Stranded.

So you know how you tend to be sitting at home round Christmas, in sunny California, enjoying the company of your friends and family--maybe making a significant drive somewhere to be with them for the holidays? Remember what its like watching the snow reports for other parts of the country--and for Europe--showing the closures at airports, people camping out in terminals, and no one getting out for weeks? I always think "yes, that's sad. sucks to have to travel round now anyway." then i go right back to drinking my hot chocolate and thinking of more pressing things. Never did i consider what a mad house some places become in this kind of weather.

Not to say that Britain had a very big storm. We got 3-4 inches, in only a few hours, on Saturday afternoon. But that was it. 3 inches. 3 inches and the country shut down.

Read the report from BBC here.

Will and I have had a lovely week sightseeing in London, spending time with my family in Cambridge, and enjoying the small amounts of snow and Christmasy activities here in England. We were always moving--quite a fast pace--in order to get everything seen before he went back for the holidays at home. It was so much fun, but exhausting--10 days is a very short time to see the whole of London (and of course we did not see everything).

Little did we know, Will's trip was about to be extended. Because of the snowfall at Heathrow on Saturday, Heathrow shut down. It was scheduled to open again on Sunday, and when we left the house that morning Will's flight was still going out. Now on Sat the tube shut down in many places because once the snow melts on the overground portions, the water on the tracks becomes incredibly dangerous. And at Heathrow the snow turned to large chunks of ice--some 30 tons apparently, that needed to be cleared.

That morning the trains stopped working. So we couldn't even take the Heathrow Express or Connect from Paddington. All that was open was the Tube. It's like an hour journey, and snow delays didn't help. Halfway there on the Picadilly line the conductor tells us Heathrow has completely shut. Well, having left my phone charger in Cambridge earlier that week we couldn't even call the airline. So we decide to make it to Heathrow to see what happened and talk to an Air Canada rep.

That was mistake #1.

It was wall to wall traffic in Heathrow. People cramming to get back on the tube (only public transport in and out). Bags rolling over feet, people grumpy as all hell. There are pictures online and they accurately depict what we saw. People camping out with emergency blankets in the terminals. Rubbish everywhere. People confused, on cell phones, limited staff trying to redirect people to websites and phone #s. Everything is in complete chaos. I get a phone # for Air Canada, but no phone to call on. According to everyone around me, sites down and the phone # is jammed. We decide to go back to my place to sort it out. Getting back on the tube was a nightmare--people pushing, almost running over children. They shut the gates on us and we had to wait so the platform couldn't overflow. It was surreal. Squished on the ride home, hours of travel, no sitting down.

Pictures of Heathrow from the Telegraph. This was what it was like.

I have never experienced anything like it before in my life. 200,000 people were supposed to take off from Heathrow that day. Plus the day before, and everyone trying to call in about their flights for the next day. That's about half a million displaced people, because of one airport shut down. Yes, flights were cancelled in Italy, Paris, and Germany as well, which I am sure did not help matters.

All afternoon Will and I camped out in the lounge of my house. We called both the American and British #s for the airline and watched TV, got Indian Takeaway, and ate a lot of chocolate. It took us a good 4 hours, but we finally got through and changed his reservation.

So now Will is here for the week. And, sadly, he has to fly home on Christmas day. Not the best Christmas all around--I know he was hoping to spend it with his family and I don't blame him. We're going to try and make the best of things. Its his birthday tomorrow--Rainforest Cafe and Hummingbird Bakery I think are in the cards.

If anyone has any good ideas for fun things to do in London for Christmas, let me know! And the moral of the story? Don't fly to Heathrow in the winter. Unless you want to feel like you are part of a disaster movie. I now have empathy for all the travelers who get stranded like this in airports at Christmas. Also--I understand why they have to stay at the airport and don't have anywhere else to go. Fortunately for Will there's a nice comfy house to stay in.

xoxo,
Antonia