TEA Day 1: The Non-Trip

Image courtesy of whiteafrican on Flickr

My trip got off to a great start.

I was scheduled to fly out of Kansas City on May 24 at 10:55 a.m. I received an automated phone call at about 10:00 the night before while I was leaving a Kansas City Wizards game. The robot on the end of the line kindly informed me that my flight had been canceled and that I was placed on a new flight for the same day that would leave at ~4:30 p.m. instead. I was completely fine with this news since that meant I did not have to get up as early and could stay out carousing until the sun rose. The new flight was also connecting through Cleveland instead of Atlanta and would fly into London Heathrow instead of London Gatwick. Neither of these location changes really mattered.

The next day my cousin was kind enough to give me a ride to the airport. I had been told to get there at least 2 hours early for the international flight because it "takes longer." This was a dirty trick, and I ended up at my gate an hour and 45 minutes before my flight. In the meantime I contacted the host I was supposed to stay with and let him know that I was going to be arriving later than expected.

The airport was uneventful and we boarded the plan on time. I ended up sitting next to a lady from Maine who frequently visits London to see shows/etc since it is apparently cheaper for her to go there than it is to go to New York. Across the aisle was a nice girl named Lauren who lives in DC but apparently travels to KC quite often for work. These are the friends I made in the hour we sat on the plane while the maintenance staff tried in vain to fix the navigational computer. Apparently it would work sometimes when they restarted it and not others. This news did not exactly instill confidence in the passengers. (The pilots were apparently not strong in the force and still required targeting computers in order to fly).

Eventually they kicked us off the plane so that we could sit even less comfortably in the terminal waiting area. At first some people in the crowd were understandably miffed because they (along with myself) were going to miss connections in Cleveland and wished to be re-scheduled for a different flight. One lady had set up a specific time and location to meet with relatives from all over the world and had no way to contact them. Eventually people passed into acceptance and began to patiently wait things out for the next hour and a half. After that tempers once again began to boil and flare.

In the Delta section of the airport there were apparently only two terminal employees left and they were trying to figure out the flight, handle phone calls, and manage the passengers all at once. Needless to say it was a mess. It was around 6:00 by this time, but there were apparently no more flights leaving that night for some reason. The next day was Memorial day so I don't know if that mattered or not.

After about 2 hours of waiting they finally decided to cancel the flight and begin re-scheduling passengers for the next day. This process took about 20-30 minutes per passenger for some reason. I managed to catch a glimpse of the software they were using behind the desk and I'm pretty sure they modeled it after the interface from an 80's movie. I eventually was re-scheduled for a flight the next afternoon through New York, received a hotel voucher and two meal vouchers worth $7 each (not that $7 can buy a meal at an airport hotel), then headed out to get my baggage and catch the bus to the hotel. It was about 7:30 at this point.

I got the bus with Lauren and a woman from Berlin. After I checked into my room I headed down to meet the two of them for our "free" dinner. We ended up just sitting at the bar and drinking/eating where we met a pair of other refugees from the flight who were bridge partners about to take a week vacation in London. We chatted up for the next few hours while more people from the flight wandered in and out. I managed to find out that the other London travelers had snagged an earlier flight than I was scheduled for, so after we headed to our rooms I called Delta and got my flight re-scheduled for the earlier one. The unfortunate downside to this change was a 5 hour layover in New York. I also contacted my host to let him know once again that I had been delayed and would now be arriving in London the morning of the 26th, one day later than originally planned. I then slept well for what would end up being the last time for a while.

The next morning went off without too much of a hitch. The flight to New York was uneventful and I hung out with the bridge guys for a few hours at the NY airport (no bridge was played sadly). The flight from NY to London was delayed half an hour due to a strong tailwind but did not affect our arrival time.

On the plane across the Atlantic I received two servings of hot pasta spilled on me by the flight attendant. One of those times it splashed all over a book which still shows blood-red scars from the incident. Fortunately it is still readable and won't have to be put out to pasture just yet. At this point I was beginning to wonder what I had done recently that would have bestowed me with such Karma problems.

I did manage to eventually arrive in London "on time," which I will talk more about in the next post. I was lucky enough to not have very concrete plans so the whole delay did not affect my trip much other than to steal a day of sight-seeing from me. In exchange however I was able to meet some cool people. It's funny how a situation of misfortune can bring people together. The phrase "misery loves company" isn't necessarily negative in connotation.

The European Adventure

As promised, this blog will be littered with posts about my trip for the next few weeks. For those of you who are unaware of my exploits, here is a quick summary of the details:

  Image courtesy of alicepopkorn on Flickr

• Left: May 26
• Returned: June 23
• Countries visited: United Kingdom, France, Monaco, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland (see the map for cities)
  
• Pictures taken: 7 (I "lost" my camera early in the trip, this story will be explained later. Basically none of the pictures used in these posts are mine).

Overall the trip was an amazing experience. It was a personal pilgrimage into the world that taught me a lot about people, cultures, history, and also quite a bit about myself. This trip was also my first time outside of the country.

I didn't plan very much for the trip before I left, which had both an upside and downside. The positive aspect of this was that I was able to remain flexible. For instance I had not originally planned to visit Germany, but changed my mind partway through the trip, which I do not for a second regret. The downside is that I should have done more research about specific museums/tours/etc as well as just general history of the places I was visiting. Overall though it worked pretty well. I met people along the way who were even more spontaneous than I was, as well as some who had rigid plans. Different strokes for different folks and all that.

I chose to travel alone for this journey and was a little bit afraid of the consequences that decision might bring. Luckily I was able to meet some really cool people along the way. I also managed to not get too lost... for the most part. I never stayed more than 2 nights in any city except Rome and Dublin, so I was on the go quite a bit.

I sort of tried to split my time between "seeing the sights" and just exploring on my own. I think I found a fairly good balance. I didn't see everything, nor did I try to. I couchsurfed in London, Paris, Berlin, and Dublin (sort of... I stayed with Clay in Dublin). The rest of the time I stayed in hostels/hotels for the most part. They were both fun but very different experiences which I will talk about in later posts.

Over the next couple of weeks I will probably dedicate a post to each city/area I visited. I kept a journal throughout most of the trip, which will hopefully help me remember and keep track of some of the things that happened. I will try to keep the posts to a manageable length, but a lot happened so no promises. Here are a few highlights to whet your appetite:

• Favorite city: Berlin
• Favorite non-city: Torri Superiore
• Favorite tour: scuba diving off the Côte d'Azur in Nice.
  
• Beers consumed: A lot
• Items lost: towel, soap, sunglasses
• Food most consumed: Pizza... by far

Feel free to post comments/questions as I go along and as always I will try to respond to them as best I can.