Sunday, February 5, 2012

Sunday, Feb 5th, London



Greetings!
Well, the storm headed west, and slammed into London just before we got here. Two-thirds of the flights out of Heathrow were cancelled today, including ours to Cairo. The airline staff met us as we headed to the connecting flight area, handing out flyers explaining our options. For most local travelers, the advise was to go home. For those like us, coming in from far away, the only solution was to re-book on a later flight. Only there were thousands of them, and the line to the ticketing staff snaked around the inside of the airport, and took four hours to traverse. Fortunately, we won the lottery, and were picked out after about two hours by a nice young airline staff member who used her phone to accomplish the re-booking. A couple from Australia in line with us helped us secure a room for the night, as the re-booking is on the same flight tomorrow afternoon. We’re now at the Holiday Inn on Bath/Sipley Way. Our baggage is currently circulating through the airport system, awaiting the new flight information, so it can know where and when to send it on. We’re making due with hotel toiletries.
After an evening of watching British television to keep ourselves from falling asleep too early, and the hotel’s restaurant for dinner, we’ll sleep to the checkout time (11am), and take the city bus back to the airport for our flight to Cairo. That is, unless we arise tomorrow to another round of flight cancellations.

Gregory

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