We made it...to London
We started with a schedule for the week and quickly fell off track. Among other things, we had many donations of film and equipment to pick up around New York City. We had to move Sara out of her apartment and into storage, which made Sara homeless like Alexis. Everything that was coming with us on our trip was moved to East Williamsburg to Kristin's apartment.
Our flight to London was scheduled to leave at 8:01pm on Monday night. We had hoped to be at Kristin's packing up all of the cameras, film, computers, audio recorders, tape stock, clothes, etc. by 12:30 or 1:00pm. After running around all day on foot collecting various items for the trip on what felt like the hottest day of the year, we finally arrived at Kristin's at 4:00pm, sunburnt, tired, and so sweaty. We were able to borrow a scale from a friend of a friend. Knowing that the weight limit per checked bag was 70 lbs., we tried to combine heavier things with lighter things in the various bags and boxes we had to take with us. We were a little concerned when the scale read 12 lbs. peeking out from under the massive boxes. We wrapped the more delicate equipment in our clothing to keep it from breaking in transit. Alexis' mother called 20 minutes before we needed to leave for the airport and informed us that we could leave some of our baggage at the airport in London. We were ecstatic to hear this, but didn't realize at the time that since we had packed without the knowledge that we would be leaving some of our luggage at the airport during our stay in London, we had neglected to make sure that the bags that we would have with us had the neccessary amount of clothing for our stay.
With some help, we were able to pack two extra large cardboard boxes, three large bags, two carry-on suitcases, and two backpacks before the minivan taxi arrived. Three strong men loaded all the baggage into the minivan, leaving just a small space on the floor for Alexis. We rode to JFK listening to our sweet Polish taxi driver singing along to remixes of golden oldies. We arrived at the airport and unloaded. We dragged all of our stuff to what we thought was the right place and were told that we had to wait in a line around the corner that was reserved for our flight only. We dragged our stuff to that line, where we waited for two hours. Our flight was delayed, thank god, as the line crept slowly forward.
When we finally reached the check-in desk, we were told that our two boxes and one of our bags were over the 70 lbs. limit. We had to rip open the boxes and bag and quickly try to redistribute the weight among the 5 boxes/bags. We were told to move out of the way, since they were suddenly in a hurry and the flight was to take off in minutes. We moved over to a scale that, as it turned out, was six pounds off, which meant that we had to repack everything again. We finally had each bag at or below 70 lbs. We were told that we would have to pay $180 for our extra bag. The woman behind the desk told us that we had five minutes before our flight took off, that we had to run around the corner and pay the fee, and that she would hold on to our tickets and passports while we did it.
We ran to the ticketing desk, where everyone was taking their sweet time doing nothing. Alexis spoke to a woman who told her that if we wanted to pay by credit card, we could do so at the check-in desk. We ran back to where we had come from and the woman who had held our passports was gone. We spoke with another woman who told us that we would have to wait for her to return. In the meantime, she told us not to worry, that the plane wouldn't leave without us because it would take too long to unload our bags, and that she was hungry and wanted to go to lunch. The woman with our passports returned and had a conversation with the other woman all about lunch, when they should take it, how to coordinate to maximize the time that they could take, etc. She told us that she couldn't process our payment and had the other woman take us back over to the ticketing desk, where we were left ticketless while the woman left to get her supervisor. While she was gone, an agent became available and asked if he could help us, but since we had none of our paperwork, we were left standing in front of him feeling helpless.
The woman and her supervisor returned and began aggressively questioning us about who told us to return to check-in. "What did she look like?" "Which one is she?" We told her that the person who had told us was blond and no longer there. "No, everyone who was working here is still here. Which person told you?" "Curly blond hair or in a ponytail?" Finally, the agent who was all set to help us, diffused the situation and was able to process our payment. We grabbed our bags and he escorted us to security. But on the way, thinking he was helping us, he grabbed someone else's bag and took it with us to security. Upon realizing that he had stolen another customer's bag, thinking it belonged to us, he ran back to where he had come from.
We got to security and were putting our things on the conveyer belt, when suddenly the women from check-in were pushing in front of us, while repeating, "they won't leave without you, but you're going to take a while. We have to get lunch." The man at security told us not to worry, there were still a hundred people waiting to get on the plane.
We made it through security and ran to our gate. There seemed to be a huge line of people waiting to board at Gate 5. Sara ran to the food court to get some food, since we both had not eaten all day. She found herself behind the women from check-in, who were taking an extraordinarily long time getting their food. Suddenly, over the loud speaker Sara Feldman and Alexis Hudgins were being paged. Apparently, the huge line of people was waiting at Gate 6. We ran to board the plane and were told that our carry-on suitcases had to be checked. Alexis frantically retrieved her camera and lenses from her carry-on. We got on the plane and found that we were not even sitting together. We settled in next to strangers and hoped that dinner would come soon.
Six hours later, we arrived at Heathrow Airport in London. We made it through immigration. Reclaimed our bags and boxes, which it seemed had survived the journey. We headed for customs. We made it outside and happily left two boxes and one bag at the Left Baggage desk. It felt like such a relief until we realized that we still had one large bag, one carry-on suitcase, and one backpack each to transport on one bus and two trains from Heathrow to Barbican.
Finally, exhausted, and many staircases later, we arrived at Alexis' mother's apartment, where we passed out and slept for hours.
Our flight to London was scheduled to leave at 8:01pm on Monday night. We had hoped to be at Kristin's packing up all of the cameras, film, computers, audio recorders, tape stock, clothes, etc. by 12:30 or 1:00pm. After running around all day on foot collecting various items for the trip on what felt like the hottest day of the year, we finally arrived at Kristin's at 4:00pm, sunburnt, tired, and so sweaty. We were able to borrow a scale from a friend of a friend. Knowing that the weight limit per checked bag was 70 lbs., we tried to combine heavier things with lighter things in the various bags and boxes we had to take with us. We were a little concerned when the scale read 12 lbs. peeking out from under the massive boxes. We wrapped the more delicate equipment in our clothing to keep it from breaking in transit. Alexis' mother called 20 minutes before we needed to leave for the airport and informed us that we could leave some of our baggage at the airport in London. We were ecstatic to hear this, but didn't realize at the time that since we had packed without the knowledge that we would be leaving some of our luggage at the airport during our stay in London, we had neglected to make sure that the bags that we would have with us had the neccessary amount of clothing for our stay.
With some help, we were able to pack two extra large cardboard boxes, three large bags, two carry-on suitcases, and two backpacks before the minivan taxi arrived. Three strong men loaded all the baggage into the minivan, leaving just a small space on the floor for Alexis. We rode to JFK listening to our sweet Polish taxi driver singing along to remixes of golden oldies. We arrived at the airport and unloaded. We dragged all of our stuff to what we thought was the right place and were told that we had to wait in a line around the corner that was reserved for our flight only. We dragged our stuff to that line, where we waited for two hours. Our flight was delayed, thank god, as the line crept slowly forward.
When we finally reached the check-in desk, we were told that our two boxes and one of our bags were over the 70 lbs. limit. We had to rip open the boxes and bag and quickly try to redistribute the weight among the 5 boxes/bags. We were told to move out of the way, since they were suddenly in a hurry and the flight was to take off in minutes. We moved over to a scale that, as it turned out, was six pounds off, which meant that we had to repack everything again. We finally had each bag at or below 70 lbs. We were told that we would have to pay $180 for our extra bag. The woman behind the desk told us that we had five minutes before our flight took off, that we had to run around the corner and pay the fee, and that she would hold on to our tickets and passports while we did it.
We ran to the ticketing desk, where everyone was taking their sweet time doing nothing. Alexis spoke to a woman who told her that if we wanted to pay by credit card, we could do so at the check-in desk. We ran back to where we had come from and the woman who had held our passports was gone. We spoke with another woman who told us that we would have to wait for her to return. In the meantime, she told us not to worry, that the plane wouldn't leave without us because it would take too long to unload our bags, and that she was hungry and wanted to go to lunch. The woman with our passports returned and had a conversation with the other woman all about lunch, when they should take it, how to coordinate to maximize the time that they could take, etc. She told us that she couldn't process our payment and had the other woman take us back over to the ticketing desk, where we were left ticketless while the woman left to get her supervisor. While she was gone, an agent became available and asked if he could help us, but since we had none of our paperwork, we were left standing in front of him feeling helpless.
The woman and her supervisor returned and began aggressively questioning us about who told us to return to check-in. "What did she look like?" "Which one is she?" We told her that the person who had told us was blond and no longer there. "No, everyone who was working here is still here. Which person told you?" "Curly blond hair or in a ponytail?" Finally, the agent who was all set to help us, diffused the situation and was able to process our payment. We grabbed our bags and he escorted us to security. But on the way, thinking he was helping us, he grabbed someone else's bag and took it with us to security. Upon realizing that he had stolen another customer's bag, thinking it belonged to us, he ran back to where he had come from.
We got to security and were putting our things on the conveyer belt, when suddenly the women from check-in were pushing in front of us, while repeating, "they won't leave without you, but you're going to take a while. We have to get lunch." The man at security told us not to worry, there were still a hundred people waiting to get on the plane.
We made it through security and ran to our gate. There seemed to be a huge line of people waiting to board at Gate 5. Sara ran to the food court to get some food, since we both had not eaten all day. She found herself behind the women from check-in, who were taking an extraordinarily long time getting their food. Suddenly, over the loud speaker Sara Feldman and Alexis Hudgins were being paged. Apparently, the huge line of people was waiting at Gate 6. We ran to board the plane and were told that our carry-on suitcases had to be checked. Alexis frantically retrieved her camera and lenses from her carry-on. We got on the plane and found that we were not even sitting together. We settled in next to strangers and hoped that dinner would come soon.
Six hours later, we arrived at Heathrow Airport in London. We made it through immigration. Reclaimed our bags and boxes, which it seemed had survived the journey. We headed for customs. We made it outside and happily left two boxes and one bag at the Left Baggage desk. It felt like such a relief until we realized that we still had one large bag, one carry-on suitcase, and one backpack each to transport on one bus and two trains from Heathrow to Barbican.
Finally, exhausted, and many staircases later, we arrived at Alexis' mother's apartment, where we passed out and slept for hours.
posted by Sara Feldman at 6:01 PM
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