Airplanes

We all arrived back to the UK safe and sound on Monday evening…safe and sound and a little frazzled. A small (or maybe even medium sized) part of me would like to write a letter to Northwest Airlines, and, if I did, it might go something like this…

Dear NWA,

In light of your recent merger with Delta airlines, may I offer the following advice? Keep Delta’s employees and give yours the sack! On April 1, my husband, children, and I arrived at Heathrow so that the kids and my husband could catch a flight home to Indiana. I do realize that it was not your fault that we showed up and parked in the wrong terminal and had to “trot quickly” to the train with 2 large suitcases, 2 tired preschoolers, and a stroller. It was also not your fault that trolleys aren’t allowed to be taken down to the train making our “parade” all the more difficult. It was your fault that we arrived to find what can only be described as a cluster at the NWA check in point. After waiting for nearly an hour and a half in the line with our children, suitcases, stroller, and unraveling sanity, a “customer service expert” pulled our family out of line and put us in our own special line. We watched every other person in line check in while our children cried that they needed to eat/potty/be entertained/destroy something. After the very last person had been helped, the “customer service expert” um, “kindly” checked my husband and kids through. She must have “forgotten” that she promised to expedite them through security and on to the gate, but my husband, channeling his inner track star, scooped up Ava (who was in mid meltdown), Eli, backpacks, stroller, and boarding passes and sprinted through to the gate. I’m humming “Eye of the Tiger” just thinking about it.
The problem with getting on the plane last is that sometimes the luggage doesn’t make it. Eric and the kids touched down in Minneapolis to find that only the small suitcase had made it. Just for good measure their flight was delayed. Sometime after midnight, three weary travelers arrived in Indianapolis ready to get in the car with my father for a 14 hour drive to South Carolina. The South Carolina suitcase was still at Heathrow. After many phone calls, promises, and several days…NWA had failed to deliver the missing suitcase. At one point I called my husband to find that he was on my parent’s boat, the boat was out of gas, they were in the middle of a lake, and it was too foggy to even see the shore. Oh…and he was on his third day in the same pair of boxers. (If he would tell me which pair, I would burn them. Really. I would.) Husband and children returned to Indy…still no suitcase.
Meanwhile, I arrive at the airport on the 7th to catch my NWA flight. It had been cancelled. I waited two hours in line and was put on a BA flight. It was delayed…so I missed my connection, but, the wonderful people at BA had already booked me a flight on UA. I arrived to Indy late that night….my luggage did not. Nothing like buying underwear at Meijer at midnight with all the other crazy people. Our time in Indiana was wonderful and Eric’s suitcase did finally arrive (8.5 days later!) pretty much just in time for us to return to the UK.
We arrived at the airport without incident and were waiting for our plane. Suddenly we saw fire trucks and emergency vehicles driving down the flight line, lights and sirens blazing. I turned to Eric and said, “Wouldn’t it just be our luck that they are headed to our plane?” Of course they were. There was a fuel leak…so we were delayed. We did eventually arrive back to the UK (with all of our luggage-hooray!). We missed our bus by minutes…but it is great fun to feed your kids chips and cookies for lunch in a crowded little coffee shop…then Eli got all hyper and chased the pigeons. I don’t really think the other “bus waiters” appreciated having pigeons flying around in terror. There is only so much you can do to keep two kids entertained for two hours. Then we got to get on the bus and ride that for 2.5 hours, each holding a child. Good times.
So, in conclusion, while not every “adventure” can be attributed to the carelessness of NWA, some are all our own. It is possible that the Condermans just have “plane” bad luck!
Sincerely,
Your ex-customer

Seriously though, we did have an awesome time and enjoyed seeing all of you! I promise that I will post pictures (and not so many words!) in the next day or two. BTW…anybody know how to get pen marks off a computer screen? Anybody want to baby sit Eli until he is 5 or 6? Just kidding…we love him anyway…