Had a real scare in London!

Whew! We made it to Los Angeles!  So far we have been up 22 hours and are just about to go get something to eat.  But I need to tell you the story of today from the beginning -

Alan and I picked up Jim and Jennifer and checked in no problem in Glasgow to fly to London Heathrow.  At Heathrow, Alan and I were pulled aside because there was a question about our ESTA's.  An ESTA is a US government requirement for all non US citizens to submit prior to flying to the US.  Alan had done his last year, but somehow it had not registered and they were concerned about me not having one.  Turned out, Alan's was ok and they finally realized I was American.

So we settled ourselves down to wait for our flight, when suddenly, Alan gets a phone call from Colin at British Airways who says his reservations have been flagged up and our seats are cancelled!  the other 3 of us were listening to this conversation, that just seemed to go on and on.  Alan was very cool about it, didn't get loud or angry or anything, just quietly desperate.  but it was going nowhere, so I asked to speak and I immediately began to grovel to this Colin guy, baring my soul and begging shamelessly to let us get on the plane.  Jim and Jennifer were horrified because they were not bumped.  It was awful.  then while I was talking to "Colin", he confessed that it was really Craig and he works with Alan at Cowcaddens Fire Brigade Training Centre!  Boy was I not amused! 

I gave the phone to Alan and Craig confessed that this was a wind up! Firefighters are renowned for their practical jokes and this was a very good one.  Craig could not have known we had already been flagged and this was so perfectly timed after that.

Although I did appreciate the quality of the practical joke in general, all three of us had to have chocolate following this conversation!



 
View over Greenland, we did not see Iceland and the famous ash cloud.  We never expected to see this view today either.  Not only did we have the cancelled seats scare, minutes before boarding, it was announced the British Airways strike could go on, it had been challenged in the courts. 
 
However, we did board and things were different than normal, no duty free sales, no service apart from meals.  That was actually really good because we could just get up and help ourselves, like going into your own kitchen!
 
!We are not even going to wonder about how we get back, we are just going to focus on the present.