Passage To Eastern Europe Viking River Cruise
Friday, November 11, 2022 - Travel
The day's statistics:
- Weather: mid to high 50s
- Steps: 12,453 Linda; 8,296 Steve
- Miles traveled (approximately): 3,860
This is the last day of our trip - the cruise portion ended a couple day ago - and is really dedicated to our return-home travel.
Our flight to Heathrow was at 8:15 AM. Working backwards, that meant:
- we needed to be at security by about 6:15, which meant...
- we needed to be ticketed by about 6:00, which meant...
- our shuttle had to leave the hotel by about 5:00, which meant...
- we had to have our luggage outside the room by 4:30 for pick-up (ours was out at 4:25), which meant...
- we had to wake up at 3:45 in order to get our luggage out on time.
Soooo... it was going to be a long day.
Our time at the Intercontinental Hotel had come to an end. And no, I did not see John Wick anywhere.
The hotel provided a to-go breakfast, though the content was a mix of breakfast and lunch (by American standards , at
least). We each had: a juice box with OJ and another with apple juice; two small pastries - one apricot filled, the other
raspberry; an apple; a banana; and a sandwich consisting of a slice of turkey cold cut, lettuce, and cream cheese.
It was a lot. So much that we no only left three pieces of fruit at the hotel, we shared a pastry with a seat mate on
the Budapest to Heathrow flight.
Of course, the juice boxes would have to be consumbed before going through security at the airport. So three of the
four boxes were consumed before leaving the hotel - I had both of mine and Linda had her OJ.
After confirming our luggage was present on the cart, we boarded the shuttle at 5:00.
Our trip to the airport, while an hour was "planned", only took 35 minutes. Those traveling to Heathrow
gathered outside the shuttles, and were brought to the ticket line in Terminal 2B en masse.
At least our 8:15 flight BA865 to London, at the moment, was on time.
Of course the ticket windows weren't open yet as it was only 5:41 AM, so we stood around waiting until we
were processed. I happen to notice one of our bags weighed 23.0 KG - that must have been Linda's.
By 6:30, our bags were checked and we headed toward secuirty.
We breezed through security and were waiting at gate B6 by 6:55, including the walk.
We ate all but the banana from our to-go breakfast as we waited. Passengers started to queue as the flight
was supposed to start boarding at 7:35, but didn't start until 7:55.
Our seating group was eventually called at 8:05. We were seated at 8:22, the plane started moving at 8:29,
and took flight at 8:40.
At 9:00, we were given a ceral bar and water.
Due to a timezone shift, and a delay in the cell phone synching to the new country's network, some of our pictures
were out of order.
Somewhere over England nearing the airport.
The flight was only 2 hours and five minutes, and we were able to make up the time from our delayed departure,
landing at Heathrow at 10:55 local time.
I can only imagine, based on the image timestamps, and the logistics of where the camera would have been during
the two legs of our flights, that these are from the short trip between Budapest and London.
At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Have you ever been to Heathrow?
It's a big airport. Very big. Huge, in fact. I borrowed this map from TripIndicator.com. Terminal 3 is more
than a mile from Terminal 5.
We landded at Terminal 5. We made our way to the toteboard to find out where our connection was terminal... 3...
So we would have to get there - but at least there are frequent shuttles.
The person sitting next to Linda on the flight was also going to PHL. She saw us look at the tote board and asked
"So where do we need to go?" I suggested she look at her ticket to make sure we were on the same flight. Logic would
dictate that we were, but it was not a guarantee. She checked and was on a 1:40 British Air flight, not our 12:50
American Airlines flight. Good thing she check. Since we were in Terminal 5, and that is where her flight was, she
didn't have to go anywhere other than to her gate. We, on the other hand, were now on our way to Terminal 3.
A brief shuttle ride got us to the terminal, and we made our way to security and were on line at 11:00. Right when we were
about to scan our boarding passes, there was a pause for a two minute moment of silence in recognition to Armisists Day.
We got on the security line. We moved along slowly but surely, and watched the minutes tick by as I waited for
my luggage to be checked for... what? It turns out my mustache trimming scissors, at less than 5 centimeters
in length from the pivot point - had to be measured to verify that they were less than 6 cm long. Yea, a half
hour wasted for that.
While we slowly watched the minutes tick by, we started to more frantic.
Then one of the luggage verifiers went somewhere else - so there was only ONE left, checking a line of bins with
"questionable items" in them. Tick... tick... tick... "Linda, go to the gate and tell them I will be there as soon
as I can." (As if that MAY have any impact.)
We had to get ourselves to Gate 42. The last... furthest... gate... possible...
I eventually got my things verifed, threw them all in the carry-on, and ran as much as I could to the gate. The
red line on this map shows where I ran, but it doesn't completely show the enormity of the terminal.
When I arrived, Linda was sitting alone. There wasn't even any residual staff anywhere. I was only five minutes
late - or so I thought - when I finally got there, but Linda said that there was no one there when she got there
a couple minutes before me. This almost implies that the flight was NOT at 11:50...
Anyway... time to make some calls. Linda called the airline and I called the Viking Travel Emergency Line (VTEL). The
carrier told us that we needed to call the third party - which I happened to already be on the phone with. The woman
I spoke to on the VTEL (I wish I got her name so I could thank her) was able to reserve us two seats on British Air
flight 67 at 1:40, we just had to go to the BA service desk to get our ticket re-confirmed (or something like that).
The desk was, from our direction, after Gate 26. I walked ahead to get the process started ASAP and Linda caught up.
It took about 15 minutes - mostly due to the two women that were on line ahead of us - to get our revised tickets.
The new flight was on British Air, not AA. So AA had to "transfer us" to BA, including our luggage.
If you've been reading close enough, you may actually see where this is going...
I was getting rather impatient because we were rapidly running out of time for the next flight - until we realized it
was at 1:40, not 12:40. Ah, good, a little bit of a breather.
Time to get to our new gate. In Terminal 5. Ooooohhhhhh ffffff
(My notes are a little sketchy here, so most of this is from memory - so some of the details may be off a little
but the gist is still here.)
We headed back out and to the shuttle bus back to Terminal 5.
We went through the boarding verification and got on line. The agent asked if anyone had a flight departing before
2:00, and of course, we (and a few others) did. So we were moved to the front.
We headed upstairs because we had to go through security AGAIN.
Seriously?!!?
We put our items in the bins - I even put the little scissors in the bin separately so they could see them - and
went through the metal detectors. I was wearing slacks instead of jeans so the rivit shouldn't have set of the metal
detector. And it didn't. But SOMETHING did. And I needed to get padded down. Nothing found and I was free to go.
Linda was, again, waiting for me, and I threw all my things (the laptop, camera, scissors) in the carry-on with no
regard to anything really, just to get them in there.
We now had less than twenty minutes to get to gate C63.
As quickly as we reasonably could without running, made our way toward the C gates. And... there's a tram. Oh crap.
We were at Gate A. And we had to go to C. And there was a stop at B in between. Hmm...
"We're going to miss it again." I said. "Think possitive" Linda responded.
The tram arrived and the passengers exited out the opposite side. Then they did a security check. Then we boarded. Then
we sat for what seemed like minutes but was probably only fifteen to thirty seconds. "Go" I said. "Go." "Go." Eventually
we did. And the tram was FAST. We stopped at B and passengers got off. Then we bolted to C.
Nice. Our gate was C53 and we were stopping at C52-C66 - so hopefully that meant our gate was the second.
The doors opened and I said to Linda "Just catch up, I won't leave without you." "You'd better not!"
A hundred yards - I mean meters - down the hall was an escalator. A two story escaltor. But we were pressed for time.
So I picked up a carry-on in each hand and started by jog up the escaltor. "Move to the side please!" I exclaimed as
I rode out of sight. I mean: as I made my way up the escaltor. Most of the travelers were already on the right, and
the one woman that wasn't stepped aside right away.
I got to the top, turned the corner, and... there was another escalator. I tried to get up that one as fast as I
could. I was right: gate C52 was first, and 53 was next. I moved as fast as I could and got to the gate, but Linda
wasn't yet in sight. As I stood with my hands on my knees trying to catch my breath, a ticket agent approach and asked
if I was OK. I confirmed, and indciated my wife was on her way. She asked to see my boarding pass and said I could
go right on through. Fortunately, we weren't the only two "running behind" as there were about eight of us in all.
It was pretty much 1:39, and departure was scheduled for 1:40.
We went downstairs, down the gangplank, and onto the plane.
We confirmed we were on the right flight. We got to our seat and the nearest luggage storage was eight rows back.
We stowed our carry-ons and sat to relax for the first time in hours.
This was a long flight - all seven and a quarter hours of it.
We first sat for thirty minutes due to "cargo on the tarmack in front of the plane".
We eventually started to move at 2:09, and then just sat again.
At 2:13 we started to taxi.
Lift off was at 2:29. Hey, we did a fair amount of taxiing...
We were first fed at 3:24 Hungary Time (HT), and it was baked sour cream and chives pretzels, and Merlot wine.
We were over Achill Island.
The games on the seatback display refused to work. So I started by listening to a CCR concert.
At 4:12 we received lunch with Linda having the vegetable moussaka, and I had the chicken with mashed potatoes. Both
also included crackers, cheese, a roll with butter, a quinoa (?) mixture of some kind with what tasted like sour cream
on the bottom (though Linda added a tiny amount of milk to hers), Toffee cheesecake pot, and a water.
It was all fairly tasty.
Our next item, at 7:30 HT, was a glass of juice, and we both chose the cranberry.
Then at 8:00 HT, we received a package of two round shortbread cookies.
And at 9:30 HT, we were given our choice of chicken and pepper or tomato and pepper Hot Pocket® like pastry, though
doughier and baked rather than fried.
The infotainment system had flight information - and qutie a bit of it - available for the entire flight.
We finally touched down at 10:00 HT, 5:00 PM local time. After taxiing, we were at the gate.
We knew we were going to sit for a bit because our luggage was behind us and we had to wait for those passengers to
clear before we could get our luggage. I was standing and waiting for those behind us to pass. There were a couple gaps
and I was able to move back 2 or three rows at a time and eventually got close enough to reach our luggage. I grabbed
them and made my way forward again, Linda joined the line, and we deplaned.
Because we transferred flights, we didn't think our luggage would be on our flight. Afterall, it was on the plane that
arrived two hours before we did. So now we were on a mission to find our luggage.
I first waited at the carrosel - in case our baggage from our original flight was added to this flight. While I waited,
I asked Linda to see if she could find someone that might be able to confirm. She did find someone, and they said our
bags should be with the "claims office". So now we had to find that.
We went through Passport Control and Customs using our Global Entry. The GE agent pointed us down the hall. The
employee down the hall pointed us to baggage claim further down... oh boy...
We eventually wound up at the AA Baggage Claim Office. The woman working there asked "Do you see your luggage here?"
"No." "Then we don't have it." (Well duh.) We explained what happened with the switch from AA to BA, and she said
that since BA was our last flight, our luggage would be with them. She then confirmed this with a coworker who appeared
during our conversation. He said you have to go to A-West - which is the ticket counter in the area where we started
our whole journey two weeks prior - as BA has their baggage claim down there, rather than in a separate office like AA
has.
So we walked all the way down to the ticket counter. And there was no BA agent at the counter...
I suggested Linda wait at the BA counter while I go look to see if there might be another BA counter. Though there was
no other BA counter - I really didn't think there would be, but it wouldn't hurt to check - I spied William, who helped
us two weeks prioer, at the AA counter and explained to him what was going on.
He checked his system and found that he could not get the appropriate details as our luggage was BA tagged, not AA.
He dialed a local BA number he had to see if someone was local that could help, and the number was disconnected.
William proceded to tell me about BA's 800 number, and also told me about the "white courtesy phone" at the end of the
counter, and I should ask the operator to page someone to the BA Ticket counter.
I had someone paged.
After fifteen minutes of no one showing up, I suggested Linda go see if there was a generic customer service desk while
I waited in case someone showed up at the BA counter.
She came back and said she found someone, "let's go." So we walked aaaaaaaaall the way down to the other end of the
counter and spoke to someone. We really didn't make an further progress, so we went back to the BA counter,
aaaaaaaaall the way back at the other end of the counter.
Eventually someone finally showed up. And it turned out to be the woman that Linda spoke to an hour (or more) earlier.
The agent tried to track our information and told us that it looked like the luggage, after being transferred
electronically at Heathrow, never actually made it on a plane.
So what does THAT mean? She completed a Baggage claim report for us, and told us that the baggage should be on the same
flight we had today, tomorrow.
So we just have to wait, but at least we were told there was a website we could use to track the luggage. And assuming
the luggage WAS on that flight, and BA could confirm it as ours, they would ship it free directly to our home address.
Had the airline "lost" the luggage on a flight we were on, that would be one thing - but since this luggage issue
was the result of a last minute flight change, we don't consider it an issue with the airline. We could barely make
it from the first flight to the new one, so I'm not surprised the luggage couldn't.
This missed flight issue, on the very last leg of our vacation, was really the only issue we had. And this is the first
time we ever experienced a luggage problem too, though we have only flown maybe a dozen times in the many years we've
been together. And hopefully this will be the last issue we have.
Due to the later flight, and our luggage issue, we called for our pick-up shuttle at about 6:53. As we were at the
ticket counter - or a drop off point - we were told by the service that they could not pick us up, we had to go to the
arrivals area...
So we had to walk through a section of the airport again. At least we weren't at Heathrow...
At 6:58 we called for the shuttle again and told them we were at BA Zone 3. After a couple minutes a shuttle arrived
and we loaded our carry-on luggage and boarded.
Not long after we were at the parking lot. We put the luggage in the trunk, paid our parking fee, and headed home.
We stopped at Shop Rite to get perishables (milk, eggs, salad, fruit).
At the end of the driveway, we picked up our two weeks worth of mail, and by 8:45, we were in the house.
Home sweet home.
But our luggage was still on vacation. We tracked the location of the luggage's whereabouts via the British Airways
app. Saturday's return flight - the earlier one of the two we had scheduled - was actually delayed, for some reason,
for an hour and a half. Had that delay occurred the previous day, we would possibly have been on it, and with our
luggage.
The next morning - Sunday - I awoke first, and went downstairs. I decided to check the app. The luggage was delivered.
At 2:33 AM. AM. (This screen shot doesn't show that.)
We awoke to have it sitting on the front stoop. I had mine completely unpacked and started on
Linda's before she even woke up. Before lunch, everything was away, and laundry was started.
And that brings us to the end of this journey.
Until next time... (which will be in the fall of 2023 [our next Viking River Cruise], or spring 2023 [our
next road trip, including capitals]).