Hey family and friends, if you didn't hear all my flights home Monday (your Sunday) got cancelled. I was supposed to fly into London, Heathrow Monday night and leave Tuesday with a direct flight to Seattle. However, with only one runway open in all of Heathrow we kept getting delayed and delayed until it finally got cancelled. I'm not sure if my Seattle flight would have got out but for peace of mind I don't think I want to know.
They made us pack our stuff and go to a hotel for the night, which wasn't bad at all minus the disappointment and lack of information. We were given dinner and then rested so at 9am we could start calling British Airways, over and over with busy signals, to re-book. Hours later we finally got through and I was told I couldn't get home until December 28th and that was still traveling through Heathrow, which is obviously a death trap. They said I could cancel my flight and get a refund but couldn't offer the amount of the refund and I could only find out if I called from the USA.
Heartbroken because my sister is only in town for 4 days, I only had planned two weeks in Washington and on the 27th I'm supposed to start jury duty so there goes my life, and quite frankly after 4 months of living abroad and then watching 27 of my friends go home to their families I just wanted to go home.
My friends Kyle and Leah were on that same flight. We all started looking into other options to get home for the holidays. Leah's family got her an expensive ticket that took her east and got her home on the 22nd, so happy for her. Kyle hadn't figured anything out until Tuesday around 1:30pm they called us and said "pack your stuff, you're leaving on a bus in 20 minutes" so he got on that flight to Heathrow, which I believe left. However, they sent him there with no connection and I still don't think he is home.
I maxed out my credit cards and called an SOS to mom & booked 3 individual tickets that would get me to Seattle by Christmas Eve. Here is the rundown: supposed to leave Monday, Monday night in a hotel, Tuesday kicked out of the hotel around 5pm. Stuck in the Larnaca, Cyprus airport for 24 hours alone with all my stuff. 1 1/2 hour flight to Egypt, 14 hour layover. 10 hour flight to NY, JFK, 16 hours layover. About a 7-8 hour flight across country to Seattle and I'm there by Christmas Eve... if everything goes as planned, emphasis on if.
My time wasn't too horrible in Cyprus I suppose. Couldn't buy internet, but Monday night I treated myself to a sit down meal and the largest Carlsberg they could offer me. The flight to Egypt was horrible. First, they said "just for this flight only one small carry-on, nothing in the overhead bins" which is shady but I thought something was wrong with the storage areas, nope. So then I go through the process of trying to check my baggage, including my carry-on that had all my Seattle gifts and breakables, of course that would happen to me. And then the lady wouldn't connect my two flights, ending my baggage in NY even though it's all the same airline. The main guy stepped in and tried to help, but really all he did was not make me pay for my overweight bags. So then I go to my gate, get on the bus to go to the airplane and they tell us we have to identify our bags. All the bags were laid out next to the plane and it was ciaos. Then we walked up the stairs and everyone was getting body searched and they were going through every small carryon. As if that wasn't enough they started calling names and men were coming off one at a time and then returning. By that time I made friends with the South African couple next to me and they were just as concerned as I was. I have never feared a flight that much, nor considered getting off due to fear.
I stayed on the plane and half way through they told us why everything was so off, it was because "there was some kind of interference". UMM, sure that makes me feel real safe as we're flying over the sea with no place to go. To top it off, we land and everyone is waiting to get off, then they tell everyone to sit back down we were going somewhere else? After more confusion they end up letting us off.
I don't even want to speak about the confusion with Egypt Air in this airport but let’s just say the first 4 hours of my 14 hour layover were consumed with everything I didn't need to be a part of. First good thing to happen to me in the last 3 days = free internet in Cairo Airport. So if you want to get in contact with me I'll be on email and facebook.
Warm wishes to everyone back in the states. To Alexis and Kyle, I believe you guys are the only ones still stranded, good luck! Make it home safe. Also, thank you to everyone who took the time to write me via facebook, I love you all and hearing from you really helps. I'm hanging in there, it's been 61 hours since I left my apartment on Monday & I still have 43 hours to go. I guess you could say I'm testing myself right now, and dear "Egyptian Cop man, with a huge gun staring at me one floor up, YOU my friend are testing me".
I will try to keep you guys posted, miss and love you all. Write when you can.
XOXO,
Merry Christmas,
Kayla
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