Whew, that was tough, stressful travels...
I started to get worried about the trip on Saturday when it started snowing in New York City, and a few hours before I planned to call a cab to drive me to the airport, the snow started to stick!
At 2:30pm I called the cab company and was told it would be half an hour before they could get a driver to me, because of the weather. I'm glad I called early... The driver showed up about 2:50pm and it took around an hour to get to the airport.
Check-in with Virgin Atlantic was easy, a fairly short line. My bags were about half a kg over the weight limit, but they didn't charge me for the excess. The woman said the flight might be up to an hour late due to the snow. Getting through security was a breeze and I was in the terminal with some time to kill...
After sending a quick email to Leena, I found a place at the quiet end of the terminal to get a nice, pepperoni pizza. Once finished with that I walked the length of it again, and vaguely noticed that the display over my gate didn't show anything, not the flight, just the generic background.
I dashed over to the nearest large display of flights to see if maybe the gate changed, but alongside my flight it said "CANCELED". Canceled? Gulp!
I dashed back to the gate and as I arrived the agent announced on the PA system that due to the snow the flight was canceled, the plane we were supposed to be on was unable to land in New York and had been diverted to Maine. I asked her about connecting flights and she said they'd have to be rebooked, and asked me to wait patiently while Virgin Atlantic sorted everything out as best they could. She said we'd be provided with hotel accommodations and all that overnight.
The waiting around by the gate got more full and more full as people waited around for the next news about our flight and the arrangements. No new announcements were forthcoming, just an occasional one about being patient while the airline worked out the arrangements. They said they'd supply refreshments, but they never showed up.
After a while they finally announced they were ready for us, and said to go to the "domestic loft" (no one understood that last word) to get our baggage, then go to the ticket counter to make new arrangements for the bus to the hotel and rebooking of flights. As a group we all went en-masse away. Some of us went up to what we thought "loft" meant, which was the ticketing and check-in area, and the closest we saw to the stairs was Virgin America, which matched the term "domestic" but we found out that was the wrong place...
Back down to a baggage claim area... Our suitcases were alongside a baggage carousel and people were taking them away. I went through it over and over, but didn't see my bags. There were no Virgin Atlantic uniformed staff for assistance. A few other people looked equally puzzled and didn't find their bags either, and after going through the rows of bags over and over and over, the carousel started again and more bags came, with an airport working hauling them off as they came, to throw them on the floor. No idea why they didn't just let them roll around the carousel, as it was harder work to get them from the floor when they were stacked in a huge pile...
I got whacked in the face once by a taller man with a backpack who wasn't paying attention to where he was swinging it. But he was gone before I could say something snarky to him about being careful.
With my bags in tow, and not ready to spend the money on a trolley, I wheeled them to an elevator and waited in line for my turn to go up. Once I got to the Virgin Atlantic check-in area there were no uniformed staff, again, to help with where to go. It wasn't at all obvious. I saw a few other people with tags on their bags and carry-ons that looked like they'd already checked in, so I figured that was the line to wait in, especially as it went to the small ticket counter...
I was behind a friendly, older British lady and we chit chatted during the two plus hour wait. Her husband came and went, going between possible places trying to make sure they got served in one spot or another. The husband turned out to be the guy with the backpack, but once in line like that they were friendly. They were on their way back from an Atlantic cruise, and she said the storm affected that, too, with huge waves and lots of people getting seasick.
So, after around two hours or so I finally got my turn at the ticket desk. Travis was the agent who helped me out. He first said he couldn't get me to London that night to make my connection and I'd be delayed by a day. But then he didn't give up too easily... Using both telephones and the computer whe worked my case for around 20-25 minutes. The other agent was rebooking passenger after passenger on the Kuwait Airways flight to London that left at 9:45pm, filling out some forms, stamping them and saying "take this to Row 6 over there and hand it to the agent and they'll check you in..."
Travis eventually said he could get me to London that night, but was still working on the London to Mumbai route for me. He had some trouble getting hold of Jet Airways to cancel my current booking, as no one was answering their phones. He got one of his supervisors to get him an unlisted number, and got through and I heard him telling the Jet person about canceling my booking as "he's not gonna make the flight."
Finally he had everything ready for me, around 8:45pm. He had me booked on the Kuwait Airways flight to London and a British Airways flight form London to Mumbai, but with a 12 hour layover in London. He explained that he wasn't able to get me checked in all the way, or my bags, so in London I'd have to collect my bags at the baggage claim and then check them in again at British Airways. Then he gave me the form he stamped and sent me to Row 6...
I found the Kuwait Airways check-in desk and handed my form to the agent who then weighed my bags and put the tags on them and handed me my boarding pass. She sent me to the baggage security area where there was a massive line, both for Kuwait Airways and some other airline. There someone in a uniform stopped me and then stopped other Kuwait Airways passengers saying he'd have to halt the whole line and get us through in order to make our flight. He coordinated with another person and blocked the line of other passengers and led us as a group to drop our bags.
The next security was easy enough, and I got to the gate before boarding actually started.
Once on the plane we stayed on the ground for an hour and a half before taking off...
I slept badly on the flight, with an aisle seat and a somewhat annoying, older fellow on my right who kept banging his legs and arms into me.
The Kuwait Airways flight was shorter than my original Virgin Atlantic flight for the same route.
We made it to London early in the morning. At Immigration I just told the agent there that I was only transiting through and had to get my bags and go check-in for another flight and he didn't give me any trouble.
After getting my bags I had no clue where to go in Heathrow... I found the service desk who said I needed Terminal 5, and said the bus was faster than the train, but he'd have to carry my bags up the stairs to it. So, I opted for the train (let's face it, with a 12 hour layover, who's in a rush?). Only I got on the wrong train, the one that went between Terminal 4 and Terminals 1, 2 & 3. After twice I figured out that one didn't go to Terminal 5 at all and switched to the parallel one...
At Terminal 5 I took my bags up the elevator to the check-in area and got in a short line for assistance. The guy there booked me onto my flight, asking what kind of seat I wanted, with window seats still available. I asked about my bags and he said it was too early to check them in, they would only accept them 3 hours before the flight. I said I was hoping to dump them off, and directed me downstairs to a private company that'll store bags, for a fee that he didn't know. He said "check your bags there and take the Underground into London, don't take a black cab, they're too expensive, that's what I reommend, that's what I'd do if I had a full day layover like you."
After checking my bags into the storage, I got some cold drinks at the Marks & Spencer, then struggled to get hold of Leena to tell her about the change in plans. None of the pay phones in the terminal would accept my American credit cards, without the chip & pin combo. Eventually I turned on the roaming on my iPhone and sent a couple of emails.
Then I got an Underground ticket and took the Piccadilly Line into London. I kept falling asleep on the train, though... It took about to get to Piccadilly Circus.
I enjoyed a few hours down there. Walking around Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, Green Park and down to Charing Cross and Embankment. I didn't want to go too far from the Piccadilly Line as I had a plane to catch... I had a good time, took a bunch of pictures with my newest lens (which I haven't offloaded from the camera yet). I had too much acid reflux to stop to eat, which now I regret, I should've gotten a hamburger at Ultimate Burger anyway...
Around 3:15 or so I made it back to the Underground and headed out to the airport again. I was still a bit early, but I didn't want any delays to prevent me from making my flight. I stood up all the way on this train and still kept dozing off between most stops...
I got to Heathrow half an hour before the earliest I could check my bags in, so I sat down and wrote in my diary for a bit. By then I was developing a migraine, too, which was unpleasant...
At 5pm I got up to check my bags in, and stood in the long, slow line... Again I didn't get charged for my overweight bags, so that was good. Heathrow security was easier than JFK and I was into the terminal to wait for my flight.
I spent about an hour and a half just walking up and down, up and down, trying to find a drinking fountain, but no luck. Once I bought a bottle of water, though, then I sat down at the quietest spot I could find to relax and sip it, only to see the water fountain there...
Then some more walking and I found another spot in a busier place to sit and write in my diary. After I ran out of things to write I kept dozing off... I'd start to dream a bit, then my eyes would close then I'd shake awake a few minutes later. I did that for about an hour before getting up to keep walking more...
The British Airways flight was good. It wasn't crowded, so I had a window seat and the seat next to me was empty. A British lady had the aisle seat... I slept most of the flight, with my head against the wall by the window.
Once in India a bunch of flights came in at once, so the line at Immigration was the longest I've ever seen it out of all my entries. They had the rope barriers up but the crowd extended way beyond the entrance to that. Once in, the line was moving fairly steadily, but it was still long...
The immigration agent asked me if this was my first trip to India, and I told him it wasn't (as though he didn't already know) but when he asked when my last one was, I had to think about it... Because I was living in India, not just visiting, I thought of my previous trips as "out of India" and my entries as "visiting India." But I figured it out as 2009.
My bags came quickly at the baggage claim, but the customs officer directed me to the x-ray, not directly out of the terminal. The only problem I had at the x-ray machine was getting my bags, since a crowd developed around and I simply couldn't get through to get both bags off the machine.
And then out for my ride back to Pune.
So, here I am... It's great to be with Leena again after a year, and nice to be back in our flat in Pune. It felt like coming home.
And I'm quite wiped out... I dozed off in the shower, and had a rip roaring headache. I went to bed around 9:30pm or something and slept till 1:30pm. When I woke up my headache was reduced quite a bit, but still slightly there... It's easing off more and more...
I started to get worried about the trip on Saturday when it started snowing in New York City, and a few hours before I planned to call a cab to drive me to the airport, the snow started to stick!
At 2:30pm I called the cab company and was told it would be half an hour before they could get a driver to me, because of the weather. I'm glad I called early... The driver showed up about 2:50pm and it took around an hour to get to the airport.
Check-in with Virgin Atlantic was easy, a fairly short line. My bags were about half a kg over the weight limit, but they didn't charge me for the excess. The woman said the flight might be up to an hour late due to the snow. Getting through security was a breeze and I was in the terminal with some time to kill...
After sending a quick email to Leena, I found a place at the quiet end of the terminal to get a nice, pepperoni pizza. Once finished with that I walked the length of it again, and vaguely noticed that the display over my gate didn't show anything, not the flight, just the generic background.
I dashed over to the nearest large display of flights to see if maybe the gate changed, but alongside my flight it said "CANCELED". Canceled? Gulp!
I dashed back to the gate and as I arrived the agent announced on the PA system that due to the snow the flight was canceled, the plane we were supposed to be on was unable to land in New York and had been diverted to Maine. I asked her about connecting flights and she said they'd have to be rebooked, and asked me to wait patiently while Virgin Atlantic sorted everything out as best they could. She said we'd be provided with hotel accommodations and all that overnight.
The waiting around by the gate got more full and more full as people waited around for the next news about our flight and the arrangements. No new announcements were forthcoming, just an occasional one about being patient while the airline worked out the arrangements. They said they'd supply refreshments, but they never showed up.
After a while they finally announced they were ready for us, and said to go to the "domestic loft" (no one understood that last word) to get our baggage, then go to the ticket counter to make new arrangements for the bus to the hotel and rebooking of flights. As a group we all went en-masse away. Some of us went up to what we thought "loft" meant, which was the ticketing and check-in area, and the closest we saw to the stairs was Virgin America, which matched the term "domestic" but we found out that was the wrong place...
Back down to a baggage claim area... Our suitcases were alongside a baggage carousel and people were taking them away. I went through it over and over, but didn't see my bags. There were no Virgin Atlantic uniformed staff for assistance. A few other people looked equally puzzled and didn't find their bags either, and after going through the rows of bags over and over and over, the carousel started again and more bags came, with an airport working hauling them off as they came, to throw them on the floor. No idea why they didn't just let them roll around the carousel, as it was harder work to get them from the floor when they were stacked in a huge pile...
I got whacked in the face once by a taller man with a backpack who wasn't paying attention to where he was swinging it. But he was gone before I could say something snarky to him about being careful.
With my bags in tow, and not ready to spend the money on a trolley, I wheeled them to an elevator and waited in line for my turn to go up. Once I got to the Virgin Atlantic check-in area there were no uniformed staff, again, to help with where to go. It wasn't at all obvious. I saw a few other people with tags on their bags and carry-ons that looked like they'd already checked in, so I figured that was the line to wait in, especially as it went to the small ticket counter...
I was behind a friendly, older British lady and we chit chatted during the two plus hour wait. Her husband came and went, going between possible places trying to make sure they got served in one spot or another. The husband turned out to be the guy with the backpack, but once in line like that they were friendly. They were on their way back from an Atlantic cruise, and she said the storm affected that, too, with huge waves and lots of people getting seasick.
So, after around two hours or so I finally got my turn at the ticket desk. Travis was the agent who helped me out. He first said he couldn't get me to London that night to make my connection and I'd be delayed by a day. But then he didn't give up too easily... Using both telephones and the computer whe worked my case for around 20-25 minutes. The other agent was rebooking passenger after passenger on the Kuwait Airways flight to London that left at 9:45pm, filling out some forms, stamping them and saying "take this to Row 6 over there and hand it to the agent and they'll check you in..."
Travis eventually said he could get me to London that night, but was still working on the London to Mumbai route for me. He had some trouble getting hold of Jet Airways to cancel my current booking, as no one was answering their phones. He got one of his supervisors to get him an unlisted number, and got through and I heard him telling the Jet person about canceling my booking as "he's not gonna make the flight."
Finally he had everything ready for me, around 8:45pm. He had me booked on the Kuwait Airways flight to London and a British Airways flight form London to Mumbai, but with a 12 hour layover in London. He explained that he wasn't able to get me checked in all the way, or my bags, so in London I'd have to collect my bags at the baggage claim and then check them in again at British Airways. Then he gave me the form he stamped and sent me to Row 6...
I found the Kuwait Airways check-in desk and handed my form to the agent who then weighed my bags and put the tags on them and handed me my boarding pass. She sent me to the baggage security area where there was a massive line, both for Kuwait Airways and some other airline. There someone in a uniform stopped me and then stopped other Kuwait Airways passengers saying he'd have to halt the whole line and get us through in order to make our flight. He coordinated with another person and blocked the line of other passengers and led us as a group to drop our bags.
The next security was easy enough, and I got to the gate before boarding actually started.
Once on the plane we stayed on the ground for an hour and a half before taking off...
I slept badly on the flight, with an aisle seat and a somewhat annoying, older fellow on my right who kept banging his legs and arms into me.
The Kuwait Airways flight was shorter than my original Virgin Atlantic flight for the same route.
We made it to London early in the morning. At Immigration I just told the agent there that I was only transiting through and had to get my bags and go check-in for another flight and he didn't give me any trouble.
After getting my bags I had no clue where to go in Heathrow... I found the service desk who said I needed Terminal 5, and said the bus was faster than the train, but he'd have to carry my bags up the stairs to it. So, I opted for the train (let's face it, with a 12 hour layover, who's in a rush?). Only I got on the wrong train, the one that went between Terminal 4 and Terminals 1, 2 & 3. After twice I figured out that one didn't go to Terminal 5 at all and switched to the parallel one...
At Terminal 5 I took my bags up the elevator to the check-in area and got in a short line for assistance. The guy there booked me onto my flight, asking what kind of seat I wanted, with window seats still available. I asked about my bags and he said it was too early to check them in, they would only accept them 3 hours before the flight. I said I was hoping to dump them off, and directed me downstairs to a private company that'll store bags, for a fee that he didn't know. He said "check your bags there and take the Underground into London, don't take a black cab, they're too expensive, that's what I reommend, that's what I'd do if I had a full day layover like you."
After checking my bags into the storage, I got some cold drinks at the Marks & Spencer, then struggled to get hold of Leena to tell her about the change in plans. None of the pay phones in the terminal would accept my American credit cards, without the chip & pin combo. Eventually I turned on the roaming on my iPhone and sent a couple of emails.
Then I got an Underground ticket and took the Piccadilly Line into London. I kept falling asleep on the train, though... It took about to get to Piccadilly Circus.
I enjoyed a few hours down there. Walking around Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, Green Park and down to Charing Cross and Embankment. I didn't want to go too far from the Piccadilly Line as I had a plane to catch... I had a good time, took a bunch of pictures with my newest lens (which I haven't offloaded from the camera yet). I had too much acid reflux to stop to eat, which now I regret, I should've gotten a hamburger at Ultimate Burger anyway...
Around 3:15 or so I made it back to the Underground and headed out to the airport again. I was still a bit early, but I didn't want any delays to prevent me from making my flight. I stood up all the way on this train and still kept dozing off between most stops...
I got to Heathrow half an hour before the earliest I could check my bags in, so I sat down and wrote in my diary for a bit. By then I was developing a migraine, too, which was unpleasant...
At 5pm I got up to check my bags in, and stood in the long, slow line... Again I didn't get charged for my overweight bags, so that was good. Heathrow security was easier than JFK and I was into the terminal to wait for my flight.
I spent about an hour and a half just walking up and down, up and down, trying to find a drinking fountain, but no luck. Once I bought a bottle of water, though, then I sat down at the quietest spot I could find to relax and sip it, only to see the water fountain there...
Then some more walking and I found another spot in a busier place to sit and write in my diary. After I ran out of things to write I kept dozing off... I'd start to dream a bit, then my eyes would close then I'd shake awake a few minutes later. I did that for about an hour before getting up to keep walking more...
The British Airways flight was good. It wasn't crowded, so I had a window seat and the seat next to me was empty. A British lady had the aisle seat... I slept most of the flight, with my head against the wall by the window.
Once in India a bunch of flights came in at once, so the line at Immigration was the longest I've ever seen it out of all my entries. They had the rope barriers up but the crowd extended way beyond the entrance to that. Once in, the line was moving fairly steadily, but it was still long...
The immigration agent asked me if this was my first trip to India, and I told him it wasn't (as though he didn't already know) but when he asked when my last one was, I had to think about it... Because I was living in India, not just visiting, I thought of my previous trips as "out of India" and my entries as "visiting India." But I figured it out as 2009.
My bags came quickly at the baggage claim, but the customs officer directed me to the x-ray, not directly out of the terminal. The only problem I had at the x-ray machine was getting my bags, since a crowd developed around and I simply couldn't get through to get both bags off the machine.
And then out for my ride back to Pune.
So, here I am... It's great to be with Leena again after a year, and nice to be back in our flat in Pune. It felt like coming home.
And I'm quite wiped out... I dozed off in the shower, and had a rip roaring headache. I went to bed around 9:30pm or something and slept till 1:30pm. When I woke up my headache was reduced quite a bit, but still slightly there... It's easing off more and more...
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