finally in london
Finally in London
What a crazy 32 hours of "travel" its been already. I've been telling everyone the past week "I can't wait to just get on that plane." Who would have thought I would have got on that plane headed for London only to have it turn around turning taxi to takeoff. Issues with the cockpit's instrument panel had our plane grounded for the night. They cattled everyone to another plane where they announced that we needed to hurry to get everyone on board in order to risk total flight cancellation. Mission accomplished as everyone was more then cooperative just to get on their way. We sat on the plane for a good 20-30 minute when it was announced that they flight was officially cancelled. I promptly let Stefan know as we were supposed to rendezvous in London en route to Cape Town. I also had to let my old college roommate Giles know so he didn't show up at Heathrow to pick me up.
Lots of tired, angry, and frustrated people came off the plane - myself included. United would put people up in hotels and have them come back for a rescheduled 3pm next day flight. I was one of the luck few who had the luxury to sleep in the comfort of their own bed. Surely they would pay for my cab? yes, but only up to $25. I'm saving them the cost of a hotel room and that's all they could do? I guess policies are policies so I squeezed the customer service rep for a free meal voucher so it was a wash.
The craziest part of the night happened after the cabbie dropped me off at my old place (my brother's place). I had left my house keys with my mom so I figured I'd just crash at my brother's. Both Jason and Allison slept so heavily they didn't hear me ring the door bell, call the home line, and both their cell phones multiple times. I rang my friend Ashley who lives upstairs to no avail. I did reach her by phone (at 1:30am) but she wasn't home. I knew it was only a matter of time before baby Carson would need to be feed. After hanging outside for about 90 minutes I had to move of I'd freeze to death! So I started walking. I just had to make sure I got back in time. Jason finally let me in around 2:45am but not after I had ridden a bus to Mel's Diner (late night food), walked up Fillmore Street and almost made it to the 24hr Starbucks in Laurel Village.
In the morning, I scrambled to make alternative arrangements before settling on the pre-arranged flight plan that would have me arrive in Cape Town at the same time, only a day later. The bigger problem was that my pre-purchased ground transfer to Knysna (start of the race) was sold out for Thursday. A private shuttle would be expensive and a flight to George was a possibility but would require another shuttle. So I've decided to rent a car. It may even be as fast as flying to George considering the airport time and vs. waiting a few hours for the shuttle to depart and then going at a snails pace, I can make up some time with my lead foot. I heard it is a beautiful drive so I look forward to it. Jim gave me a couple tips and reminded me to "make sure you driving on the other side of the road."
A little bit of Survivor, Amazing Race, and Man Vs. Wild, and I'm not even in Cape Town yet.
so I'm in London all day today. I'm hoping to catch up with Giles and possibly my buddy Tom (who used to live in SF). I don't leave for Cape Town until 8:15pm.
What a crazy 32 hours of "travel" its been already. I've been telling everyone the past week "I can't wait to just get on that plane." Who would have thought I would have got on that plane headed for London only to have it turn around turning taxi to takeoff. Issues with the cockpit's instrument panel had our plane grounded for the night. They cattled everyone to another plane where they announced that we needed to hurry to get everyone on board in order to risk total flight cancellation. Mission accomplished as everyone was more then cooperative just to get on their way. We sat on the plane for a good 20-30 minute when it was announced that they flight was officially cancelled. I promptly let Stefan know as we were supposed to rendezvous in London en route to Cape Town. I also had to let my old college roommate Giles know so he didn't show up at Heathrow to pick me up.
Lots of tired, angry, and frustrated people came off the plane - myself included. United would put people up in hotels and have them come back for a rescheduled 3pm next day flight. I was one of the luck few who had the luxury to sleep in the comfort of their own bed. Surely they would pay for my cab? yes, but only up to $25. I'm saving them the cost of a hotel room and that's all they could do? I guess policies are policies so I squeezed the customer service rep for a free meal voucher so it was a wash.
The craziest part of the night happened after the cabbie dropped me off at my old place (my brother's place). I had left my house keys with my mom so I figured I'd just crash at my brother's. Both Jason and Allison slept so heavily they didn't hear me ring the door bell, call the home line, and both their cell phones multiple times. I rang my friend Ashley who lives upstairs to no avail. I did reach her by phone (at 1:30am) but she wasn't home. I knew it was only a matter of time before baby Carson would need to be feed. After hanging outside for about 90 minutes I had to move of I'd freeze to death! So I started walking. I just had to make sure I got back in time. Jason finally let me in around 2:45am but not after I had ridden a bus to Mel's Diner (late night food), walked up Fillmore Street and almost made it to the 24hr Starbucks in Laurel Village.
In the morning, I scrambled to make alternative arrangements before settling on the pre-arranged flight plan that would have me arrive in Cape Town at the same time, only a day later. The bigger problem was that my pre-purchased ground transfer to Knysna (start of the race) was sold out for Thursday. A private shuttle would be expensive and a flight to George was a possibility but would require another shuttle. So I've decided to rent a car. It may even be as fast as flying to George considering the airport time and vs. waiting a few hours for the shuttle to depart and then going at a snails pace, I can make up some time with my lead foot. I heard it is a beautiful drive so I look forward to it. Jim gave me a couple tips and reminded me to "make sure you driving on the other side of the road."
A little bit of Survivor, Amazing Race, and Man Vs. Wild, and I'm not even in Cape Town yet.
so I'm in London all day today. I'm hoping to catch up with Giles and possibly my buddy Tom (who used to live in SF). I don't leave for Cape Town until 8:15pm.
posted by WOO. @ 4:45 AM
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