We're home!
Our luggage isn't.
We woke up early on Thursday morning, and got all our things together. We made our last email checks, and I turned off the computer. We wanted to travel light, so we just took one carry on bag, and Daddy teased me about all the things I put in it. The only thing he took was his camera. I took a change of clothes, some food and drink, sweater, and more.
Carmen was scheduled to leave for work 15 minutes before our shuttle pickup. We said our goodbyes and she rode out of sight on her bicycle. And our shuttle arrived.
We were ready, so we left about 10 minutes ahead of schedule. We locked the door behind us and dropped the key through the mailslot. Away we went!
Our plane was scheduled to leave at 11:40, so the shuttle company suggested picking us up 3 hours ahead of that, at 8:40. We assumed they knew what they were talking about. When we got to the deserted airport at 9 we began to wonder.
We found the KLM offices, and the nice woman there told us where we would have to go when they finally opened the window, commenting, "You're a bit early, aren't you," and suggesting we take the elevator up to the observation area where we could sit and wait.
We went throught the restaurant area where they were cleaning up in preparation to open, and walked out to the observation deck. The sign at the door clearly said "No Smoking Outside" and the 3 full ashtrays spread through the area suggested that rule wasn't very well enforced.
Around 9:30 things began to liven up, and several small planes took off. We watched the people beginning to arrive, and around 10:30 we were able to check in at the counter, go through security and into the passengers' waiting area. Shouldn't be long now, right?
About 11 there was an announcement. Our plane was to be delayed by 40 minutes. Why was I not surprised? No problem, though. We now had people to watch, and even a few to talk to. We were anticipating a 4 hour layover in London, so we didn't mind waiting a bit longer in Rotterdam.
A few minutes after noon they began boarding our plane, and we were on our way. The pilot must have pedalled really hard, as we made up most of our lost time during the one hour flight.
London Heathrow:
I suppose I've been spoiled by LAX. I sort of assumed all airports were as simple to use as the one in Los Angeles. Not so.
Getting from one terminal to another to change planes involves 10 or 15 minute bus rides, followed by 10 minute walks through corridors. Eventually we arrived at our correct terminal and found the Air New Zealand counter.
The counter folks were nice and helpful, but their computer was down, or sort of down, and they spent a lot of time entering various numbers from our tickets, then when our expected boarding passes weren't printed, doing it all over again. They also inspected our baggage pickup tags, and discussed the unusual numbers on them. Eventually they gave up on having the computer print our boarding passes, and did them by hand. Just as they were about to hand them to us the computer came to life, spewing out boarding passes for other people who had been there earlier. Eventually it was persuaded to print some for us, so they took back our handmade ones and gave us printed ones. They told us to watch the boards for info about what gate to go to. We had 3 more hours to wait.
So we waited. And waited. Whenever we'd look at the monitors that told which flights were at what gates, ours was listed as "please wait." so we did.
About 2 hours before our flight time they finally let us know what gate to go to. So off we went, for another 10 minute walk. We checked in, and managed to get through their very intense security without having to be searched. There were two searchers and two patters-down working hard for the whole 45 minutes or so our flight was checking in. Probably 15 to 20% of the passengers were thouroughly searched. The selection looked completely random.
One hour before flight time we were allowed onto the airplane. It took about an hour to get everyone on, with their luggage properly stowed. The huge plane was completely full, or possibly there were one or two empty seats.
Once we were all ready to go they announced a delay, something to do with luggage problems. And 20 minutes later, when the luggage problems were solved, we had lost our place in line to take off, so we had to wait some more. Fortunately for us another plane was delayed so we got to take its takeoff position. We were a bit more than an hour late taking off. They announced that we would be able to make up most of the lost time in flight, and sure enough they did.
What can I say about an 11 hour flight? It was long. It was boring. Did I mention it was long? I couldn't get comfortable on the seat, and I kept eying the floor in front of me. Daddy had gotten us a pair of the 2-together seats toward the back where the plane narrows and there's no longer room for 3 seats together. Thank you for that, Daddy.
The food was pretty good. Not up to Carmen's standards, of course.
Anyhow, after many hours of sitting uncomfortably, I decided to see if I could get comfortable on the floor. Bad idea. In the process of maneuvering myself around I guess I asked one of my leg muscles to do something it wasn't prepared to do, so it cramped up. I was going to give up and get back into my seat when I discovered I needed more room to get up than I had needed to get down. Daddy tried to pull me up, but I wasn't able to get my feet under myself, so it didn't work. Eventually he had to get up out of his seat so I could scoot out to the aisle and get up there. He thought it was pretty funny. I suppose it was.
The flight itself was fairly uneventful. We had quite a bit of bumpy air, including right after I had gotten a cup of coffee. The napkin I put under the cup caught all the sloshed coffee, fortunately.
When we landed in Los Angeles we were among the last off the plane, since we were way in the back. But we got to the customs area and the short lines were for US Passport holders. Not a problem. Then we went to the baggage carousels and waited for our bags. And waited. And waited. The other people got their bags and went home. No more bags appeared. Uh-oh.
So we found the people who take lost luggage reports, and we weren't the only ones who needed them. We gave them the information about our bags and they assured us they would find them eventually and everything would be just fine. They looked at the same numbers on the tags that the people in London had looked at. Something was very strange about them. Maybe they were instructions to go on a KLM flight to LAX rather than the NZ flight we were on? Whatever, they weren't there, so we went out and were greeted by David and Mother, and went back to where Mike was to pick me up. They went home, and we went home.
It was bedtime so I went to bed soon after we got home. As I write this it's nearly 5AM. I couldn't sleep, even though I was up for 24 hours. I still think it's 2 in the afternoon. This may be a problem.
P.S. They found all our luggage and delivered it the next day.
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