Jen and Rebecca While Away the Time at Separate Airports

R: I’m in Scotland! But I’m entering hour number 2 of sitting in the Edinburgh airport, which is a decidedly un-fun place to be spending your first evening of vacation. My travel plans went off without a hitch—I dashed off to the last few “here is what to do while I’m gone” work emails at 5:00, hopped on the lightrail to the airport, shared my traditional airport dinner of McDonald’s with Shaun (Mc—that’s got to be Scottish, right?), and boarded the plane on time.

After a few hours’ layover in Amsterdam, during which time I confirmed that the Verizon people were not, in fact, big fat liars and my Droid indeed does not function in Europe, I had another uneventful and nap-filled flight to Edinburgh that even arrived 10 minutes early. I was unreasonably excited to hear my first Scottish accents of the trip on the flight.

Jen’s flight was supposed to arrive an hour before mine, so I expected to see her smiling face waiting for me on the other side of customs. Sadly, no Jen. She had let me know she was concerned about the less-than-hour-long window to clear customs in London before catching the Edinburgh flight, though, so the lack of Jen wasn’t entirely unexpected. I wandered through the UK Arrivals Hall, in case she had caught the next flight which was her back up plan. Still no Jen. Plus she hadn’t emailed me any updated flight status as she said she would if necessary (as I learned from a pay internet station, not my phone, thank you very much.)

Shaun looks about as forlorn as I feel waiting for Jen.

The British Airways counter was at least a little helpful. They confirmed Jen’s flight was delayed out of Denver and so she must have missed the connection; however, all the flights from Heathrow were booked solid, so getting a stand-by seat could be tricky. Ack!
So Shaun and I waited at arrivals for Jen to magically appear. And I can’t believe there’s no bar to wait in! No beer! No whiskey ! I admit I had looked for a bar in part because I thought that’s where I might find Jen…

J: I had intended on meeting Rebecca at her baggage claim, but the fine folks at British Airways had other plans for me. The plane we were set to leave on had a bit of a bumpy landing on its way into Denver, so my flight to London was delayed by 2 hours. This, of course, meant that I was going to miss my planned connection to Edinburgh. However, the very nice gate agent booked me on the next available flight to Edinburgh from London (the rest of the passengers on my flight were content to follow directions and let BA take care of that while they were sleeping…silly travelers). Contrary to Rebecca’s beliefs, I did email her to tell her that I would be about 2 hours late. Once I finally arrived in London, I went straight away to the BA ticketing counter to receive my ticket for the later flight. I was one of the lucky ones because everyone else headed to Edinburgh got to make a stop in Manchester first. And, still attempting to be a good friend and travel companion, I asked the ticket agent if he could alert Rebecca to my new arrival time. He promised he would and even offered to call her for me (which thanks to Verizon, wasn’t really an option). But, either he failed to deliver on his promise or Rebecca failed to hear her page because she did not get the memo. Never fear though, I arrived a mere 3 hours later than originally intended and found Rebecca patiently (?) waiting for me in baggage claim.

R: Let the fun begin!