*Blink* *Blink*

Wow. It's EARLY! I got up at 4.30 this morning to catch the shuttle from the hotel to the airport.

Here's the story from yesterday:

Arrived to JFK. Through customs no problem. Whilst waiting for my bags (because being in the front of the plane means you get through the passport control, but doesn't speed up the arrival of the bags!) and started chatting with one of the standby passengers I'd seen all day at Heathrow. She had a 9.00 am flight, I have a 7.00 am flight, so I said... want to split a hotel? Best decision.

We really wanted to get rid of the bags at checkin, but because the flight wasn't til the next day the desk wouldn't take it til 2.00 am. So we were stuck with them. bleh, but whatever. We followed a Delta employee just getting off work to Terminal 4 to get to the hotel info. Over there we got a hotel with free shuttle to/from, and went out to catch the Port Authority shuttle to the area that has the hotel shuttles.

It's raining.

I don't mean a little sprinkle, I mean chucking it down. So we're trying to shelter (along with the rest of the airport!) in these little bus hutches. We wait and wait and wait til finally the shuttle arrives. Get on, yeay! Well, it doesn't go straight to the shuttle area. It stops at 3 other terminals first. Not a problem except there's seriously no room on the shuttle. People are trying to climb on at every stop, but there's just NO WAY. They're trying to lift luggage over other luggage, and climb into crazy places. Look people, it ain't happening! Finally we arrive and wait for the shuttle.

It's been a long time since I was as grateful to get to the hotel as I was last night. And it was only 10.30 local by that point. But neither I nor my companion cared. We went straight to the room and crashed.

Of course, my 7 am flight means I've got to be up at 4.30, but that's another story.

Got to the check in and the agent's like, "This bag's overweight". Seriously? They didn't flag it in Heathrow. Either day! Whatever. I switch some things around and get them both to under the weight. Then she says, "Final destination Detroit?" Wait, what? I just told her my bags were already tagged to Salt Lake, so why would my final destination be Detroit? Umm, no. My bags are tagged Salt Lake. My seat request reads Salt Lake (I double checked). Why would you think my final destination was Detroit? I still don't have a clue what that was all about. But whatever, she got it sorted out, and I'm ready to go for Salt Lake.

So, now I'm sitting in the Salt Lake gate, hoping and praying to get on the flight. I looked at theta list, and it's going to be close. There are 13 (including "Inconvenienced Passengers") people trying to get 7 seats.

Yeah, you can do the math. Yes, I'm back to the bottom of the heap, too. But there are 4 flights today JFK to Salt Lake. Might have a look at the Minneapolis rout, see if that's looking any better. I wouldn't mind if I flew to Minneapolis, then on to Billings. Then I could drive my Mom down to Salt Lake, as planned.

*shrug* Whatever. I'll get there somehow.

Immigration? AGAIN?

Everyone expects to go through immigration when the arrive to a country. Passport control, queues, baggage collection, grilled on purpose of visit.... But I haven't left the country! I'm still here!

In order to collect my bags from the luggage area, though, I had to go back through immigration control. So I get down there and I explain to the BAA (UK version of TSA) person that I'd not actually arrived from anywhere, that I was a standby passenger, and hadn't got out today. She says, "What passport?" "USA." "You have to stand in that queue over there. Take a landing card and fill it out." Ok... ummm.. when it asks "flight number" and "last port of call", what do I fill in? Oh, I leave it blank. Right.

So I wait. And wait. And wait. And wait in this queue. Finally, its my turn to go through Passport Control. The officer asks me for my flight info. "I haven't actually flown anywhere. I'm a standby passenger and didn't get on my flight, so I just need to collect my bags." "So you've already been in the country?" "Yes." "Then you don't need one of these [landing cards] and shouldn't be in the queue at all. Go on through." IF I WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAVE STOOD IN THE QUEUE AT ALL, WHY THE (not going to swear) DID THEY DIRECT ME HERE?!? Really? I did explain to them the whole thing.

So, over an hour later, I'm finally through a queue I didn't need to be in, and have my bags. And I'm waiting for a taxi to come collect me and take me to the hotel I've booked.

In the rain.

Ahhh London. Got to love it.

Guess Who?

Knock knock! Guess who? It's your favourite stranded traveller!

Yep, I'm stuck at Heathrow airport. My wonderful friends have already said that they'd be happy for me to stay another night with them, so I might just pay a couple pounds to have my bags held at the "Left Luggage" locker overnight, and take just my carryon back to their place this evening. We'll see. Might just decide to find a hotel close by.... options, options.

This is actually the first time I've got stuck leaving London. Usually it's a fight to get here. Unfortunately, Delta had a cancelled flight to Boston earlier today. That's the spanner in the works. They had a load of people to deal with!

So... off to figure out what I'm doing tonight.

I May Have to Swim

I'm sitting in my friends' flat in London. They live a half hour drive from Heathrow, so very kindly invited me to stay with them the night before the flight. That means I wouldn't have to do any marathon runs to the airport (which I've done) or pay the price for an airport hotel (which I've also done!) Bless them. Actually, I frequently use them as my port of call when I'm flying out of Heathrow.

Anyway, it's been gorgeous weather for about 4 days. You know that sort of thing isn't tolerated in the UK. So in order to break this horrible trend, two days of solid rain were ordered! Sadly, for me, that delivery was received last night. It's been pouring for about 10 hours. Looks like I'll arrive to the airport swimming!

But, I did something very sensible yesterday. I booked a mini-cab to take me to the airport. It's only £18 from here to the airport via mini-cab (which are not as expensive as a London Black Cab, but you only want to get one if you've booked it from a car service!) and it saves me all the pain and effort of getting to the train station on my own (because, of course, my friends are both off at work) and then getting from the station to the correct terminal, all with two bags to be checked, plus carryon! Totally worth the money.

Hopefully, I'll get to the airport and be handed my ticket straight away! Fingers crossed, anyway. I'm flying to a less popular destination this leg. Heading to Billings, Montana via Minneapolis, Minnesota. There's not quite the same crush of people desperate to fly to Minnesota as there are to New York or Atlanta (being the biggest Delta Hub). So, fingers crossed that this is an easy rout!

Hello Luggage!

Some day scientists are going to find the Sapient Pear Wood from which The Luggage is made. I'm seriously looking forward to that. The most amazing luggage ever. Not only does it never get lost (it follows you around on hundreds of little legs) and have a seemingly infinite amount of room inside (which is apparently exempt from weight restrictions, in addition to the space paradox), but it actually does your laundry for you! Either that, or it has a direct conduit to a dry-cleaners. Either way, I want one! But until then, I'll have to make due with this:

Hey, at least it's here! (Actually, it beat me by 2 days.)