cold enough to see my breath.

it has been almost exactly twenty four hours since i boarded british airways flight 062 last night, from entebbe (uganda) to heathrow (london, uk). if everything had gone as planned, i'd be in philadelphia right now: passport stamped, customs cleared, and on the train to my boyfriend's flat. instead, i'm typing from an airport hotel room in london.

my flight from entebbe was uneventful. i had a great seat: aisle, bulkhead row, so lots of leg room. i usually can't sleep on planes, but last night, i actually managed to get a few hours of good, solid sleep. not the equivalent of a full night's rest, but much better than normal (which is surely the only reason why i'm still awake now). we got into london in good time without any trouble. unlike the eastern us, the weather here was quite decent: overcast and cold, but above freezing and without precipitation.

i went through customs and border control because i had plans to meet a good friend who currently lives in london for coffee in the terminal. before she arrived, i went to pick up my boarding pass for my connecting flight to philadelphia. the british airways clerk was surprised: "but, didn't they contact you to tell you that this flight has been cancelled and you need to rebook?" then he noticed that i didn't have a contact number listed on my eticket, and i explained that i had been travelling from uganda anyway. he was quite helpful: booked me a seat on the later flight to philadelphia and even upgraded me to the section above economy rather than leave me on standby. i walked away with a boarding pass, two five pound food vouchers, and a ten hour layover in london.

when my friend reached the terminal, we had coffee as planned. i gave her the mangoes i had brought from southern uganda, and we discussed what to do with the day in light of my extended layover. we ended up riding the subway into town and spent the mid-day hours wandering the "must see" parts of london and warming ourselves in cozy cafes. it was a lot of fun, and a great chance to catch up. later, as we rode the subway back toward the airport, she remarked that i was the first person aside from her husband whom she'd ever hung out with on three different continents. aside from people i've been directly travelling with, she's also the first person i've ever visited on three different continents either (africa, europe, north america). but, given that this was the first time i'd ever actually gone through customs in europe, this isn't such a surprise.

on our way back to the airport, we used heathrow's text message system to check the status of my flight: ba 069 to philadelphia was on time and scheduled to take off at 17:05 local time. back at the airport, i went through security, then had my carry on luggage searched two more times and was patted down before i finally reached the departure gate - the tightest security measures always seem to be for us-bound flights.

when it was time to board, i joined the long queue: given the earlier cancellation, it was obvious that this flight was going to be quite full. reaching the attendant at the desk, i was worried by the frown on his face when he scanned my boarding pass. "is there a problem, sir?" "yes," he responded, "but i think it's one you're going to like." the flight was overbooked, so i was once again upgraded, this time to a business class seat. i'm used to travelling economy class: i had no idea what to expect from a seat in row 13.

entering the plane, i was shocked: business class seats have their own cubicle sections, seats which fully recline (to a horizontal position, although i'm too tall for this to be very comfortable), footstools, drawers, and even outlets for using laptop computers. this was the most space i'd ever had on a plane: as the guys beside me (who, like more than half the other passengers in the section, had also been upgraded at the last moment) figured out, each of our seats took the space equivalent to 3-4 economy seats. whoa! shortly after we boarded the plane, the flight attendants came through our section with local newspapers, champagne, and menus detailing the options for the multi-course meal that would be served after take-off.

we settled in... to wait. when everyone had boarded (which didn't take very long, as we were all anxious to be on our way), the pilot came on the address system and informed us that we were still waiting for clearance to take off. no flights were allowed in or out of philadelphia at the time because of the severe weather hitting the eastern seaboard, but our pilot was optimistic that it would clear by the time we would reach and that we might still be allowed to go. but alas, it was not to be. an hour later, the pilot informed us that this flight was also being cancelled. we were to disembark, claim our luggage, proceed through customs, and then visit the departure desk to rebook.

exhausted and sad to leave my nice seat (which i didn't think to photograph!), i joined the flow of people leaving the plane, wondering if my bags were really going to come around on the carousel (they had also been shifted when i earlier rebooked my flight). they did come, and i reached the departure desk earlier than many others, but still waited quite a while before speaking to a clerk. "you've been rebooked on the morning flight to philadelphia tomorrow," she informed me, "and we'll give you a hotel voucher for tonight." within ten minutes, i had the necessary paperwork: new ticket, hotel voucher, and voucher for the bus to the hotel.

standing with the rest of the group waiting for the bus, i was absolutely shocked by how cold it had become since the sun went down. for the first time in quite a long while, i was shivering enough for my teeth to chatter, and i could see my breath hanging on the air. it might take me some time to readjust to this cold climate.

but, i didn't freeze to death, and the bus did come. my hotel is nice - very nice. i have a room on the second floor: i'm a bit in awe of the huge soft bed and super hot shower. i turned on the heat, made tea with an electric kettle i found in the cupboard, and set the alarm clock for morning, uk time. i was shocked to notice the price of the room on the back of the door, even more so when a friend told me that most airlines refused to give hotel rooms to people whose flights were cancelled by the weather today. guess i'll add this to my list of reasons why i really like british air.

now, i'm going to drink my tea and curl up in the warmth of my bed. in the morning, i'll ride the shuttle bus back to the airport. hopefully, my flight will actually be on time, take off, and eventually reach philadelphia tomorrow.

after all, don't they always say, third time's the charm?