3 October
2013
Once again this isn’t a craft based blog post. Very sorry about that but I just haven’t had
the time to dedicate to crocheting. For
this past week or so I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut
off in preparation for leaving for and arriving to York, England. When the fated morning of my departure did in
fact arrive I was scrambling to finish everything. Somehow my bags squeaked underweight by a
mere pound but they had not been checked all the way through to
Manchester. That meant I would have to
pick them up in JFK before re-checking them again and waste the time I was
planning to use in the fancy Delta Sky Lounge, which my parents had graciously
gotten me a day pass to.
With a lot of finagling the lady at the check-in desk got
the bags on one ticket straight through to my destination of Manchester. I thought all would be well but there was a
feeling in the pit of my stomach that something would go wrong. And of course it did. The flights themselves weren’t horrible just
incredibly long and uneventful. I couldn’t
sleep on the overnight trans-Atlantic flight so I was miserably beat when I
boarded the final plane from London to Manchester. It was a simple 30 minute flight, but it took
about 30 minutes to taxi and take off.
That is one thing I have learned about the London Heathrow Airport, the
taxi-ing takes FOREVER!
But all went well with the flight and I de-planed and headed
straight for the baggage claim, and waited for my bags to arrive. I waited and waited and waited until there
wasn’t anyone else left and nothing but a single suitcase remained on the
endlessly looping conveyor belt and it wasn’t either of my two large duffle
bags. Trying to quell the rising panic
and fear I calmly walked over to the baggage services desk and reported my problem. The kind man there told me it was most likely
left in London and should be at my address by the evening. Relieved I left the airport and took the 2
hour bus ride to York, uneasy but optimistic.
I arrived to the university and went through the check-in
process before arriving at my room, rather large for a dorm style room. I have more than enough space for my things
and clothes, but I had no clothes or things to fill the room with. Later on in the evening I borrowed a friend’s
phone (since I hadn’t yet purchased a sim card and thus didn’t have a phone
number or carrier) and called the baggage services number to get an update on
my bags since I wanted to head out and get something to eat but didn’t want to
miss my bags being dropped off. The lady
on the other end of the phone noted that there hadn’t been an update to the
location of my bags and thus they wouldn’t be arriving that day or perhaps the
next day either.
That is when the real panic set in. I had no other clothes or toiletries to my
name and felt the world was crumbling around me. I tried to stay calm and went out with some
new friends to a pub for dinner. A large
problem that made itself known the next day was the fact that my course
(Bioarchaeology) department had organized a field trip/hike for the following
day, Sunday. Luckily I had received a
free t-shirt that I could wear but alas that was the only new piece of clothing
I had. Oddly enough stores close quite
early in the evening and thus I had been unable to get some of the basics I so desperately
needed. Thankfully there were some kind and
generous people in the house that lent me shampoo, conditioner and the like.
The happy ending to this story comes the following day,
Monday, when my bags did indeed finally arrive.
But of course that wasn’t without difficulties. My mother had confirmed with the company
(since I still didn’t have a phone number) that I would receive an email with
the delivery time of my bags sometime between 9-10 in the morning. So I woke up bright and early, not wanting to
miss such an important email. But I
never got an email, instead I happened to check their website for an update at
around noon since I had yet to receive anything from them. The update stated that the bags would be arriving
at the house sometime around 3:20 in the afternoon.
Needless to say I was annoyed. I had been up and waiting since 9 am. With the new information though I was able to
go to campus and get a few things done before heading back to be at the house
by about 3 in the afternoon. I wanted to
be there early in case the bags came early.
But once again I waited for about 2 hours before contacting my mother,
who called to get an update. It was then
determined that they had gotten stuck in traffic and should be at my house
within the hour. Well fast forward
another 2 hours and the van finally arrived with my bags. I graciously signed for them and with the
help of my friend Katie, hauled them upstairs to the third floor where my room
resides.
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| MY BAGS!!! |
It has now been about two days since my bags came and I have
finally been able to settle into my room, with my things and clothes, and start
to feel at home in this foreign city.
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| View from the door |
 |
| Opposite wall |
Until next time!
Brittani
I love your purple door!!!
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