Well, first off, we didn't actually have tickets to England. Just a return flight from Melbourne to Bangkok via Singapore. So that's 11 hours plus 7 hours for those of you keeping score. Once in BKK, we cleared customs with all our gear and a surfboard, and proceeded to try to book the rest of our trip home. According to every travel agent we'd talked to in Australia, "There is no such thing as standby anymore." "You need to have a confirmed reservation from a travel agent to board a flight." That's not actually the case, but good on ya, travel agents, for trying to sell us a full-fare last minute ticket!

We ended up with a sketchy, over-padded, wait-listed itinerary onward to Birmingham, with nothing more than a handwritten credit card receipt in Thai Baht to keep us from being booted onto the street in Amsterdam. I guess the nice thing about post 9/11 travel is that if you somehow manage to get a standby ticket, you'll be the only one on the waiting list. The desk in Amsterdam had no idea what to do with us, so they just stuck on a plane and had us stand around until a couple seats freed up.

So, add in another two flights at 14 hours and 2 hours, followed by another customs line with a surfboard and a 4 hour drive to Wales. That leaves us awake for a little over two days altogether, which may not be a record or anything, but it's not bad considering that this blog is supposed to be about writing software.

written by  Jason Kester on May 1, 2006 from Aberdyfi, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: Building Blogabond
tagged Flight and Blogabond
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Surprise Dinner at Midnight

After we arrived and I freshened up as best I could (i.e. brushed my teeth, because they were GROSS), I busted my bum to get down to Customs before Vanessa started to worry about me. The queue was extraordinarily long, and I filled out my card incorrectly the first time, like a dork. (Leave it to me!)

When I finally made it up to the counter, I - of course - got the most sour-looking agent, but he did brighten up a bit when I greeted him. He looked over my card, then handed it back to me with an admonishment: "You forgot to sign your entry card." I looked at it, then back up at him, thinking I was in trouble, until he smiled at me. "You must have been too excited to get here."

With a big sigh of relief, I told him that yes, I was VERY excited to be here, and that I couldn't wait to see my friend, who was waiting for me. He stamped my passport and sent me on my way, with a new bounce in my step now that I was only a few corridors away from giving Vanessa a hug!

Arriving at Heathrow

And one huge hug later, we were off to the car park and headed here, to Aylesbury, my home away from home for this holiday. The countryside is quaint and beautiful, and I can't wait to explore it with my homegrown tour guide.

Is it worth those hours upon hours tucked into a seat in a pressurized tube, way too high in the sky to think about without getting queasy? Oh my goodness, yes. Every minute, every time.

written by  Mary Rose on July 16 from London, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: UK 2009
tagged Food, Flight, Airport, Arrival and Customs
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Our travel plan was as follows:
--Drive to Chicago
--Drop our car off at a Holiday Inn (taking advantage of the fact that if we rent a room there for one night we can leave our car there for 15 days)
--Take a shuttle to O'Hare
--Take a 4:20 PM flight Atlanta
--Four hour layover
--Take a 10:30 PM flight to London!

Flight to O'Hare was uneventful, though Carly, my little sister, and I had a fun time making up alternate captions for the picture-only safety precaution pamphlet as well as giggling at the outrageous contraptions that were being sold in the magazine, "Sky Mall."

When we got to Atlanta, things started to go wrong. The lady who assisted us with our Self-Check-In really got us off on the wrong foot. First of all, it's a self-check-in, and we were doing just fine on our own. She punched in the wrong number of bags, directed us to the wrong gate, and told us the wrong time of take-off, which resulted in a pretty frazzled sprint to the other side of the terminal. Luckily we had thirty minutes to spare before our real flight took off, and doubly luckily we switched when we did because I had inadvertently made a scene at the wrong flight line when I thought I had lost my purse and was grateful that I didn't have to spend the next eight hours with the people who were staring at me in that line.

A plane...

The TVs on the back of the chairs in front of us had free entertainment! I finally got to watch "He's Just Not That Into You" (I didn't like it as much as I thought I would, but it was good) and a few episodes of the Office and Chuck totally free! There was an in flight poker game going on where you could play against other passengers through the TV, in addition to a few other games like Galactica or Zuma.

At around 12:30 AM Central time, most passengers were sleeping. I had a very difficult time getting comfortable and as a result got a grand total of about two hours of sleep. We landed in London at 11:30 AM their time, and it's now 2:30 PM, we've checked in, showered, and are about ready to head out, but I am battling some serious jet lag. It's 8:20 AM in the States!!! I have rarely seen that side of nine this summer, I'm afraid to admit. Carly's done this flight before, and she said the best thing to do was drink a lot of water. Mom says the best thing is to go outside and let your body acclimate to the new position of the sun. My goal is just not to pass out standing up.

The first British accent I heard was a (really cute) young man directing passport check in lines. And I got my first taste of the ill will between the British and the Irish. The man there asked if I needed a Visa for study in Ireland, and I said as a student I didn't, he sniffed and said, "We control the Nothern part of Ireland, but /unfortunately/ we have no jurisdiction over the Southern part, so whether they let you in or not is completely up to them." Ha!

Still looking forward to Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens tonight, but I spotted an H+M that I want to find again.

written by  Kelsey Ingle on August 15 from London, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: A Rover in the Clover
tagged Flight, London and Arrival
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here i am with my new tan&black rolley bag and my guitar leaning close to me. ole girl (not me) takes up four seats close to the plug in station so the floor is the only option for me. i'm checkin the lights of louisville out, smelling the bounce rising out of my suitcase and my hoodie (which i'm very glad that i have), listening to john mayer's 'why georgia'

"everything happens for a reason
it's no reason not to ask yourself
if you're living it right
are you living it right?"

leaving some..or all... of the people that mean the most to me nearly makes me question leaving them. it just hurts. hurts to see them hurt. aches to walk away from them. i love them so much. the last thing i want is to hurt anyone.
it would be so easy to turn back. to stay. to build my place beside them. to get the most loving hugs and kisses everyday. to never leave their ever holding arms and ever kind words.

i can't stay though. there are so many people in the world who don't know the kind of love that i have known. there are so many broken hearts, broken lives, broken people. i just want to share some of what i have experienced...

if i could forgive people the way my mother forgives, if i could hold people the way manny and mary hold me, if i could laugh like my nick or listen like matt... if i could be strong and determined like angella....if i could be consistent like the lord... the world would know love....

"god is love. whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him..." 1 Jn. 4:16

teach me love.

p.s.
lucky me.
my flight got cut a bit shorter. i'll have a direct flight to Washington, d.c. (instead of going to chicago to change planes). AND they gave me a free round trip ticket to any place in the states in the next year because of the "inconvenience." i've always wanted this to happen to me!!!!!!

written by  theresa on October 15 from Louisville, United States
from the travel blog: to africa
tagged Flight, Airport and Excitement
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