Day 9

It’s been years since the England trip, but I realized I still haven’t written the blog for the last day. I’ve done that with every travel journal I’ve done. I’ve never written the last day. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because by the end of that day, I’m home, the trip is over, and it’s back to real life. Who writes a travel journal during real life? Anywho, I was going to post a different blog, but decided I needed to finish this trip first. So here’s the last day (which I’m assuming is Day 9 because the last blog post is titled “Day 7 & 8”).


You’ll have to bear with me; the memories aren’t quite as fresh as if I’d written this when I should have. But it was quite the eventful day. Especially considering it was supposed to be completely uneventful. We were supposed to get on a plane and fly home. That’s it. But, as it turns out, there was a little more to it than that.


It started early – trying to get on the shuttle from the hotel to the airport. The shuttle was very crowded; we were having trouble getting everyone and their luggage on, and it was taking a long time. I vaguely remember rude people on the shuttle who wouldn’t get up and squish without considerable persuasion. So, by the time the shuttle left the hotel, we were running a little behind, but not horribly so. That changed once we arrived at the airport. The line to check in was long. Like, really, really long. Michael found an employee and explained our situation. The employee said for us to stay in line and see how far we got, but if it got too close to takeoff, they’d move us to the front of the line. So we waited. Eventually we were pulled out of line and taken to an agent, who started checking us in. We breathed a sigh of relief; all was going to be well. Or so we thought. About half the group had been checked in when suddenly everything stopped. They couldn’t check the rest of us in because the we’d reached the cut-off time. The computer would automatically prevent people from checking in past a certain point, and no amount of begging and pleading on our part changed anything. But half our group was already through! It didn’t matter. Michael and his family and Amy and her son were through; the rest of us were stuck.

Michael stayed with us as we went to customer service. He was our leader and he didn’t want to leave us stranded. We finally convinced him we would be fine and he should be with his family, so he took off running. We found out later he made it on the plane, but barely. Our customer service lady was awesome. Even though she put me into the system me as a male. But she was as helpful as she could be, very friendly, and even shared some of her lunch with us (it was something from another country – I don’t remember what). A this point, I don’t remember exactly what happened. If we got re-booked, or if we something else happened. I do remember a time of anxious waiting – constantly checking the board for updates, not being sure if we were going to get home that day – I just don’t remember the details, though I do know we weren’t “good to go” yet.


While we staked out a space in a waiting area, Mikki and Landon went on a reconnaissance mission. I don’t know exactly what they did, but they came back with passes for us all to go into one of the members-only clubs. We also had some food vouchers, though I don’t remember if they came from the customer service agent or Mikki and Landon. But they were good for restaurants and food items in the gift shop, so, since the club had free food, I used my vouchers to buy some tea and English candy to bring home as souvenirs. We hung out quite awhile in the club, but we had a good time of conversation. Actually, they were trying to fix all my problems. It didn’t work, but I honestly appreciated the effort.


After a long while, we left the club and went to our gate. Finally time to go home! Ha, just kidding. The flight got cancelled or something. Again, I’m fuzzy on the details, but I do remember we were 0 for 2 on getting home. We found ourselves at yet another gate, still not knowing if we were going to get on a plane that day. I remember we were waiting for a gate attendant to show up and we were all prepared with fantastic speeches on why we should get a flight that day. It was another long wait. After awhile Matt got out his guitar and we had a little singalong. I also remember some cross-fit and dramatic readings… anything to occupy our time. At some point during all this, we heard from the other half of our team – they made it home. And only one kid threw up! I was suddenly very glad to be in that airport. The attendant finally arrived, and we were assured we had first shot at getting on a plane. And this time we did. We got on a plane and flew home.


We arrived back in VA very late. We were tired and punchy. We went through customs, and I had never used one of the automated machines they had, and I ended up with a very poorly-timed and, therefore, hysterical photo. I only share that because it cracked me up. And the level it cracked me up may be testament to how long of a day we’d had. But, we all agreed, if had to happen, it happened in the best way possible. All the kids got on the first plane, so they didn’t have to be entertained in an airport all day. Families stayed together. The group of us that remained got along well and worked well together, and I enjoyed some our moments together. We had times of stress and worry and frustration, but we still made the best of things and handled it pretty well overall. And there was that whole throw-up thing we avoided.


So that was our day. And this was the longest England trip post I made. Probably because I’m sitting at home with nothing else to do and have the time to be wordy. But, the final day post is done. And if any of my co-stranded England trippers happen to read this, maybe they can fill in the holes of my memory. Man, I wish I had a scone and a cup of tea right now.