12.21.2010

Monutmental...

...catastrophe. That's about the only way you can describe what happened at Heathrow due to the snow that fell in London on Saturday. Half a foot in half an hour I believe.
 The Heathrow departure lounge boards...pleasant reading for some. Not so much for most.
 


I'm actually blogging this in the departure lounge (edits in the arrivals hall) as I was one of the lucky ones who made it out of the UK given the horrendous weather conditions and complete dysfunction of Heathrow airport, which resembles more of a refugee camp. We were held outside in makeshift marquees (the outside temp maxed at 0 degrees centigrade) and only allowed into the airport once our ticket was confirmed and the flight scheduled. Not everyone was so lucky. A lot of people are still stranded there and will be over the holiday period. The lady above is one of the unlucky mass. One of the people who was corralling us announced that our flight was a go, but only for confirmed, so if you were waiting on a wait list (a lot of people who had flights canceled were) then you'd have to wait until the 24th. The 24th of December. She got this news and just went and sat down, put her head on her bag and shut her eyes. She'd obviously done the math. A bit of education for those of you who only travel short haul around the US or Europe. Long haul towards the East loses you hours. When I leave here on the 21st I'll get to HKG on the 22nd about 5pm. 12 hours in the air is 20 hours on the ground (not literally time travel...but, y'know). She was aiming to get to NZ so tack on a couple of hours transit in HK and an extra 10.5 hours flight time plus the extra 4 timezones east. That brings a total flight time to  about 24-25 hours (inc. transit) and 12 timezones east and that would put her in Auckland at about 9am...26th of December.

Merry Christmas.