I woke up in the morning at approximately 4:30am, for a 7:25am flight departing from Heathrow Airport. It all seemed like a very good idea at the time, given that I only had a few minor things left to pack. I finalised the packing, double checked what I had packed, hopped into the shower and got myself ready. Once I was all done, I grabbed all my gear and headed on down to the London Underground - Kings Cross Station, Picadilly line, all the way to Heathrow Airport.
Now, I wasn't checking the time through all of the stages of getting ready. Not ideal. As soon as I rolled out of bed I just assumed I had enough time. Really bad. Usually i'm quite early for flights, although that may be hard to believe after this particular fail. I was at Kings Cross Station at a quarter to 6. Considering that I really needed to be at the airport two hours prior to departure, this was not good. I must have had a brain snap when setting the alarm, as I must have been preparing to be at the airport by 7:25, instead of 5:25. Excuses, excuses.
As soon as I hopped onto a plane bound for Heathrow I began to worry. Checkin would definitely close by the 60 minute to-go mark, meaning that i'd need to traverse through 24 train stops inside of 40 minutes. Not likely. As soon as I started counting the train stops that were remaining, I realised the abject totality of my failure. Whilst the train ambled along to Heathrow I began to look at alternatives to get to South America... the mobile phone searches were not promising. An extra 5 minute stop at Earls Court did not help to settle my nerves.
The train finally made its stop at Heathrow (Terminals 1,2,3) and I dashed towards the Iberia counter. At 6:45am I just knew that it was already game over with respect to check-in. Hope and luck was all I really had left. Just having a sit and a cry wasn't really an option. As was expected I was not allowed to board - I told them my situation, apologised profusely and handed in my travel itinerary. The people at the counter, one male and one female, proceeded to check alternative flights. The flight later in the evening... sold out.... the flights for the next day... sold out. Searching for the next available flight turned up something, yet not the answer that I was looking for. The next available flight out to Lima was next Friday. OMG.
After hearing that the next available flight was to be in a weeks time the lady at the desk attempted once more to get me onto the plane. By this stage it was 7:00, only 25 minutes to go before scheduled departure. Thankfully this time, after some pleading by the helpful lady at the desk, I was given the green light. I ran to a nearby check-in desk that was suddenly manned, dumped the bags and was instructed to run to the gate. Thank you Iberia! With lady luck on my side nothing else could have gone wrong - or so I thought.
I sprinted to the gate to ensure that I was not to be denied a second time. I did get a few curious glances as I steamed along to Gate 23, I didn't care. A few short minutes later, I was standing in the queue (of 4) to get into the waiting area of Gate 23, puffing and panting. I handed over my passport and boarding pass, and walked into the waiting area pumping my fists in the air. Within two minutes of my sitting down a communique went out to the passengers of Gate 23: due to French strike action, boarding was to be delayed until further notice.
Delays in flights wouldn't usually be a problem, if the flights were direct. In this particular case, the plane that I was waiting to board was bound for Madrid. Furthermore, the transit time between the connecting flight to Lima was two hours. Not the healthiest of margins, that's for sure. People were initially quite calm, but as time progressed people in the waiting area were starting to worry. It turns out that I wasn't the only one who had a connecting flight, there were a total of 40 people who were, like me, bound for Lima. There were also others who were connecting over to the once-a-week flight bound for Guatemala.
After the one hour late mark we were given the go-ahead to board the plane, to the relief of those heading for Lima. Unfortunately it was all too late for those bound for Guatemala, who had only a mere one hour transit time planned for their journey. Relief once again swayed back to worry for the Lima bound passengers, including me, as the in-plane announcement by the captain mentioned that there would be another 40 odd minute delay whilst something was being done about the impact of the French strike action. Sigh.
At 9:20am the captain finally announced that we were departing, which was met with cheering and clapping in the passenger cabin. Assuming that Iberia were to hold the connecting flight to Lima, all would be good and I would be in South America by the evening. Relatively speaking, the flight to Madrid itself was quite uneventful. I dozed.
Upon landing in Madrid (Barajas) a special announcement was made by the captain for those bound to Lima. We were instructed to disembark via the back of the plane, as there was a passenger bus waiting for us to help us on our way. Things were definitely looking up. Why else would they give us a bus if there wasn't a plane waiting? The Lima 40 quickly made it onto the bus and the mood was jovial, overall. The bus passed under the tarmac into a series of tunnels and popped up on the other side after a short drive. Upon disembarking we were told to make our way upstairs to the main terminal area.
Madrid (Barajas) airport is a nice airport overall, but it does seem to have plenty of twists and turns. There seems to be escalators and elevators going up and down all over the place. Somehow it all works, but it's a bit of a mess to the first-time visitor. Back to the main story, there was an airport worker in uniform waiting for us up on the main foyer. He waited for us to all gather and quieten down before making his big announcement. The plane bound for Lima had already left. Before he could finish what he had to say, people began to interject, and interject quite rudely... meaning that he had to repeat himself several times. I caught the gist of it and moved off to be one of the first to get sorted out - go to the Iberia service desk, and they'll arrange for alternative plans.
I jogged up to the check-in area and moved to the first customer service desk that I could find. It was busy, I lined up and waited. After a few minutes, an Iberia staff member wandered over and mentioned that I could use the nearby Business Class service desk. Woo! First time i've dealt with Business Class staff. The lady at the counter was quite helpful and told me that Iberia would provide a hotel for my duration in Madrid and that they've scheduled a 1am flight to Lima (as opposed to the midday flight that I was originally supposed to be on). Better late than never!
By the time I was issued new tickets and was given a hotel voucher for the 4-star Tryp Alameda Aeropuerto hodel (Sol Melia Group) it was approximately 2pm. With the remainder of my time left in Madrid I decided to check-in to the hotel, have lunch there, and make a quick dash around the city.
As for Madrid - I was only able to see the Palace from the outside, visit the Plasa Espana, and take a quick stroll on the Via Grande before calling it a day - making the journey all the way back to the airport accomodation. For reference, the airport is at the far edge of the Madrid metro system, with a 45 minute journey each way.
As opposed to the morning, there were no issues with the transfer to the hotel and the 1am flight bound for Lima. Finally, my South America trip was about to begin - the journey that almost wasn't to be.
1 comment:
it's not called an adventure if there are no obstacles!! nice work mark!
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