My trip to the UK

My trip began with a lovely ride to the airport in my best friend’s car. We’ll name her Rachel for security sake. When we got to the airport Rachel insisted on coming into the airport while I checked in. I thought this was great because I usually just get dropped off by the door, as airport parking is expensive.

So there I am in the line up waiting to get checked in when the airline’s staff approaches the line up of people waiting to check in and asks: “Is anyone catching a connection through Newark Airport?”. “Yes”, I said “I’m going to Manchester”. “Manchester New Hampshire?”, “Manchester, England”. “Oh!”, she exclaimed with urgency “we need to get you on the 5:15 flight! You’re 7pm flight is not going to leave this airport!”.

I was more calm than she was about my connection in Newark. In fact, I laughed and thought ‘well of course my flight isn’t going out!’ You see, I have had my suitcase lost 3 times, I’ve had a numerous amount of flights cancelled and missed my connection a number of times. Being a consultant during the pre-Y2K days I did a lot of travel. Over 90 flights between January 4 and June 18th in 1999 alone.

Meanwhile, Rachel hands me a card and says “Can you read this before you go?”. “Sure!” Rachel is known to write me cards and expresive how much she appreciates our friendships. I don’t know how she does it, write cards I mean, it makes me nervous for some reason. While reading the card the airline staff is checking me in, moving me from one counter to another, weighing my suitcase etc. They looked panicked but I knew everything would work out. She wrote in the card ‘May the adventure that begins today be a memorable one! oh and …–>” I turned the card over and it read ‘Will you be my maid of honour’! I gasped for breath and screamed “WOW! When did this happen? How did you manage to keep this a secret?”. She began to explain everything to me when the staff stopped and asked “What? What just happened???” “She asked me to be her maid of honour! She’s engaged!” We laughed and hugged…but I was in shock…there was plenty of action going on around me but my head was slowly processing what just happened!

The airline staff stopped us and said “Ma’am you really need to go and catch this flight.” “Why does it leave in 5 minutes?” I asked. “No but you have to pretend it is!”.

I hugged my friend good bye and was obviously still stunned by the news and everything else that was going on. As she walked away I screamed “Rachel, the answer is yes by the way”. She said “yeah I know, you told me already!”. The line up of travellers still waiting to be served had shocked looks on their faces…as if they thought she had proposed to me! I bet they did…ha ha!

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I made it to the gate. They had not yet started to board. An announcement came on the speaker “This is message for all those who are travelling to Newark, we will be boarding the plane at 7pm but we will not leave for Newark immediately. We need to get you on the plane and move the plane because we need to free up the gate for another flight. We will be sitting on the runway for 1 hour before we depart.”

We actually sat on the runway for 2.5 hours and guess who missed her flight to Manchester England?

I went through a ‘Customer Service’ nightmare! Every Continental staff member I spoke to could “do nothing for [me]” and pointed me to someone else who “might be able to help”. Might?

I was told a gate person would accompany our flight when we arrived and I could talk to them about making arrangements. No such luck. The woman at Customer Service told me that there were no hotel rooms available, but that I could come back in the morning and get a ‘day hotel room’ since I was an international passenger.

I slept on the floor of Newark airport, Gate 73. I stuffed my passport down the front of my pants and under my sweater and slept on my stomach while hugging my carry-on. This was a very humbling experience but I knew I was better off than the victimes of hurricanes, tsunamis and war.

At 6am I rushed to ‘Customer Service’ to get my ‘day hotel room’. I was met with the rudest, most uncaring woman I’ve met that was employed as a Customer Service rep. I realize there are plenty of such people with such job titles! “Day hotel? No we don’t have day hotel rooms!” “Yes you do, that’s why the woman who was here last night told me. She didn’t just make that up”. “Well, it’s not in our policy to offer that!”. Cutting this story short…she sent me out looking for a supervisor in a red coat. I found a Red Coat Supervisor…he told me he was not a supervisor and she had pointed me to the wrong person…surprise! I walked back over to Customer Service and told her so. She turned to her co-worker in an attempt to confirm her claim that it is not their policy to offer hotel rooms to international passengers during the day! Her co-worker said “Of course we offer day hotel rooms. Dial 1079″.

At this point you would expect an apology. It would only be natural. No apology. She called looking for a room for me and of course no room was yet available.

I walked back to Customer Service at 11am and explained my situation to a new customer service rep. As soon as she heard my story she began to get things in motion. “What flight are you confirmed on tonight?” “Well, I’m confirmed for the 10pm flight and on standby for the 7pm flight”. “Stand-by? No way! Let me look….it’s not even booked. There is plenty of room on this flight. Why don’t people do their jobs? This makes me mad. Who are these fools?” I told her who the “fools” were with pleasure. She confirmed me on the earlier flight and got me a hotel room! I was relieved. I didn’t want to be the smelly person on the plane!

If anyone is looking for their niche, consider developing a coaching program for customer service staff of an airline. Transform the airline industry, and when you do, I can do the quality assurance testing for you!

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I finally arrived in England on Sunday October 9th at 7:45am.

Sunday October 9th, Manchester, England:

I was greeted at the airport by a friend of mine that I met 2 years ago while traveling in New Zealand. We spent the day walking, talking and drinking coffee in downtown Manchester. We then went to a wonderful restaurant ‘in the hills’ for dinner. I fell asleep on the drive home. I only had 2 hours of sleep on the plane.

Monday October 10th, Manchester & en route to Scotland:

I slept 11 glorious hours and made my way to another friend’s home in a town between Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland.

I really enjoyed all my train rides whilst in the UK. I was able to read 2 books and start another 2 books. I also enjoyed starring out the window and looking at the beautiful scenery.

I wondered how I would know when I had crossed the England-Scotland border. It became clear to me that I had when it began to rain!

Tuesday October 11th, Edinburgh Scotland:

Before getting off the train you can see Edinburgh Castle! My eyes couldn’t believe how beautiful the city was. I had heard someone use the term “Eye-gasm” before I left Canada. I think that term describes it best. My eyes were having eye-gasms! Even though it rained and was overcast all day, you almost didn’t notice because there was so much to see and enjoy. I’m a sucker for old architecture and so I enjoyed my visit to the castle. The view from the Castle overlooking the city, I heard, is incredible on a clear day.

Of course the rain did eventually get to me. I had walked into the Art Gallery on my way back to the train station. I was embarrassed because my umbrella was leaking all over the gallery carpet. I put my umbrella into an empty shopping bag. On my way out of the gallery I pulled my umbrella out of the bag and a cup of water had gathered at the bottom of the bag! My umbrella needed an umbrella.

While shopping on Princess St I finally located a book I had been looking for for months, Richard Branson’s biography “Losing my Virginity”. I found it appropriate to read this book while in the UK!

Later that day I made my way to Glasgow. I met another friend that I had met while travelling. We had met on our tour through the Gold Coast in Australia.

Wednesday October 12th, Glasgow Scotland:

I spent the day exploring Glasgow. I found their subway system amusing. You see the coaches are about 5 feet 10 inches high and 5 feet wide. Luckily, I’m shorter than 5′ 10″ and so I didn’t bump my head but others had to bend over when in the coach! Each subway is comprised of 3 coaches and they look like sausage links. The subway line aka ‘Clockwork Orange’ is a circle! One line goes clockwise and the other goes counter clockwise. This is brilliant. If one line goes down you can always take the other line!

Glasgow was gorgeous and if it wasn’t for the rain I would consider living there. It had culture, great architecture, and plenty of help for people looking for some retail therapy.

Thursday October 13th, en route to London England:

I took the afternoon train to London England. The train ride was almost 5 hours so that gave me plenty of time to re-read Andrea Lee’s book “Multiple Streams of Coaching Income” and to continue reading Richard Branson’s biography. This book is not only highly informative but it is really funny. He is incredibly authentic and even shares embarrassing and personal stories.

Thursday night I met a friend for dinner. We had met while working on a project outside of Boston in 2003. After dinner I made my way to another friend’s place. We had met while on the same through Australia. On the taxi ride over I kept my eye open for London’s landmarks…Big Ben, Trafalgar Square and Albert Bridge. I had been to London in the summer of 2000 but didn’t get to see downtown London at night. It’s beautiful!

Friday October 14th Reading, England:

I made my way to Reading to attend a Coaching seminar. I wish I could say something about Reading but I really didn’t get to see much of the city. What I did see looked great. It was a lot bigger than I expected Reading to be.

After the seminar I enjoyed a number of Indian dishes with a friend who is a coach and also a client.

Saturday October 15th London, England:

My friend showed me around London. We walked through Chelsea, Knightsbridge, Soho and Oxford Street. We spent some time in Harrods department store. I couldn’t believe how gorgeous it was both on the inside and out. Ceilings are painted, the underside of escalators are decorated..it was quite an experience.

Sunday October 16th on my way home:

I did make it home ok and on the flights I was scheduled to be on. It’s good to be home but now I am sick. I knew I was fighting something all week and it caught up with me on the flight home. I thought my throat was sore only because I was dehydrated. I have a full cold and I’m jet lagged, but I’m home safe and that what matters.

Thank you to all of my friends who showed great hospitality and wonderful tour guiding skills!

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Written by Sandra De Freitas

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