, tickets were no longer being given out, instead, they were being booked into hotel rooms near the airport and were given toll free numbers to call regarding the rescheduling of their flights.....
i considered myself very lucky, i only had to wait a mere 4 and a half hours in the bitter cold before my number was called out.....i couldnt get a flight out that day, or the day after.... the earliest flight out available was on xmas eve, but i was grateful i could actually get out of london..... while i would miss the 1st day of the southern spain tour, at least i will arrive in madrid while my family are still there,..... according to our itinerary, we are due to leave madrid only on xmas day..... and so with that, i rebooked mu flight, and made my way back to the city of london, tired and cold, but glad to know that my tour of spain was still somewhat salvaged.....
its not the most ideal of holidays, and it wasnt nice being one of the 40,000 travellers affected by the fog in london, but i refuse to be stressed and upset while i'm on my break!!!!
posted by zufar | 5:52 AM
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