A Holiday Travel Tale
Stranded at Heathrow International Airport
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you, dear readers, a very happy and safe holiday season! And for those who don’t celebrate, Happy Wonderful Weekend! I am incredibly thankful for all the support you have given me since I started this newsletter four months ago. Your readership is what keeps me going! I look forward to sharing more stories, collage art, and photography with you into the new year and beyond. Thank you for being part of this creative journey!
I’m cozy in bed with a hot water bottle on my feet and a weighted blanket underneath a down comforter. Weather updates and flight cancellations are flooding my news feed. Reading them triggered a memory of a winter trip Tina and I made to Prague to celebrate the holidays with my family. It was an unforgettable experience! For those who are currently in flight limbo, I feel you. It’s nerve-wracking and stressful. Hang in there! Breathe and breathe some more. It’s going to be rough before it gets better. I hope you’ll get to your destinations and spend the holidays with your loved ones soon.
December 20, 2006, London, UK.
We woke up to our worst travel nightmare the day we were to leave for Prague from London. Dense fog1 grounded all flights to and from Heathrow International Airport. I immediately telephoned British Airways while Tina followed the developing news on TV. After two hours, I finally got a hold of an agent. "The earliest we can get you to Prague is on December 23rd," she said. It wasn't going to work. Tina's departure was on the 26th, leaving her only 3 days. I hung up the phone and we decided to take our chances at the airport.
We pushed our way toward the front of the crowd blocking the terminal entrance at Heathrow. A security guard told the crowd that management was not allowing anyone inside. He directed us to a makeshift tent nearby for buses headed to Gatwick Airport. I don't remember what I said but I managed to convince him to let us through.
Inside, it was chaos– long queue lines everywhere and passengers swarming the concourse. We lined up at a handful of ticket counters. Every agent informed us that Tina needed a Schengen visa to fly to any city en route to Prague. She only had the UK and the Czech Republic visas stamped on her passport. Our only option was to stick to our original flight. So, off we went to the British Airlines ticket counter. I explained our dilemma to every agent but it fell on deaf ears. Frustration started to set in. I sat down and prayed. God help us! please, let one person say yes. I worked in Reservations for years. I helped countless guests, especially those who were polite and patient toward me. Was good karma on my side? I never wanted it so bad until that moment.
In the meantime, I texted my brother GT and kept him abreast of our situation. He made hotel reservations for us at Canary Wharf in case we needed a place to stay. He also informed us that his boss caught the last flight out of Heathrow the day before which gave us hope. If we didn't make that flight then we were officially stranded in London.
Stress, anxiety, and water were the only things that kept us going. I don't even remember if we grabbed anything to eat that day. By late afternoon, a shift change occurred. The new agents took their places at the counter.
“Can I help you?” A young woman asked when my turn came up.
She listened intently as I explained our situation. She typed on the keyboard and stared at the computer screen. She scrolled and clicked with the mouse then made a few more keystrokes. I tried to decipher whether it was good news or bad news but she maintained a blank facial expression. I cracked the knuckles of my fingers while I waited. Finally, she looked up and smiled. She confirmed that there was one last flight to Prague that evening and she could get us in. I was close to bursting into tears but held my composure and thanked her. She instructed us to stay put until she called our names.
The wait was excruciating. Anything could happen before then. Will the weather shift? Will the flight get canceled? What if one us were in the bathroom and she called our names? All these worries floated in my mind. A few more hours went by. We kept glancing at our watches. Finally, she called us and issued our boarding passes. We raced towards the gate and made it to the plane. We waited for another hour before our flight was cleared for take off. Thank God, GT arranged for a private car to pick us up at Václav Havel airport. We arrived at the hotel after midnight and collapsed in exhaustion.
Around 8:30 am the following day, GT knocked on our room. Groggily, I got up to open the door. "Good Morning!" he said with a cheery voice. He walked towards the window, undrew the curtains, and revealed a view of the Prague castle. Our jaws dropped. We had no idea! We were worn out to even notice it last night. A few minutes later, a server rolled in a room service cart with a continental breakfast spread and parked it next to the window. We hugged GT and expressed how grateful we were for all the arrangements he made for us. He stayed for a few minutes longer, gave us some sightseeing suggestions, and then disappeared toward the back of the house to his office.
I poured a cup of coffee for myself and a fresh glass of orange juice for Tina. We slathered jam and butter on our croissants and wolfed them down. We emptied the bread basket in no time. We continued to admire the view, still amazed that we made the last flight out of London by the skin of our teeth. We look at each other, shook our heads, and sighed. That was the last time we ever traveled in winter again.
If you are inclined to share a similar travel story, tell me about it in the comment section below. I’d love to hear them!
Liane Katz and agencies, Thick Fog Grounds Heathrow Flights (London: The Guardian, 2006).
I loved reading this story! It was the first thing I did this Christmas morning - everyone was still asleep (after a very long and very late Nochebuena...) and I got up and read your story with my morning tea, listening to the dog snoring alongside everyone else.
Happy Holidays!!