wednesday:
woke up early in the morning, and susan, betsy, and i made our way to the train station, where i took the train back to gatwick airport. made my way through the long line at check-in, and got to the plane no problem. my seatmate on the plane ride was some british girl who was going to las vegas. the plane was about 30-45 minutes late from pushing back from the gate because of congestion and weather problems, so ATC had us waiting there at the airport until we took off and flew back over england on our way back home.
arrived in philadelphia no problem. customs / immigration took forever to get through, and security took forever to get through on the way back to the gate in the concourse that my flight was at.
early on in my trip i decided that if at any time on the way back home they say that the flight is overbooked and they need volunteers to give up their seats, i was going to do that, because i remembered when i went to atlanta to visit ocarina last year that on the way back to baltimore the flight next to mine had that happen and they offered people free round-trip tickets to anywhere in the country for volunteering their seats.
so i was standing there waiting for my flight, listening to my ipod, when i heard the gate agent announce that volunteers were needed. she was still making the announcement when i ran up to the counter and the first thing i said when she put the microphone down was “what is the next flight to bwi that i would be able to get on???” the next flight i would be able to take left at 7:15 (the one that i was supposed to take was scheduled for 5:40), so i said that i’d take it. i think that only one or two other people volunteered their seats. but out of a 95-minute delay on a commuter flight, i was able to get a free round-trip ticket to anywhere in the continental us and canada. ^_^
now i just need to think of someplace to go to, lol. ^_^;
called home to inform them of my change in arrival, flew the 40 minutes from phl to bwi, got there no problem (it was cool – we got to walk across the tarmac from the plane to the concourse… even if it was only about 30 feet or so, it was still neat), met the family, and got home. ^_^ and i was really impressed with my ipod… i was able to listen to it on the train from reading to the airport, in line in the airport, in air from england to philadelphia, in the airport in philadelphia, and back to baltimore on one charge. i thought it was going to die on me near the end, but it didn’t. yay for musicness ^_^
pictures:
now stu and i are planning a trip to england next year. mom thinks we’re crazy, hehe…