Cancelled flight, road trip and chocolate cake

So I checked my computer this morning to make sure my flights were ok.  They said "on time".  So off I set for the airport.  When I got there there was a line of unhappy people.  The plane had broken down and they were trying to fix it.  We waited.... and waited.  Then I knew I would not make my connection.  I finally got to the front of the line and I felt so sorry for the poor man trying to sort out everyone's mess.  I felt peaceful and so tried to share my peace with the man.  In fact I was so nice to him he said "you are probably the nicest customer I have ever had!".  I knew he was doing his best.

He reassured me the plane would leave in the next few hours and he changed my connecting flight to one through San Fransisco, LA and then London.  I was not pleased as the changeovers were only 50mins but I thanked him for sorting it.  Then I sat and made conversation with the other delayed passengers.  Many of them had been at Bethel School of Worship too.  I caught up on my blog as the internet connection was so fast (the one at Bethel is so so very slow and cuts you off every 5 mins).  Anyway.... then came the announcement..........

You could see the fear in the poor check-in-lady's face when she announced that our flight was now cancelled (glad I wasn't on the broken plane mind!).  Uproar!!!!!!!!!!  We all ran back to the desk to try and sort out the mess.  All other flights were booked until Monday.  MONDAY????????????? was the noise I kept hearing.

I was sad.... and a bit overwhelmed.  Several Bethel students opted for renting a car and sharing the cost and driving the 4 hours to San Fransisco.  Even if I had jumped in a car at that moment I would still not have made my new connection so I had to wait in line to try and change my flights again.  Now my e ticket was so confusing to the poor people because United had already made 12 changes to my flight schedule previously, plus the 3 more changes made at the airport.... They finally sorted me onto an even later (but direct flight) to London so I said to the girls do we have a car?  They said yes but they had already filled it with people.

I was a bit sad.  But then a stranger said I could ride with her.  I had not choice and thankfully she was in such a hurry not to miss her flight that she did not have time to murder me.  Her name was Deb and she insisted that I did not need contribute towards the car because she was going to claim it all back from the airline.  So I had a free ride to the airport.  I was grateful for her driving and she was grateful for my map reading. 

So we got to the airport and after a mix up with my airline...  I am finally checked in and sat eating pasta and chocolate cake at the airline's expense. 



You see I was so nice to the staff in the 1st airport that they gave me a $20 food voucher.  He called me over from the seats and gave it to me and smiled at be a huge grin.  It does pay to be nice and polite.  They also booked me onto a British Airways flight (which should be better than the United one).... and I have a window seat.  In all ....  I have been really blessed.  Now I am just chilling out for a few hours... and then I will be on my flight home.  :)  I am so looking forward to seeing all my loved ones.

My Flight from London to San Fransisco

So I got on the plane and I really did have the worst seat ever. 

First you have to walk past the nice seats:  just to taunt you.
"You are too poor to sit here"

Then you finally find your own seat... in the back row:

 

I was sandwiched between to people who slept the whole journey.  There was a little leg room but not enough to pass anyone to use the loo...

These are my knees!

So I had to wake one of them up every now and then to use the loo.  "excuse me unsociable person please wake up before I wet my knickers!"

Here was my dinner: the choice was beef or beef.  Another wonderful thing about being the very last person at the back is that you have no choice of menu at all. It was fairly grim.

I was sat behind an orthodox priest though and he was more chatty.  I watched him spend ages choosing which in flight film to watch (he decided on the sound of music).  Then he listened to something on his laptop.  He had the most enormous picture of Jesus as his screen saver.  Then he deliberated again over which film to watch and proceeded to watch the sound of music all the way through again!!!!!!!   Because our flight had been delayed we made friends the priest and I.  We pegged it for customs together and ran side by side through baggage reclaim.  His dress tassels were flying as we ran: bizarre moment in my life!

 Just to prove I made it :)

But dreams of reaching my destination that night were shattered when I discovered they had cancelled all the connecting flights to Redding.