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Jun. 13th, 2007 06:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janetlinMonday, 11 June
Wake up at 3:30 am to rearrange stuff in my packed bag, and swing by the apartment for a last-minute check before heading down to SFO.
Flight out of SFO to New York is delayed by an hour due to heavy traffic at JFK. We arrive at JFK and sit on the runway for 45 minutes in said traffic. Arrive at our gate and there's equipment in the way which we need to wait for someone to come and move. As we're finally pulling up and getting connected to the ramp, the flight attendant makes an announcement regarding connecting flights, "Those of you connecting to Paris, your flight is in gate 42 ((we'd arrived in gate 43)). Those of you going on to London, your flight is in gate 2. Once again, the flight to London is departing now out of gate 2." Gee, thanks a bunch. Even knowing this, they don't ask people to let us connecting passengers off first. So I and a bunch of other people dash to gate 2, only to find out the flight has been delayed from 9:30 to 10:30. It continues being delayed until 1:30 Tuesday morning, when we finally board, and push out at 2 am. No way in hell am I going to make my connection in Heathrow to Edinburgh. So while I was still in the gate at JFK, I changed my Edinburgh flight, to one departing London at 4:15, thinking that would be plenty of time.
Tuesday, 12 June
Arrive in Heathrow and go all over hell and gone to the connecting terminal, where I am then grilled by the lady checking my passport. Initially she asks fairly normal questions: where I'll be staying, how long I'll be here for, etc. And then she starts asking personal questions about me, and Alan, and about our relationship. Then she takes my passport, my fight itinerary, and my now-useless boarding pass for my original flight to Edinburgh, tells me to sit down and wait, and disappears for 20 minutes. I have no idea what she was doing, because when she finally came back she just asked me even more questions. Apparently she wasn't really convinced of whatever she was looking for, so I'm, like, on probation or something. My visa is "coded," whatever the hell that means.
So dicking around with her caused me to miss the 4:15 flight (though it hadn't departed yet, boarding was closed. Grr). So I reschedule _again_ to one leaving Heathrow at 5:15. It takes me forever to find the correct gate, wandering around by myself in what I now consider a mildly hostile environment, and I'm unable to contact Alan to let him know I'd been delayed further. I feel badly because he took the day off to pick me up (I was supposed to fly into Edinburgh at noon), and now by the time I get there it will be 6:30 and he could have put in a full day of work. Yarg.
Naturally, once I finally arrive in Edinburgh, my bag isn't there. I figure that it was put onto the 4:15 flight while I was held up with the passport lady, but when I speak to baggage, they inform me that it's STILL IN LONDON and won't arrive in Edinburgh until 9:something that night. We leave them Alan's flat and cell phone numbers so they can call us when it arrives and let us know they're on their way delivering it.
11 o'clock rolls around, still no call from baggage. Alan checks online and sees that my bag is at least there, but apparently it was too close to closing time for them to bother bringing it out to me tonight.
Wednesday, 13 June
No phone call throughout the whole day regarding my bag. What's the holdup if it's been there since last night? I'm glad I didn't have anything _really_ important in there. They finally deliver it at 6pm. I am very very unimpressed with this entire process and am not too happy about having to do it all over again on my way home. Hopefully Heathrow will let me back _out_ of the country with more enthusiasm than I saw coming in.
Wake up at 3:30 am to rearrange stuff in my packed bag, and swing by the apartment for a last-minute check before heading down to SFO.
Flight out of SFO to New York is delayed by an hour due to heavy traffic at JFK. We arrive at JFK and sit on the runway for 45 minutes in said traffic. Arrive at our gate and there's equipment in the way which we need to wait for someone to come and move. As we're finally pulling up and getting connected to the ramp, the flight attendant makes an announcement regarding connecting flights, "Those of you connecting to Paris, your flight is in gate 42 ((we'd arrived in gate 43)). Those of you going on to London, your flight is in gate 2. Once again, the flight to London is departing now out of gate 2." Gee, thanks a bunch. Even knowing this, they don't ask people to let us connecting passengers off first. So I and a bunch of other people dash to gate 2, only to find out the flight has been delayed from 9:30 to 10:30. It continues being delayed until 1:30 Tuesday morning, when we finally board, and push out at 2 am. No way in hell am I going to make my connection in Heathrow to Edinburgh. So while I was still in the gate at JFK, I changed my Edinburgh flight, to one departing London at 4:15, thinking that would be plenty of time.
Tuesday, 12 June
Arrive in Heathrow and go all over hell and gone to the connecting terminal, where I am then grilled by the lady checking my passport. Initially she asks fairly normal questions: where I'll be staying, how long I'll be here for, etc. And then she starts asking personal questions about me, and Alan, and about our relationship. Then she takes my passport, my fight itinerary, and my now-useless boarding pass for my original flight to Edinburgh, tells me to sit down and wait, and disappears for 20 minutes. I have no idea what she was doing, because when she finally came back she just asked me even more questions. Apparently she wasn't really convinced of whatever she was looking for, so I'm, like, on probation or something. My visa is "coded," whatever the hell that means.
So dicking around with her caused me to miss the 4:15 flight (though it hadn't departed yet, boarding was closed. Grr). So I reschedule _again_ to one leaving Heathrow at 5:15. It takes me forever to find the correct gate, wandering around by myself in what I now consider a mildly hostile environment, and I'm unable to contact Alan to let him know I'd been delayed further. I feel badly because he took the day off to pick me up (I was supposed to fly into Edinburgh at noon), and now by the time I get there it will be 6:30 and he could have put in a full day of work. Yarg.
Naturally, once I finally arrive in Edinburgh, my bag isn't there. I figure that it was put onto the 4:15 flight while I was held up with the passport lady, but when I speak to baggage, they inform me that it's STILL IN LONDON and won't arrive in Edinburgh until 9:something that night. We leave them Alan's flat and cell phone numbers so they can call us when it arrives and let us know they're on their way delivering it.
11 o'clock rolls around, still no call from baggage. Alan checks online and sees that my bag is at least there, but apparently it was too close to closing time for them to bother bringing it out to me tonight.
Wednesday, 13 June
No phone call throughout the whole day regarding my bag. What's the holdup if it's been there since last night? I'm glad I didn't have anything _really_ important in there. They finally deliver it at 6pm. I am very very unimpressed with this entire process and am not too happy about having to do it all over again on my way home. Hopefully Heathrow will let me back _out_ of the country with more enthusiasm than I saw coming in.
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no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 03:55 am (UTC)*fluffy hugs*
So good you are now there and got your bag. Have I ever told you that When I came to NZ I had a bit of stuff in handbag and everything else in a big bag, which they lost somewhere in Dubai and were looking for for the next 25 days? So my first 25 days in NZ I had to walk around desperately looking for places to find the most necessary stuff like toothbrush, soap, not-winter footwear (I arrived in January), clothes (as I obviously couldn't wear the same t-shirt every day), and so on.
In those 25 days I spent an incredible amount of money (if I tell you how much - you will faint), because I supposed that in the first couple of months when I'm getting familiar with the city and they way of Kiwi life I'll still have everything I need brought with me, and after that if I need to buy something I would already know where to take it on a reasonable price. Ha-ha-ha. I had to grab a whole bunch of things urgently-right-now, not caring for price, as I didn't have time to look around, also minding it was my first time away from home totally alone, and I felt completely lost.
Hm... I didn't mean to complain, thought, sorry about writing so much.
I'm glad you did it eventually, and I'm sure Alan will find ways to make you feel extremely nice;-))) I think it was "cosy" the word I grabbed from him, and it sounds... cosy;-)))
So, are you two going to take some pictures together and make them available for all of us to see?
*fluffy hugs and cheesecakes*
no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 11:14 am (UTC)Yes, we will take pictures. However, Alan's camera doesn't work at the moment, and his USB cable isn't compatible with mine, so they will probably have to wait until I'm home again to upload from my camera.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 09:53 pm (UTC)When I was making the declaration of loss in the airport I saw a whole bunch of other people with same problem - but they all had 5 - 6 bags and only lost one, and I've lost the only one I had. Very sad. I'm glad they found it at last, I already lost hope by then.
Pictures would be nice, it's ok if they are delayed, technical troubles is a necessary part of our lives;-))) Damn it;-).
By the way, I wonder how bad is immigration situation in UK? Maybe that "lady" in the airport was asking you personal questions about relationship because she suspected that you are trying to get into the country and stuck there through your boyfriend? As far as I'm aware, they really are concerned about it now, so that could be a reason for such an unpolite behavior;-(
*fluffy hugs*
P.S. Will you be eating some typical-traditional Scottish food there? If yes, can you post something about that? I'm quite curious;-)))
no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 09:57 pm (UTC)and "Will you be eating some typical-traditional Scottish food there?"
That would be haggis, and probably not.
Hmm, buttery shortbread cookies, on the other hand, are completely okay.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 10:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-15 07:05 pm (UTC)