So, I thought I would have a blog like cool people do!
I decided to call it "what happens next?" because I feel like that is how my life has been for the past couple of years, and trust me I love it!
I have to explain what happened since sunday night...sunday night I left Phoenix Arizona (where my heart is) with destination Milan Italy (where my mom, dad, sister and friends are). I took off at 920pm on sunday night, perfectly in time, with one 50 pound luggage, my guitar and my backpack. Everything is fine until I land in London...I land at 230pm on monday afternoon and I am supposed to take off again at 550. I am in line to get through security in London, and it is a long line, but nothing like what is expecting me soon! I get through security, not without a bag check (of course!) and I am relazing just waiting for my gate to open. At 530 we are notified that our flight has been delayed, only 10 minutes...no big deal I think. At 7 I am still waiting to know what is going on. I realize that the majority of the flights to Europe are cancelled because of snow...some people are skeptical, and I remember someone telling me in Arizona about a possible British Airways strike...what is really going on then? of course nobody know...chaos at the airport nobody is leaving tonight, with the exception of asians and Johannesburg...We are told to collect our bags at gate A17, which leads us to the baggage claim. CHAOS! so many people looking for their bags and my flight is not even on the board...so I do not know from which of the 12 "things" (I am referring to those black tapes that carry out your luggage) my luggage and my guitar are coming out from. I am randomy waiting at number 6 and there it is, my luggage!! Now I just have to wait a couple of minutes for my guitar...a couple of minutes become one hour...so now I am in line to report a lost bag...after many phone calls it comes out my guitar is in Terminal 5 (the right one) but not located anywhere...so technically it could be anywhere in that huge building...yay, BA lost my guitar! Now it is time to go back upstairs to the Departures Zone and get in line (again) for a Hotel Voucher, which I receive around 1030pm...We all get on the subway, because we are all going to the same hotel and it takes more than one hour on the subway...we get tho the hotel around midnight...they tell us that breakfast is included and we can use the phones to call BA to rebook our flights...I go to bed at 1am after numerous tries and as many fails to talk to someone from BA...I decide that the next morning I leave early and go to the airport trying to get on the earliest flight. oh I forgot to mention that people are crazy...while I was in line for my hotel voucher this american dude started shouting out loud that this is not how business works, it is business 101 and that BA does not understand it...the police show up...this eastern european guy kicks a chair because he is pissed, and he gets arrested...this old guy claps his hands at the BA manager and gets yelled at...people are crazy...
next morning I get up super early, eat the breakfats I though was free (I ended up paying 16 english pounds for it) and after 45 minutes on the piccadilly drive I get to the airport...I have toget in line in order to get rebooked...it is so chaotic...I STAYED IN LINE 4 HOURS (capitalized because I am yelling)...4 HOURS!!!! I got shin splints because of staying in line that long, no joking! they put me on the flight leaving at 730am on wednesday morning...that is ok, no worries, now I just have to get in line to get the hotel voucher. oh, did I mention that BA lost my guitar?
meanwhile I texted some friends in London asking them if they wanted to get together since I was staying there one more night...after 2 and a half hours in line for the hotel voucher someone says that Milan's airport is now open so me and some other people rush in order to get a seat on a flight...I do get my flight at 550 that same night!!! wohooo!!
I am about to check-in and I am told that the flight is on hold...great...but finally we get checked-in and through security....the flight is now delayed...we board at 630 but we leave at 8!!! but we take off and I could not care less. we are almost in Milan (to be precise we are in between Turin and Milan) and the plane starts doing these 360s....what the heck? the captain says the airport in Milan just closed.....are you freaking kidding me?? I am so tired that I can't laugh or cry or do anything else...my head is leaning against the front seat....we finally land at 1120pm....but since nobody thought that someone would land that night, no airport employees were wating for us...so we are stuck in the plane! we finally get out and we wait for our luggage...5 other flights landed shortly and ALL of our bags were mixed up, so we did not know which carrier had our luggage...people are going nuts and if you know italians they are loud...i get my luggage (only one cause BA had lost my guitar) and get home at 1am on wednesday morning...I should have gotten here 28 hours ago...
All I had on tuesday was a tiny breakfast, an espresso shot and a champagne glass offered me by this italian guy.
I met so many people in those 36 hours: 2 hilarious families from NC, this swiss lady who lives in vancouver, this italian guy who works in chicago, this italian girl who studied in Japan for 6 months, this american professor from NYC, whose gf lives in italy but he works in India...(how does that work for them?), these italians who work in Belfast but are from Naples, italians that study in London and many more...
I forgot to tell about the old dude on my second flight that said that for the past 4 hours we had had such a hard time breathing...I thought for sure he was gonna have a heart attack!
oh...and did I mention BA lost my guitar?
