Do you remember back in 2024 when I wound up back in Wales for an extra few weeks due to being five minutes late for check-in? Well, I'm back in Wales again, despite my departure date being yesterday--and I did everything right this time.
This has been the perfect storm of three (and potentially four) unrelated things that caused my flight to be canceled literally as we were all sat on it. Let's see...
- (potentially) Canadian wildfire (again)
- United Airlines having a backend issue that disrupted hella flights over the weekend
- The plane being late for cleanup and refuel
- A certain checked bag issue
So we're in London. It's been two-and-a-half months of eating, drinking, and being merry, and Caby and I, much as we love each other, are looking forward to settling back in at home. My bags are overfilled with snacks, plushies, books, music, and overindulgence, so I'm a little tired dragging them around, but it's fine! It's traveling. We got this.
I get the text at 5AM GMT that my flight has been delayed from 9:30AM to 2:45PM "because an earlier delay impacted your plane's arrival". Slightly wild, but alright, we'll relax a bit. Three hours later, another text tells me that the new departure will be at 4PM for the same reason. Caby and I rest a little before the Internet tells me that we should go in at our normal time in case the delay is reversed and I miss my flight. Fair enough, we spend the day at Heathrow.
After seeing the bonkers line for United customer service (which is what tipped me off about the aforementioned United backend issue), I learn that there is such a thing as checking in too early at both the electronic kiosks and at the desk. We go to Black Sheep Coffee in Heathrow's Central Bus Station and get lunch. Getting back around 12:30 (so already seven-and-a-half hours into my day!), I successfully check in after a quick bag repack to get it under the weight limit and we sit in departures until 2:30, talking about our futures and goofing around with stuffed animals. Big hugs, we be so brave. Things will be good. I leave for security.
I get to my gate with tons of time to spare and note another half hour delay. Must be trouble getting the plane ready for takeoff (which I learn was also a factor in the delays), but it's fine, we're still going.
Finally, I get to board, and we learn the plane is under a time crunch--the plane itself is legal to fly, but assuming the crew can't get everything ready by about 5PM, the flight is canceled, I think technically due to them not getting the rest they're legally owed all day. This would be fine if it wasn't for the aforementioned checked bag. You see, FAA regulations require that all checked bags have their accompanying passenger onboard. Some absolute spud checked in a bag and then fucked off the flight, leaving them scrambling under the time limit to remove this bag and get the flight going. Cabin crew are obviously not the ones in the hold and have zero idea if we'll be able to take off.
We never do. The captain comes on with a minute left and says that they've timed out. Flights up in the air, should they be late, it is what it is. On the ground, flights have a time limit before they just get canceled, and we hit ours. Another half hour has me waiting, still seated on the plane going nowhere, for them to sort out hotel and transportation vouchers so folks can get on a replacement flight to Newark the next day. I was going to take this, except my mom and my transport back from the airport can't make a 10AM EST arrival on a Monday. I have no choice but to get a refund and come back to Cardiff.
I'm fully convinced that, had all four things not happened, I would have returned home. I'm not home. I haven't had my own space and privacy in almost three months. I'm stuck in another country with no idea when I'm getting home. My savings are dwindling. I can't get back to streaming. I can't get on with medical appointments or enrolling for college like I intended. I can't get on drawing all day every day like I intended. I feel like I'm taking the piss even though none of this has been on me.
Worst of all, though, it's a stark reminder that you can do everything correctly and still not make it home. Deflating, exhausting, and disruptive.
It could be way, way worse, thankfully. I do have a place to stay, of course, Caby's house. Her folks have offered whatever they can to help me get back sooner rather than later, researching affordable flights through services I've never used (Expedia either gave me expensive direct flights soon, moderately priced direct flights in mid-August, and cheap 22 hour flights with layovers in Lisbon) and offering some financial support in paying for it, even, which is extremely generous of them. My mom has done the same. I do have into next year, legally speaking, before I have to exit the country, so at least the UK government isn't manhunting me right now. I was successful in getting a refund, though I'm unsure of how much at the moment since it was a round trip flight I only got half of, and United takes a bit to send you your money back. If it's even $250-300, I'll be happy. That's not far from half of what I spent.
I do still kinda wish I just took that hotel and 9AM flight this morning and then just hung out at Newark for ten hours, grueling as that would have been. Better a rough situation I know I can navigate than one that's up in the air. It's fine, though. I'll make it home at some point.
That does make three out of the four trips bookended with some disaster coming back, whether it was the wildfires in 2023, missing my flight in 2024, or this shit now. No idea what it is. Only one of those was my fault.
Given the disruption, my plans for what the rest of the year look like are all up in the air. If I can't make it home in time for the start of this year's semester, if they even have that at the college I was looking at (I haven't been able to find a concrete answer online), I'll just get another short-term retail job to make some money again and sort out stuff with my license and health until, I dunno, the spring. I had a friend who's been nudging me to do more Quake mapping, but I don't think that's in the cards. I'm not itching to rush out the next volume of marfGH right now either. Art Fight has already been kinda rough for me, having to share Caby's tablet, and now that's looking like the rest of the event as well. I'll have to scale back my ambitions.
I think I'll just relax today. Maybe read some. Lugging those bags around takes a lot out of you.
