Classes officially ended last Friday signifying the start of exams, but also signifying the start of traveling! Last weekend i took a trip to London and met up with Rachel and Lauren who are studying in Milan. It was great! We saw just about everything touristy- Big Ben, Parliament, Abbey Road, Covent Garden, Tate Modern, St Pauls. It was great to hang out with Rachel and Lauren and trounce around Londy. The fun started to fade at about 430 am on Monday morning when i recieved a text from EasyJet saying my flight had been canceled due to inclement weather. Perfect. I was already in the cab on the way to the train station (that would take us to Gatwick), so i figured i would just show up and get put on the next flight. And that is exactly what happened, except the next flight wasnt for approximately 15 hours (it was currently 630 am and the next flight to edinburgh wasnt until 730 pm). And here began my day inside Gatwick. After attempting to find a train from london to edinburgh, which would have cost around 150 quid, i bought a book and some breakfast bars and found a place to nap. Somehow, with much help from The Lost Symbol and a few more naps, i made it to 5pm. At that point i headed upstairs to check on the status of my flight, just as the women at the ticket counter had told me too ( i was becoming a regular guest by now). Just as they are telling me that they are still unsure, a large group of people come clamoring over saying that our flight was canceled. Again, perfect. Thankfully, i had heard through a number of people that the Glasgow airport was open, so i asked about flights going to glasgow. There was one flight left that evening with two seats left. The girl in front of me in line got the first and i got the second (aka the last). As we were getting booked, another woman was informing everyone else in line that they had booked 30 hotel rooms and would pay for food for up to two days. A flight, a bus, a train, and 6 hours later i made it back to Edinburgh. And to think, i used to like snow.
Fastforward to today, friday. After another four days of snow, airports are still backed up and Edinburgh is still a major struggle, but i attempted to get to Paris this morning. I even got as far as getting on the plane (after waking up at 5am to leave for the airport at 6am) and sitting on it for two hours waiting for the de-icing crew before that flight was canceled. Long story short, they ran out of de-icing fluid...really.
Now i am working on booking flights for when my sister gets here and this process is proving just as difficult as each of my recent experiences with airlines. Some malfunction with the ryanair website is keeping us from booking anything, and of course the call center closes at 5pm and the only other help line to call charges a pound a minute.
Moral of the story: I hate snow, i hate airports/airlines, and i think im getting an ulcer.
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