Landed In London
Oh Boy….How you forget the many pleasures of long hours of flying, delayed flights, overbooked flights, connections, late flights, bad weather, missing connections, rude airline personnel, and did I mention missing connections….The last day of my life is quite comical now as I sit in the premier travel inn close to the Heathrow airport. With a tummy full of food, a clean body, and a cozy bed next to me calling my name I have no complaints. But man what a trip here. So…my first leg took me from Orlando to Miami – was supposed to leave at 6:05pm and actually left at 6:45pm. That put us in Miami at 6:50pm and I was freaking out b/c my flight to London was supposed to leave at 7:05pm! Well, once I ran through the airport like a crazy woman 
I got to the gate and found out that flight had also been delayed til 9pm. “Sweet,” I thought to myself. Now I’d have time to chill for a bit in the airport and still have more than enough time in the London Heathrow airport to get to my connecting flight heading to Bangalore. Well….9pm turned into 9:30pm….turned into 10pm….turned into 10:30pm…We finally made way into the sky around 10:45pm Tuesday night.
My un-wealthy self purchased a ticket in nose bleed, no room, economy class as always – but this flight really felt more like a seat inside a matchbox. Lucky me got a seat smushed in between a French couple on one side and a German lady on the other. Poor German lady…I have a bladder the size of a toothpick and I don’t sleep on planes to boot! Not only did I wake this poor lady about a thousand times to go to the bathroom, but also moved around in my seat every few minutes trying desperately to get comfy enough to doze off for a bit. But I didn’t feel too bad, as I didn’t want the seat I’d been given – much prefer aisle seats for these very reasons. It was a comical affair to say the least – once everyone else on the planed dozes off to la la land, I always feel like the only people on the plane (including the pilots) awake. I tried to sleep, desperately tried…I laid my head on the seat, in my lap, I even turned into my seat with my legs crossed to lay my forehead on the headrest at the end of my seat (which was the most comfortable position I’ve yet found to sit in an economy class seat!!!). Nothing worked….To make matters worse there was a man behind me who literally snored from 11pm (Miami time) to 10am (London time) – about oh 9 hours. He slept upright with his mouth open catching flies, and seemed so content asleep in his seat on this airplane. I actually stared at him in utter amazement for about twenty minutes trying to contemplate how it was that someone like him could sleep so easily on planes and I could not sleep a wink….Have yet to figure out this mystery.
We arrived at the London airport at 11:50am London time Wednesday morning – and I wasn’t worried about a thing b/c my flight to Bangalore didn’t leave til 1:25pm. So I deplaned, and made my way to terminal four where British Airways flies from. Little did I know it was a 15 minute bus ride from terminal three (where I landed) to terminal four. Then, another oh forty plus minutes in line through security. And finally – British Airways ticket counter to collect my ticket (as – and don’t know how or why – but American Airlines did not issue my British Airways ticket to Bangalore – even though they were supposed to)….didn’t matter anyway, bc once I got to the counter the oh so not very nice lady told me the plane was closed and I would be missing that flight. I had not seen this coming at all – and almost began to cry ;( She explained that the plane was leaving in 25 minutes and was oversold – b/c I made it to her counter so late they gave my seat away and there was simply no way I could get on that flight I really didn’t understand for a minute or so – but then just looked at her and asked what she could do to help me. She said, “Nothing!” She said American Airlines should have stopped me when I landed to redirect and rebook me as there simply wasn’t enough time for me to make this flight and it was AA’s responsibility b/c they were the ones who were at fault for me arriving late (especially since it was no fault of the weather).
So, I unhappily began my forty minute trek back to terminal three (through security, to the bus, and then to the AA ticket counter)….Boy was I ready to give it to ‘em – but when I got there the sweetest British Lady appeared before me to take all my troubles away. She told me I could 1) take a Air India ;( flight that departed at 6:30pm and stopped in Mumbai before finally arriving in Bangalore at 10:30am Thursday morning (but said she had concerns about my luggage as British Airways had my luggage somewhere in transit). OR 2) I could take the British Airways non-stop flight to Bangalore tomorrow Thursday at 2pm to arrive in Bangalore on Friday at 4:30am. She said she would give me a hotel voucher, food vouchers, and bus vouchers for the stay in London tonight. Sleep deprived, worried about my luggage, dirty, and not at all a fan of air India – I chose option number 2! Several hours later I arrived at the Premier travel Inn about 15 minutes from the airport. I’ve since showered (oh yeah baby!) and eaten a bit. Although, I am a bit annoyed b/c yes they did follow through with the hotel and bus vouchers, but when I arrived at the hotel they said they had no food vouchers for me….Oh well….I just spent 5 pounds on a tasteless sandwich and it will do tonight. So there you have it.
I can’t wait to get to Mysore…Oh how I can’t wait. A bit bummed that I’ll arrive in Mysore at about 7:30am Friday and will have to register at the shala later Friday afternoon. That means no practice for me til Monday as Saturdays are days off and this Sunday is a moon day. It’s all good though b/c I’m about to spend two months with Guruji! Can’t get any better than that!
Good night all!