I'm baaaaaack
Sep. 26th, 2006 05:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
carmenbeaudryWe returned home last night about 11. Paris was absolutely wonderful and I (yet again) was trying to figure out ways to stay there. More about that later.
However, the last 2 days have not been so wonderful. Sunday we left the apt. in Paris for the airport at 10 am Paris time. This was a little early, but given security, etc., not that bad. Oh, and did I mention that I had some sort of virus rear its ugly head and decide to settle in my joints, so that walking/standing was very slow? Anyway, the plane to London left almost 30 min. late. This was a problem, as we only had an hour layover between flights. My traveling companions requested a wheelchair for me to be ready in London, as Heathrow is a nasty, long and very confusing maze of a place, even when you arrive and depart from the same terminal. The flight to London was bloody damn fast---35 mins. in the air. It usually takes between 40 min. to an hour. However, when we landed, we had to wait almost 30 min. before we could disembark. Then, the three of us who needed wheelchairs were told to walk to the end of the loading hallway thing (I'm still not tracking, sorry) and wait. Um, we requested wheelchairs because we had trouble walking. Especially the lady who had her own wheelchair but was forced to put it in checked baggage. Anyway, we waited there for 15 min. before someone came and got us. At least that person had a clue, because the first thing they did was to find out if we had missed our connecting flight. (We had, no surprise.) They also checked on the rest of my party, and told me that they'd all missed the flight, too, so at least I wasn't there alone. Oh, and during the debacle, the woman from BA (not Heathrow, this is an important distinction) noticed that there was only one security line for somewhere around 200 people who had connecting flights to make and was extremely terse and to the point on her cell phone about getting more lines open. Anyway, Wade and I were taken straight to the desk for SNAFUs, and, after we were told the rest of our party would be sent there, made a few command decisions. British Airways put us up at the Hilton next to the airport, gave us all vouchers for breakfast and dinner, and rebooked us on the next direct flight to Seattle, which was 5:30 the next evening. Oh, and drove me to the Hilton in an electric cart so I didn't have to try to walk.
The rest of that night was, for me anyway, eating dinner and sleeping. I went to bed about 8 and didn't get up until 8 the next morning. Still felt awful, but got up for breakfast and checkout. The rest of the party wanted to go shopping at Harrod's, which sounded like a great idea, so we hired a car and went off to plunder. I got some great tights, and was looking for a sweater, since I was freezing (London is ALWAYS colder than Paris), but walking around the store just proved that my back and left knee still hated me, and I became exhausted in no time at all.
So, back to Heathrow and the security line from hell, which my whole party got pulled out of to get head of the line privileges because I was having so much trouble walking. We got through security, found the gate, and I sat down, took more drugs and read. Got on the flight no problem and actually almost enjoyed it, even though we were held on the ground for 2 hours due to thunderstorms. I actually slept through most of the take off. I watched The DaVince Code and was heartily glad I hadn't wasted money on it, read part of a book, and then slept until the plane actually touched down. GOOD drugs. Oh, also, someone on British Air had decided that having a wheelchair at the plane door for me would be a good deal, so there it was, customs was so fast I couldn't believe it, and the only problem at all was that one piece out of 12 of our party's luggage didn't make it with us. I don't know the particulars on that, but I got the impression that BA knew where is was and that it would be at Sea-Tac later on this week.
So, that was the trip home. More on the actual trip, which was wonderful, later, when I feel more like a human.
However, the last 2 days have not been so wonderful. Sunday we left the apt. in Paris for the airport at 10 am Paris time. This was a little early, but given security, etc., not that bad. Oh, and did I mention that I had some sort of virus rear its ugly head and decide to settle in my joints, so that walking/standing was very slow? Anyway, the plane to London left almost 30 min. late. This was a problem, as we only had an hour layover between flights. My traveling companions requested a wheelchair for me to be ready in London, as Heathrow is a nasty, long and very confusing maze of a place, even when you arrive and depart from the same terminal. The flight to London was bloody damn fast---35 mins. in the air. It usually takes between 40 min. to an hour. However, when we landed, we had to wait almost 30 min. before we could disembark. Then, the three of us who needed wheelchairs were told to walk to the end of the loading hallway thing (I'm still not tracking, sorry) and wait. Um, we requested wheelchairs because we had trouble walking. Especially the lady who had her own wheelchair but was forced to put it in checked baggage. Anyway, we waited there for 15 min. before someone came and got us. At least that person had a clue, because the first thing they did was to find out if we had missed our connecting flight. (We had, no surprise.) They also checked on the rest of my party, and told me that they'd all missed the flight, too, so at least I wasn't there alone. Oh, and during the debacle, the woman from BA (not Heathrow, this is an important distinction) noticed that there was only one security line for somewhere around 200 people who had connecting flights to make and was extremely terse and to the point on her cell phone about getting more lines open. Anyway, Wade and I were taken straight to the desk for SNAFUs, and, after we were told the rest of our party would be sent there, made a few command decisions. British Airways put us up at the Hilton next to the airport, gave us all vouchers for breakfast and dinner, and rebooked us on the next direct flight to Seattle, which was 5:30 the next evening. Oh, and drove me to the Hilton in an electric cart so I didn't have to try to walk.
The rest of that night was, for me anyway, eating dinner and sleeping. I went to bed about 8 and didn't get up until 8 the next morning. Still felt awful, but got up for breakfast and checkout. The rest of the party wanted to go shopping at Harrod's, which sounded like a great idea, so we hired a car and went off to plunder. I got some great tights, and was looking for a sweater, since I was freezing (London is ALWAYS colder than Paris), but walking around the store just proved that my back and left knee still hated me, and I became exhausted in no time at all.
So, back to Heathrow and the security line from hell, which my whole party got pulled out of to get head of the line privileges because I was having so much trouble walking. We got through security, found the gate, and I sat down, took more drugs and read. Got on the flight no problem and actually almost enjoyed it, even though we were held on the ground for 2 hours due to thunderstorms. I actually slept through most of the take off. I watched The DaVince Code and was heartily glad I hadn't wasted money on it, read part of a book, and then slept until the plane actually touched down. GOOD drugs. Oh, also, someone on British Air had decided that having a wheelchair at the plane door for me would be a good deal, so there it was, customs was so fast I couldn't believe it, and the only problem at all was that one piece out of 12 of our party's luggage didn't make it with us. I don't know the particulars on that, but I got the impression that BA knew where is was and that it would be at Sea-Tac later on this week.
So, that was the trip home. More on the actual trip, which was wonderful, later, when I feel more like a human.
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no subject
Date: 2006-09-27 01:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-27 08:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-27 04:21 pm (UTC)Glad you're back safe and sound, and can't wait to hear all about it once you've had a chance to regroup and get your laundry done.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-27 04:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-27 07:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-28 03:57 pm (UTC):)