London Heathrow is Super Confusing or I Love Sprinting Around Airports
I have officially navigated the most stressful and confusing airport I have ever set foot in. Here's the scoop. I got off my incredibly long flight from Denver and got on a bus for ten minutes. This bus took me to from the plane to terminal 5. My flight was leaving from terminal three. I navigated numerous signs and escalators to get to yet a another 15 minute bus ride. By this time, my plane was leaving in less than an hour. Surprise! Guess what? I got to go through security again! So that was fun, as always.
Once inside terminal 3, I found a restroom with several broken toilets and a line. I was hungry and thirsty but I decided to go find my gate first. (Hold on, just got some fake cheese stuck in between the keys of my brand new laptop. Sweet. Awesome souvenir number two!) I navigated many signs, lobbies, stores and a shit ton of people and I found it. Problem. They took your ticket at the door into the gate and once you went in, you could not go back out. There were no restaurants anywhere near the gate and my plane was going to begin boarding in 15 minutes. I ran back to the restrooms so I could at least fill my water bottle and went inside the gate. I pulled out my laptop, prepared to send an e-mail or post a facebook status about my arrival. Surprise! No free wifi and my plane was boarding.
My decision: Say what you will about TSA bullshit, but the US does airports better. I would take JFK or LAX over London Heathrow any day.
Part Two: Iberia is Less Fancy (But They Sure Do Try!)
Back to standard airplanes with no leg room, dingy compartments, no tv and no free socks. My Iberia flight is very similar to a domestic US flight, only bilingual. All their flight attendants and directions are done in both English and Spanish. Yay! Testing my comprehension and ability to understand the Spain-Spanish lisp. Not failing too hard!
Iberia does try to make you feel fancy by playing instrumental music (one of the songs from Rocky may have played? Classy?) while you are boarding and taxi-ing and they have a big ol' menu of food, of which absolutely nothing is free! Not even a free drink. Good thing I got some crackers and biscuits! I bought an orange juice and did my first transaction with the Euro!
These seats are seriously so close together that is impossible for someone to get out without totally putting their ass all up in your face. Lesson learned. Get up the next time someone needs to get by.
I have been getting crazy deja vu since yesterday, as if I totally dreamt all of this. Maybe I am dreaming? Ouch. Just pinched myself and turned on a light switch. Not dreaming. Unless I suddenly became a beast at lucid dreaming. Cause that'd be pretty cool.
Can you tell I'm exhausted? Hope my family likes loopy Kaleena! At least I'm excited right?
Dear Kaleena - Congratulations on starting your adventure! And I love your blog. It will be great to be able to read along on your experiences.
ReplyDeleteI remember when I took Lauren to Kennedy when she went to Ireland for a semester. It was so emotional to say goodbye, wave as she went through security, and then she headed off into her adventure and I turned around and drove back to DE alone. Talk about sad! It was only about 4 or 5 years ago but things were SO different. No skype then - I allowed myself a one-hour phone call with her each week and just shut my eyes when the phone bill came. She was really lonely in the beginning but as she acclimated, it started to feel more familiar and she ended up loving it. And I know you will too.
Post some photos if you can. I would love to see where you are!
Love
Amy