RachaelAitken
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 27, 2004
- Messages
- 79
The family Me Rachael 32 Nurse and mummy,
DH Fellow disney fan,and prison officer but don't let onto them hes a softie!!
DD4 and DS2
Well day two arrived grey and rainy in the London smog and it was one of those days where you feel so smug to be leaving it behind for the sunshine.
We all awoke about 7am and after washing and dressing dropped off the last bits at the car and headed to the terminal for check in.
We were travelling with Thomas Cook and got a space in the queue about ten people down. We must have timed it just right as there were soon
throngs behind muttering and moaning about being up so early. You'd think you were forcing them to go on their hols.It was a relief to ditch the suitcases and after geting our boarding cards we headed into the departure lounge.
We had brought some muffins and croissants with us so just sat and had these with a takeaway coffee. The lounge was very busy i guess because it was a saturday. We then took it in turns to have a look around the shops where i indulged in some perfume and got some magazines to read on the plane. We had kept the pushchair for Hudson but the shops were too busy to get a pushchair in and out so we amused him by looking at the planes.
Soon our time had come and we set off for our gate which again was jam packed. Alhough they were calling for children and special needs first few people were adhering to this and it was a real stampede with not enough chairs to go around.
Huds now had to come out of his pushchair which led to a stressfull half hour trying to hold onto him whilst a woman with thick make up and real attitude made me take off my shoes, belt coat and turn out my handbag whilst she searched through with a fine tooth comb. Not sure what she was expecting to find and i'm all for security but i'm sure international terrorists don't travel with small boys causing a rumpus.
After what seemed an eternity i was reunited with my clothing and we were seated by a window two in front of another. As we got into the plane i commented to hubby that i could smell burning never realising what was in store!!
I had struck a deal with DH that he would have the little fella on the way out and i would on the way back. Me and DD got all belted up and after a very smooth take of we were in the air on time. Now i'm not a great flyer and hate the beeps, bells and engine noises. However i don't want to pass that fear onto the kids so kept smiling through gritted teeth. Next time we go we aim to fly Virgin. This time we were with Brittannia so only had a shared TV screen with no control over what you watched and when. The leg room however was adequate and i couldn't see a huge difference between ours and those swanking it up in the premier section. We had lunch which was barely edible but the roll and chese were ok and i had bought a few lunchables in the airport for the kids and they seemed happy with these.Each child also had a little bag i had prepared with a walkman, tapes stickers and colouring and they were good as gold.
After lunch i thought i would have a little snooze and while away a few hours of the flight. I had dare i say started to relax a little when i noticed one of the pilots whizzing past with a vey distressed looking air hostess.Now as a nurse i'm good at reading body langauge and was instantly alarmed i just knew something was up. However i'm also utterly naive and hadn't realised that the fact our ears were popping and that i had been admiring ice topped land was a warning sign.!!
Two minutes later the bing bong went and the telly went off. Instantly people awoke from their slumbers and took notice. A very well spoken voice came over the tannoy and it went along the lines of " You may have noticed ladies and gentleman that we have begun our descent, this is because we have an overheating boiler in the rear galley which may be on fire and we feel it prudent to land and evacuate as quickly as possible. We are therefore making arrangements to land at Camp Goose military base in Canada in aprox 20 minutes""
Now as i write this to you i still have that shaky nauseating feeling i had then , that i was about to die with my DH and little ones. I genuinly have never been so scared apart from the time Hudson nearly choked on a cocktail sausage!! Everyone was being terribly British and smiling reasuingly at each other noone panicking but you could see in peoples eyes they were scared stupid. Twenty minutes seemed like an eternity and all sorts of thoughts were rushing through my mind. DH kept mouthing to me it will be allright and i just hugged the life out of DD for comfort.The air hostesses were obviouly scared too and were esentially preparing us for a crash landing rushing round clearing up trays and anything loose was literally being thrown into overhead lockers out of the way.It was probably my imagination but the burning smell seemed to be worsening.I was later to learn that they weren't sure if the burning smell was an engine on fire!!
Anyway as you will have guessed as i am still here able to write this to you the lane landed heavily on the tarmac of Camp Goose in Canada. I have always wanted to visit canada but not in these circumstances.The fact that four hundred plus people had arrived out of the sky had obviously created utter chaos and as there was no immediate fire we had to stay on the plane whilst they decided what to do with us. To cut an awfull lot of argy bargy short they decided that as the plane was overweight on landing it would need a full assessment by an engineer. The nearest one was in NY and would hae to be flown up which would take around four hours.This then put the pilot and air crew over their legal time on shift so to allow their rest period and time for the service we would all have to stop for the night.Shame the same rules don't apply for the NHS!!
Customs officials had to be arranged so we waited an eternity to be disembarked. I was so relieved to be in one piece i was beyond caring. We still had to go through the usual here for buisness or plesure routine which made us laugh
We all got a canada stamp in our passports.
It was nice to be in the fresh air and was a nice warm day. Oficials were then in a panic setting up food for us all and local accomodation as well as phones so that family could be informed and travel plans changed. I am so impressed with their attitude and efficiency...they arranged nappies, baby milk toothbrushes etc for everyone as we obviously were allowed to take nothing from the plane.This must have ben hard to find in this tiny little town.Again the British spirit was evident and veryone was calm and took turns in a very dignified way. As we had small children we were allocated a room at a local motel...all paid for. Others had to stay at the barracks the night. When we arrived it was very basic but had a bed and bathroom so after a much needed wash and freshen up we had a lovely meal and settled down for the night just relieved to be alive and well despite the bizzare start to the holiday!
DH Fellow disney fan,and prison officer but don't let onto them hes a softie!!
DD4 and DS2
Well day two arrived grey and rainy in the London smog and it was one of those days where you feel so smug to be leaving it behind for the sunshine.
We all awoke about 7am and after washing and dressing dropped off the last bits at the car and headed to the terminal for check in.
We were travelling with Thomas Cook and got a space in the queue about ten people down. We must have timed it just right as there were soon
throngs behind muttering and moaning about being up so early. You'd think you were forcing them to go on their hols.It was a relief to ditch the suitcases and after geting our boarding cards we headed into the departure lounge.
We had brought some muffins and croissants with us so just sat and had these with a takeaway coffee. The lounge was very busy i guess because it was a saturday. We then took it in turns to have a look around the shops where i indulged in some perfume and got some magazines to read on the plane. We had kept the pushchair for Hudson but the shops were too busy to get a pushchair in and out so we amused him by looking at the planes.
Soon our time had come and we set off for our gate which again was jam packed. Alhough they were calling for children and special needs first few people were adhering to this and it was a real stampede with not enough chairs to go around.
Huds now had to come out of his pushchair which led to a stressfull half hour trying to hold onto him whilst a woman with thick make up and real attitude made me take off my shoes, belt coat and turn out my handbag whilst she searched through with a fine tooth comb. Not sure what she was expecting to find and i'm all for security but i'm sure international terrorists don't travel with small boys causing a rumpus.
After what seemed an eternity i was reunited with my clothing and we were seated by a window two in front of another. As we got into the plane i commented to hubby that i could smell burning never realising what was in store!!
I had struck a deal with DH that he would have the little fella on the way out and i would on the way back. Me and DD got all belted up and after a very smooth take of we were in the air on time. Now i'm not a great flyer and hate the beeps, bells and engine noises. However i don't want to pass that fear onto the kids so kept smiling through gritted teeth. Next time we go we aim to fly Virgin. This time we were with Brittannia so only had a shared TV screen with no control over what you watched and when. The leg room however was adequate and i couldn't see a huge difference between ours and those swanking it up in the premier section. We had lunch which was barely edible but the roll and chese were ok and i had bought a few lunchables in the airport for the kids and they seemed happy with these.Each child also had a little bag i had prepared with a walkman, tapes stickers and colouring and they were good as gold.
After lunch i thought i would have a little snooze and while away a few hours of the flight. I had dare i say started to relax a little when i noticed one of the pilots whizzing past with a vey distressed looking air hostess.Now as a nurse i'm good at reading body langauge and was instantly alarmed i just knew something was up. However i'm also utterly naive and hadn't realised that the fact our ears were popping and that i had been admiring ice topped land was a warning sign.!!
Two minutes later the bing bong went and the telly went off. Instantly people awoke from their slumbers and took notice. A very well spoken voice came over the tannoy and it went along the lines of " You may have noticed ladies and gentleman that we have begun our descent, this is because we have an overheating boiler in the rear galley which may be on fire and we feel it prudent to land and evacuate as quickly as possible. We are therefore making arrangements to land at Camp Goose military base in Canada in aprox 20 minutes""
Now as i write this to you i still have that shaky nauseating feeling i had then , that i was about to die with my DH and little ones. I genuinly have never been so scared apart from the time Hudson nearly choked on a cocktail sausage!! Everyone was being terribly British and smiling reasuingly at each other noone panicking but you could see in peoples eyes they were scared stupid. Twenty minutes seemed like an eternity and all sorts of thoughts were rushing through my mind. DH kept mouthing to me it will be allright and i just hugged the life out of DD for comfort.The air hostesses were obviouly scared too and were esentially preparing us for a crash landing rushing round clearing up trays and anything loose was literally being thrown into overhead lockers out of the way.It was probably my imagination but the burning smell seemed to be worsening.I was later to learn that they weren't sure if the burning smell was an engine on fire!!
Anyway as you will have guessed as i am still here able to write this to you the lane landed heavily on the tarmac of Camp Goose in Canada. I have always wanted to visit canada but not in these circumstances.The fact that four hundred plus people had arrived out of the sky had obviously created utter chaos and as there was no immediate fire we had to stay on the plane whilst they decided what to do with us. To cut an awfull lot of argy bargy short they decided that as the plane was overweight on landing it would need a full assessment by an engineer. The nearest one was in NY and would hae to be flown up which would take around four hours.This then put the pilot and air crew over their legal time on shift so to allow their rest period and time for the service we would all have to stop for the night.Shame the same rules don't apply for the NHS!!
Customs officials had to be arranged so we waited an eternity to be disembarked. I was so relieved to be in one piece i was beyond caring. We still had to go through the usual here for buisness or plesure routine which made us laugh
We all got a canada stamp in our passports. It was nice to be in the fresh air and was a nice warm day. Oficials were then in a panic setting up food for us all and local accomodation as well as phones so that family could be informed and travel plans changed. I am so impressed with their attitude and efficiency...they arranged nappies, baby milk toothbrushes etc for everyone as we obviously were allowed to take nothing from the plane.This must have ben hard to find in this tiny little town.Again the British spirit was evident and veryone was calm and took turns in a very dignified way. As we had small children we were allocated a room at a local motel...all paid for. Others had to stay at the barracks the night. When we arrived it was very basic but had a bed and bathroom so after a much needed wash and freshen up we had a lovely meal and settled down for the night just relieved to be alive and well despite the bizzare start to the holiday!
