I knew it would be a tough commute over to Moscow. Because we were using miles and were using the expensive miles to fly business class, we had to settle for a less than ideal itinerary: Chicago to Boston (arriving at 1:00 a.m. to catch the 8:00 a.m. flight to London); Boston to London; London to Moscow.
Our first concession to this grueling flight pattern was to do a major RIF in terms of our typical baggage allotment. Friends and family have teased us for years about the amount of luggage we take - anywhere. We can fill up the back of our SUV with crap for 2 days in Michigan. So the prospect of winnowing down to a suitcase each was a bit awesome. But after dealing with lost luggage in places as exotic as Mozambique; as inconvenient as Barcelona; as frustrating as Jamaica (on our honeymoon) and as mundane as Seattle - just 2 weeks ago - I have become convinced that I am cursed when it comes to travel.
Lost luggage simply was not going to be our problem on THIS trip. The condition of the British Airways fleet turned out to be a bit more challenging.
Our first snafu was arriving at the American Airlines terminal in Logan to catch our flight to London only to learn that despite the fact that all of our documentation was from American, our flight was on BA and BA departs from a different terminal. No small feat getting transportation between terminals at 6:45 a.m.. We finally flagged down a good Samaritan Avis rental car shuttle driver whom we begged (literally) to allow us to board her bus. If she hadn't broken probably many corporate policies to transport us from terminal 3 to 5, we would have missed the plane. Which turns out, wouldn't have been such a problem. We made the plane ~ got settled in our very swank business class seats ~ had a couple of mimosas and then the pilot came on to say there was a "snag" (his exact words) and that we might be at the gate for a few minutes due to a problem with maintenance.
The "snag" turned out to be total mechanical failure, which to resolve would require BA flying a part from London to Boston. To compensate us for this misfortune, the crew gave us a sandwich, told us good luck and that "there will be some ground staff to help you reroute, but we really don't have enough people to do it so you are probably better off making plans on your own." HUH?
An hour later, we were rebooked on American to MIAMI to then fly to London to then fly to Moscow. All the while I am furiously texting our travel agent in D.C. to figure out Plan B as we are obviously not going to get to Moscow anytime soon.
The flight to Miami was uneventful - after a 3 hour layover where Brent assumed control of the Admiral's Club Lounge to watch the U.S. open - we got on our flight to London. OUr should I say we boarded the plane to London. Hmmm....seems there is a problem. This time with the hydraulic fluids. There is a leak in the hydraulic fluids. Another 'snag.' My confidence in British Air has now plummeted considerably and I am reconsidering why I didn't take a few Xanax ~ mimosas aren't quite strong enough to quell the catatrophic fantasies that start to dance in my head. 2 hours later, we take off for London ~ the plane got a clean bill of health. Nothing too much more on the inbound except for the fact that since we were 14 hours late into Moscow --- the private driver had left the airport; Starwood had cancelled our hotel room; and when we finally got the driver (more furious texting to Gordon our travel agent), we sat in the parking lot in the POURING rain while I was on the phone trying to remember my password to the Starwood account to get our room back.
Throughout this very tortuous and tiring set of debacles, something interesting occured. I was calm. I did not fight with my husband. Not even a snarl. Nor did he grouch at me. I kept saying - outloud to the both of us - It is what it is. I found myself observing myself. Doing a lot of self talk. Reviewing what my options were and what was and was not in my control. We both focused on positive actions forward. It was surreal, in a wonderful way. A firm believer in the credo "there are no accidents", I figured there was some natural flow in this turn of events. For whatever reason, this plan (nine months in the making) was unfolding with different logistics; different timing; different airports. While inconvenienced a bit, I found humor. At one point, Brent turned to me and said "do you think we'll spend our entire vacation on airplanes?"
We eventually got to the hotel. And I left my phone in the car. Another 'it is what it is."
To be continued....
Our first concession to this grueling flight pattern was to do a major RIF in terms of our typical baggage allotment. Friends and family have teased us for years about the amount of luggage we take - anywhere. We can fill up the back of our SUV with crap for 2 days in Michigan. So the prospect of winnowing down to a suitcase each was a bit awesome. But after dealing with lost luggage in places as exotic as Mozambique; as inconvenient as Barcelona; as frustrating as Jamaica (on our honeymoon) and as mundane as Seattle - just 2 weeks ago - I have become convinced that I am cursed when it comes to travel.
Lost luggage simply was not going to be our problem on THIS trip. The condition of the British Airways fleet turned out to be a bit more challenging.
Our first snafu was arriving at the American Airlines terminal in Logan to catch our flight to London only to learn that despite the fact that all of our documentation was from American, our flight was on BA and BA departs from a different terminal. No small feat getting transportation between terminals at 6:45 a.m.. We finally flagged down a good Samaritan Avis rental car shuttle driver whom we begged (literally) to allow us to board her bus. If she hadn't broken probably many corporate policies to transport us from terminal 3 to 5, we would have missed the plane. Which turns out, wouldn't have been such a problem. We made the plane ~ got settled in our very swank business class seats ~ had a couple of mimosas and then the pilot came on to say there was a "snag" (his exact words) and that we might be at the gate for a few minutes due to a problem with maintenance.
The "snag" turned out to be total mechanical failure, which to resolve would require BA flying a part from London to Boston. To compensate us for this misfortune, the crew gave us a sandwich, told us good luck and that "there will be some ground staff to help you reroute, but we really don't have enough people to do it so you are probably better off making plans on your own." HUH?
An hour later, we were rebooked on American to MIAMI to then fly to London to then fly to Moscow. All the while I am furiously texting our travel agent in D.C. to figure out Plan B as we are obviously not going to get to Moscow anytime soon.
The flight to Miami was uneventful - after a 3 hour layover where Brent assumed control of the Admiral's Club Lounge to watch the U.S. open - we got on our flight to London. OUr should I say we boarded the plane to London. Hmmm....seems there is a problem. This time with the hydraulic fluids. There is a leak in the hydraulic fluids. Another 'snag.' My confidence in British Air has now plummeted considerably and I am reconsidering why I didn't take a few Xanax ~ mimosas aren't quite strong enough to quell the catatrophic fantasies that start to dance in my head. 2 hours later, we take off for London ~ the plane got a clean bill of health. Nothing too much more on the inbound except for the fact that since we were 14 hours late into Moscow --- the private driver had left the airport; Starwood had cancelled our hotel room; and when we finally got the driver (more furious texting to Gordon our travel agent), we sat in the parking lot in the POURING rain while I was on the phone trying to remember my password to the Starwood account to get our room back.
Throughout this very tortuous and tiring set of debacles, something interesting occured. I was calm. I did not fight with my husband. Not even a snarl. Nor did he grouch at me. I kept saying - outloud to the both of us - It is what it is. I found myself observing myself. Doing a lot of self talk. Reviewing what my options were and what was and was not in my control. We both focused on positive actions forward. It was surreal, in a wonderful way. A firm believer in the credo "there are no accidents", I figured there was some natural flow in this turn of events. For whatever reason, this plan (nine months in the making) was unfolding with different logistics; different timing; different airports. While inconvenienced a bit, I found humor. At one point, Brent turned to me and said "do you think we'll spend our entire vacation on airplanes?"
We eventually got to the hotel. And I left my phone in the car. Another 'it is what it is."
To be continued....
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