Finally Back

Well, I am finally back in London after several days of attempts. For those of you who do not know what has happened, there was a plan to blow up at least 10 planes from England to the USA using liquids, gels, and a simple electronic device like a cell phone. Different people would carry on different components in drinking bottles, gel or toothpaste containers, and so on. As a result all flights coming into the UK were cancelled last Thursday (the day I was scheduled to fly back to London from Poznan, Poland). My original flight was with Ryanair, a British budget airline. Sonia and I went to the airport since the airline said they were flying. Alas our flight was cancelled. We were told to go home and rebook on the internet. I saw the line up at the airport, but we opted to head back to the villa. I immediately got on the computer, but due to the volume of flights cancelled the site was impossible to book from. I could see that there was a flight the next day, but it the computer was jammed and told the site was overloaded when I tried to book it. I watched the days book up...Saturday, Sunday, Monday. This is ridiculous, I thought! I have to be back at school! I can't wait 5 days! I decided to book Sonia on the Tuesday flight since she didn't have the time pressures that I did to get back to London. AND ALL OF A SUDDEN THERE WAS A FLIGHT THE FOLLOWING DAY SHOWING IT WAS AVAILABLE! I quickly booked her and printed off her information. I went to book mine and the computer jammed again. The flight booked up and I was not on it. That is when I decided to switch airlines. That night I managed to get onto LOT's website and there was a connecting flight the next day from Poznan to Warsaw to London with a 5 hour wait in Warsaw. GREAT! If I can get to a bigger airport, then there seems more chance of making it back to London. Sonia and I went to the airport the next day. Her flight was a bit later and mine read "cancelled". I stood in line and was told I could catch a later flight (5 hours later) to Warsaw, but that it only gave me 40 minutes to make my connection. Yes, please! I met a fun Canadian/Polish guy who was also on my flight and we headed down to the centre of town to have a meal and to kill time. As we arrived back at the airport I noticed that Sonia's flight was boarding. Good. We checked through immigration (no security, I guess because you weren't leaving the country). I had no hand luggage with me because I knew that it would be allowed on the next flight to London. I dumped my water and carried only my passport, wallet, keys, and some cash. Well, that flight was delayed an hour and a half and I myself got pretty thirsty. I could hear them announcing that Sonia's flight was having technical difficulties and that everyone was asked to unboard the plane to receive the next instructions in 4 hours. OKAY! My flight finally boarded and I kept looking at my watch. I wasn't sure I was going to make the connection. Upon landing there were 8 of us who missed our connection, 6 to Brussels and 2 to London. Right from the plane we were ushered by one fo the flight staff to the main area to pick up our luggage which didn't make it on our connecting flights and told were going to be put up in a hotel for the night. 3 of the people with me were rowdy and hilarious Belgian businessmen, who seemed to canoodle her into lodging us in the 4 star hotel across the street. Free dinner and breakfast. We all ate and laughed away together. Turns out the 3 businessmen own the largest Belgian construction company and are building the world's tallest building in Dubai. I told them I was an artist. They asked for my website. The evening was fun and I went to bed reluctantly. I kept watching the news to hear if flights were now on schedule. The next day I headed to the airport to HUGE lineups. Warsaw has a bigger airport and does more international flights. I was again told no hand luggage. I had my water with me anyway. I checked my baggage with ease, thinking of my digital camera which I would never normally check. I went through security to a large area with duty free shops. I knew from watching the news that none of that would be allowed on flights now. I went through security to my gate complete with the Polish army body searching everyone. I was made to throw my water away. I waited and waited. Surely my flight should have come up by now! I went out of security to check the screens and discovered my flight was delayed. I waited another 2.5 hours until it came. At least it came! I arrived in London and was lucky to get my luggage back. Alas my digital camera did not survive the trip. I am not sure what I am going to do about that, but I have started by lodging a claim with the airline. I actually have hope. I know that Ryanair would have been useless, but I have faith in LOT! Come on, LOT, pull through for me! Alas, Sonia is still stuck in Poland. I haven't heard from her in a few days.