KiLee was kind enough to agree to drive me to the airport (I
still owe her some cash for that!) on Friday morning. My flight left at 11:00 a.m. and the
itinerary was Austin, Chicago, Madrid, Prague.
I’d purchased a ticket on a third party site that seemed a little sketchy
so I was nervous about the whole situation.
I’d done enough looking around to know that the tickets were legit, but
I was still nervous especially when I couldn’t check in online. I got a message saying seats had to be
assigned and to see the desk at the airport.
I assumed it was because the Chicago to Madrid to Prague legs of the
trip were actually through Iberia Air, but when I arrived at the airport they
couldn’t check me in either. Now, I had
arrived in barely enough time to check my bags and get on the plane so this
delay made me very anxious. The guy
disappeared for a while and I just stood there praying that I would make my
flight.
As it turned out, my entire itinerary had been flagged
because the originating flight to Chicago had been delayed. Delayed long enough to miss all my other
connections – so they had to revamp my itinerary entirely. Eventually, I was booked on a slightly later
flight that flew Austin, Dallas, London, Prague, and the agent felt bad so she
assured me I had my preferred seats the whole way.
Austin to Dallas is barely enough time for beverage service
– I assume people fly this route in order to connect through Dallas because I
can drive to Dallas faster than the flight time, plus security, plus waiting
around for my flight, etc. My long leg
(8 hours and change) was Dallas to London.
Y’all, that was a massive plane.
The agent had assured me I had great seats when she booked me, but
looking around I couldn’t imagine what would be comfortable for eight
hours. The plane had 3 seats on the
right, 4 seats in the middle, and 3 seats on the left. I was in the 4 seat middle section, on an
aisle, at a bulkhead-thing. (I don’t
think it was actually a bulkhead, it might have been a crew area or something,
but bottom line, loads of leg room!) I
stressed about who would fill the other 3 seats until the plane was nearly
full. I was hopeful they would remain
vacant, but just before the doors closed a mom came running in with two little
boys (aged 1 ½ and 3 ½). The youngest
was technically a lap sitter so the seat next to me was actually vacant. Hooray.
The bad news is that the youngest boy cried pretty much the entire
flight so sleep was never going to happen.
Overall though, I thought I made out pretty well.
I’m sure you’ve all heard stories about the terror that is
London’s Heathrow Airport, yes? I had
and I had consciously made a decision not to fly through there. /sigh.
Luckily, my connecting flight was out of the same terminal (Terminal 3 –
my British flat mate, Helen, tells me it’s the best one), but I still felt like
the pioneers of old as I walked, and walked, and walked, and walked. Also, even though we never exited the secure
area we all had to go through another security checkpoint before boarding the
connection. Odd, that. Other than that the flight to Prague went
smoothly, all told, just about an hour and a half of flying time. Just enough time for a lunch wrap and a tiny
little beverage!
Leaving England
Mini-coke
Seriously the can was the same size as the tiny airplane cup.
Vaclav Havel Airport - Prague, Czech Republic
Vaclav Havel Airport - Prague, Czech Republic
I was a little worried about customs passport control,
baggage claim, and having someone there to meet me when I arrived. It all worked out well, although the taxi
driver hired to meet me, Vlad, was very reserved. I tried to start a couple of conversations
with him, but either he didn’t speak great English, or didn’t really want to
talk. Either way it made me nervous that
I wouldn’t be able to communicate with the people here. Vlad dropped me off at the flat and Maria
(who had arrived early that morning) let me in and showed me around. By this point I was a hot, sweaty, tired,
hungry mess, but I was in Prague.
