Plane Failing - 10 Reasons it Didn't Go to Plan!

So, if you read my blog about Plane Sailing strategies, please feel free to ignore it.

Here's what really happened:
1. We were stuffed by the time we got on the plane
2. I had a big glass of Pinot Noir
3. I sat in front of a ridiculously tall man whose feet reached through to my foot space, AND flopped about when he slept
4. We both fell asleep on the first flight to Hong Kong
5. Then on the second flight to London I had to wake Mario up for his sleeping pill, he was a bit grumpy about that
6. The movie selection wasn't great. I couldn't be bothered with Heat and Mario blamed Southern Edge for sending him off to sleep
7. I couldn't get past the sleeping giant (basketball player) easily to go for walks
8. We had ordered special healthy meals, low salt and fat, and wished we hadn't
9. The half sleeping pill didn't do it for me on the second flight, so I played computer games right up until the last hour and fell asleep at the worst possible time
10. Someone's bag came crashing out of the overhead locker and frightened the hell out of me just as we landed

However, we zoomed through customs at Heathrow with just our carry-on and had an easy trip on the train and bus all the way to Islington. London at last - hello old friend.

Lizzie

Ash

It's strange that something in nature can have such a profound impact on travel plans, and the activities that surround them.

I'm off to the London Book Fair tomorrow, and hoping its not too blighted by this strange turn of events. I have a conference on Thursday, with a keynote speaker from Australia; I wonder if he will make it. My sister-in-law is stuck here with us in London because she cannot return to her home in Sydney. Her job, studies, family all have to just wait for the skies to clear.

We all went for a bike ride today in Bushy Park; sunny day, lots of birds, no plane noise overhead. It was perfect.

I've always disliked airports - too many sad goodbyes and the accumulated anxieties of travellers waiting to leave, or people anxious to meet and greet. Now I expect they are strangely deserted, with pockets of optimists - or those who just don't have anywhere else to go.

I wonder how the struggling airline companies will survive the economic fallout from these losses. More mergers perhaps. Maybe this, when it eventually ends, have turned people in Europe back to ferry,coach and rail travel as a more preferred option in the future.

Maybe our Eurostar booking, to leave London for Paris early in June, will soar in value. But then it can't go on that long, can it?

Lizzie