"Christmas is cancelled until further notice"
Those who followed the news know England is in the grip of a persistent fog, immobilising all air traffic and grounding over 350 flights and 40.000 passengers.
So my trip home over London wasn't going to be easy. Here's my (long) story.
5 am: With a pounding head, a body of an 80-year-old and wrinkly eyes I drag myself to the shower: I'm supposed to attend a 7 o'clock meeting at Boeing and I want to wrap up at work so I can get off and pack my bags - flight is at 18.30 (6.30 pm).
7 am: I make it just in time - it's an international teleconference and I'm listed as "Stan-ta Claus" - Dilbert humor too early in the morning: worse than a beer-wine-vodka-cocktail hangover :-(
Afterwards phone calls, e-mails and questions keep coming in: my valuable time is ticking away and I start feeling a little pressure to get everything ready in time
2 pm: I finish up writing the corporate Christmas cards: in the end we are ambassadors of our Belgian company in the US and the carefully built relationship has to be fueled and maintained (which reminds me about my F650 article...) - I rush out just-in-time to catch the early traffic jams: people are taking off early and the pouring rain doesn't make things any better...
3.15 pm: I'm dropping off a few items at Kelly's place and the stress is rising now: I've got to get to Ballard, pack my bag and Christmas presents for my family and leave there by 4 to drive comfortably to the airport - considering the rain, the rush hour and the possible qeues getting through security ....and then....I lock myself out with my carkeys in the appartment. Shit.....shit......damn ! This is probably one of the most stupid things I've ever done before an intercontinental flight ! I start to panic, luckily she's off the film shoot and heading over but the clock is ticking....
4.30 pm: We say goodbye and I decide not to take the risk of driving all the way home - no luggage to check in... After refuelling (off course I still had to do that) and torturing traffic jams I make it to Seatac at 5.45 where they inform me of the problems I'll be facing in Heathrow. Flights for the coming days are full, so there is no other option then to leave and hope for the best. Luckily I didn't have any luggage: it would only have further complicated my journey.
6.30 pm: Take off amongst a big group of Spanish engineers at Boeing: we talk about engineering, Seattle nightlife and the whisky on board. I get to see the latest Almodovar "Volver" and so it makes my trip one of Spanish swearing, annoyed passengers and great cinema.
11 am - Greenwich mean time: the fun is over. We can see the fog and the adventure ahead of us
12 am: After queus and more queus my hope of a Eurostar ticket is smashed to smithereens (finally I get to use this expression) - "No no sir, all trains are overbooked already" "Where are you going sir ? Brussels ? Please stand in line 2, this is the line for Paris !" "We will bus you to Brussels"
2 pm: The big crowd is moving, I start counting hours: bus to Dover, ferry, Oostende-Brussels....not too bad......But the chaos is tremendous, British Airways doing a lousy job not labelling the buses so in the end I get on "a" bus to ....Yeah where to ? I hear Dutch, French, Flemish,....nobody really knows where we are going, and we can't see shit because of the fog. A strange feeling but hey, I've travelled, this is just one of the other adventures I got to live through....it reminds me of the local bus problems I had in Vietnam. Of course, you would expect some more sophistication on this side of the globe ?!
5 pm: Arrival at Harwich where I spot a big sign "Hoek van Holland"....ow shit....this is the wrong bus. BA did a great job mixing up all the passengers: Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, all on one bus. So here I am: it's cold, it's foggy, my back hurts and the smoky canteen (o yeah, 'cos the ferry isn't shipping till 7, or 8, or 9....) is out of sandwiches....
8.30 pm: The ferry, which in my imagination had taken the shape of a post-war rusty leaking chunk of metal, was a surrealistic surprise. A catamaran, travelling at 50 mph, with 3 cinemas on board, a casino (mini Vegas in international waters), restaurants and a 70's and 80's disco (It had been a while for Michael Jackson's "Beat it"). It was science fiction ! I had never thought this existed.... So with fellow Belgian victims, all travelling from the US, we decided to drink our problems away with Belgian Leffe (beer!!!). So the 4 hours went by enjoying stories (I met a nice couple living and working for the UN in Haiti) and breaking the ferry line's alcohol consumption records. (www.stenaline.nl)
1 am (Holland time): By chance I pick up a conversation between our bus driver and a fellow passenger: he's mentioning something about a direct bus to Brussels (mine was going to Amsterdam first) but not telling it to others because there were only limited number of seats. Me being the lucky guy without luggage ;-) I manage to hop on the other bus straight to Brussels. I pass out instantly: I'm exhausted and never been a good drinker....
4 am: arrival Brussel international aiport: I decide not to fight/stand in line for taxis with the 50 fellow passengers and start walking to my company....it's a 30min walk and it's freezing but I enjoy the travelling feeling and for an instant there - it was as if I was back on that volcano in Java: all alone and walking in the dark
5 am: the company car that was awaiting me is running out of fuel and my VISA is not accepted by the machines - I head back to ASCO and manage to get a fuel card of another car - the security boys are not that happy at all with my confusing tactics, but after writing e-mails to the CFO and leaving my signature on sell-your-soul-to-the-devil-type contracts, I'm on my way. Just in time for breakfast in the village where my mom is waiting for me, passed out in front of the TV picturing the poor passengers living in tents at Heathrow....
Merry Christmas to you all !
Stijn, sleepless at night, nothing better to do then writing stories....
So my trip home over London wasn't going to be easy. Here's my (long) story.
5 am: With a pounding head, a body of an 80-year-old and wrinkly eyes I drag myself to the shower: I'm supposed to attend a 7 o'clock meeting at Boeing and I want to wrap up at work so I can get off and pack my bags - flight is at 18.30 (6.30 pm).
7 am: I make it just in time - it's an international teleconference and I'm listed as "Stan-ta Claus" - Dilbert humor too early in the morning: worse than a beer-wine-vodka-cocktail hangover :-(
Afterwards phone calls, e-mails and questions keep coming in: my valuable time is ticking away and I start feeling a little pressure to get everything ready in time
2 pm: I finish up writing the corporate Christmas cards: in the end we are ambassadors of our Belgian company in the US and the carefully built relationship has to be fueled and maintained (which reminds me about my F650 article...) - I rush out just-in-time to catch the early traffic jams: people are taking off early and the pouring rain doesn't make things any better...
3.15 pm: I'm dropping off a few items at Kelly's place and the stress is rising now: I've got to get to Ballard, pack my bag and Christmas presents for my family and leave there by 4 to drive comfortably to the airport - considering the rain, the rush hour and the possible qeues getting through security ....and then....I lock myself out with my carkeys in the appartment. Shit.....shit......damn ! This is probably one of the most stupid things I've ever done before an intercontinental flight ! I start to panic, luckily she's off the film shoot and heading over but the clock is ticking....
4.30 pm: We say goodbye and I decide not to take the risk of driving all the way home - no luggage to check in... After refuelling (off course I still had to do that) and torturing traffic jams I make it to Seatac at 5.45 where they inform me of the problems I'll be facing in Heathrow. Flights for the coming days are full, so there is no other option then to leave and hope for the best. Luckily I didn't have any luggage: it would only have further complicated my journey.
6.30 pm: Take off amongst a big group of Spanish engineers at Boeing: we talk about engineering, Seattle nightlife and the whisky on board. I get to see the latest Almodovar "Volver" and so it makes my trip one of Spanish swearing, annoyed passengers and great cinema.
11 am - Greenwich mean time: the fun is over. We can see the fog and the adventure ahead of us
12 am: After queus and more queus my hope of a Eurostar ticket is smashed to smithereens (finally I get to use this expression) - "No no sir, all trains are overbooked already" "Where are you going sir ? Brussels ? Please stand in line 2, this is the line for Paris !" "We will bus you to Brussels"
2 pm: The big crowd is moving, I start counting hours: bus to Dover, ferry, Oostende-Brussels....not too bad......But the chaos is tremendous, British Airways doing a lousy job not labelling the buses so in the end I get on "a" bus to ....Yeah where to ? I hear Dutch, French, Flemish,....nobody really knows where we are going, and we can't see shit because of the fog. A strange feeling but hey, I've travelled, this is just one of the other adventures I got to live through....it reminds me of the local bus problems I had in Vietnam. Of course, you would expect some more sophistication on this side of the globe ?!
5 pm: Arrival at Harwich where I spot a big sign "Hoek van Holland"....ow shit....this is the wrong bus. BA did a great job mixing up all the passengers: Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, all on one bus. So here I am: it's cold, it's foggy, my back hurts and the smoky canteen (o yeah, 'cos the ferry isn't shipping till 7, or 8, or 9....) is out of sandwiches....
8.30 pm: The ferry, which in my imagination had taken the shape of a post-war rusty leaking chunk of metal, was a surrealistic surprise. A catamaran, travelling at 50 mph, with 3 cinemas on board, a casino (mini Vegas in international waters), restaurants and a 70's and 80's disco (It had been a while for Michael Jackson's "Beat it"). It was science fiction ! I had never thought this existed.... So with fellow Belgian victims, all travelling from the US, we decided to drink our problems away with Belgian Leffe (beer!!!). So the 4 hours went by enjoying stories (I met a nice couple living and working for the UN in Haiti) and breaking the ferry line's alcohol consumption records. (www.stenaline.nl)
1 am (Holland time): By chance I pick up a conversation between our bus driver and a fellow passenger: he's mentioning something about a direct bus to Brussels (mine was going to Amsterdam first) but not telling it to others because there were only limited number of seats. Me being the lucky guy without luggage ;-) I manage to hop on the other bus straight to Brussels. I pass out instantly: I'm exhausted and never been a good drinker....
4 am: arrival Brussel international aiport: I decide not to fight/stand in line for taxis with the 50 fellow passengers and start walking to my company....it's a 30min walk and it's freezing but I enjoy the travelling feeling and for an instant there - it was as if I was back on that volcano in Java: all alone and walking in the dark
5 am: the company car that was awaiting me is running out of fuel and my VISA is not accepted by the machines - I head back to ASCO and manage to get a fuel card of another car - the security boys are not that happy at all with my confusing tactics, but after writing e-mails to the CFO and leaving my signature on sell-your-soul-to-the-devil-type contracts, I'm on my way. Just in time for breakfast in the village where my mom is waiting for me, passed out in front of the TV picturing the poor passengers living in tents at Heathrow....
Merry Christmas to you all !
Stijn, sleepless at night, nothing better to do then writing stories....
posted by Stan (Stijn) at 4:46 AM
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