Weather woes

Since we seem to be on a weather theme, here is our latest weather blog.

Blast, blast, blast.

Today is Monday, December 20.  We should have been back in the US on Dec 17.  We arrived at the airport in good time only to discover that our United flight never left Chicago so therefore there was no plane for us.  Stephen is signed up for United bulletins and we should have received something to say that the flight was cancelled.  Not sure what happened there but it was the start of our travel woes.  We were subsequently rescheduled for a Saturday Continental flight heading to Newark.  No point crying over spilt milk so we spent the night at a nearby Holiday Inn.
While waiting at the gate, it started to snow at Heathrow.  But being hardy Canadian travelers, we thought: "just a little snow, what's the big deal".

We boarded our flight, buckled up, doors closed, flight attendants seated, and heaved a sigh of relief.  Yes, we're on our way.  Two and a half hours later, we were walking off the plane with all our belongings... supposedly just for 20 minutes to stretch our legs while waiting for clearance from the tower.  This was 1:30 pm.  Apparently, authorities had closed the airport until at leat 4 pm.  More information would be available then. 

At 7 pm, the cancellation notice for our flight was finally made.  We were given a sheet of paper with a phone number and told that we were responsible for making new arrangements. Eventually, the earliest flight we were able to get was for Dec 24.   In the meantime, we had to leave the gate area and follow the agent back through customs to reclaim our luggage.  By this time every other airline had already cancelled. 

All local hotels were booked solid.  We enlisted Mike and Suzie's help to give us the names of some hotels near Paddington station.  Road conditions were abyssmal so buses were not running.  We had already missed the last train to Cheltenham.  Stephen called for a driver and he made arrangements for us to be picked up at 10:30 am the following morning.

What to do now? Look for a comfortable spot in the airport. 

We weren't the only ones looking for a comfortable spot.

Eventually, we tried to sleep.  Stephen is in the picture below, to the left of the post.

You would think that they might have dimmed the lights a little.  This was 3 am.

It's strange to listen to the TV reports today and hear them saying that the airport is doing everything to make stranded travelers comfortable, including handing out blankets and food.  Until about 1 am, there were regular announcements saying that the airport was closed and we had to leave the terminal.  I think there would have been a riot if security tried to enforce that.  By the way, we did not get any blankets or food where we were.

Finally, around 4 am, I was just sitting and people watching while Stephen tried to rest and I noticed a man walking through the crowds with a sign.  I thought to myself - "wouldn't it be nice if he was our driver looking for us".  Imagine my surprise when I saw Stephen's name on his sign.

Anyway, we were back in Cheltenham around 6 am.  The driver had decided to come and rescue us and we were both very grateful.

On Sunday, we tried again to reschedule our flight and this time, we managed a flight through Newark on the 23rd.

Of course, this all depends on the weather and how Heathrow copes with it.

But hope springs eternal.  My neighbour is taking the turkey out of the freezer and our Christmas day plans have not changed.

Merry Christmas to all.