Day 19 Tuesday 20th April 2010 Settling back in again
We woke this morning, feeling quite relaxed and refreshed surprisingly. We had our buffet breakfast, and since the sun was shining again, and it was lovely and hot, decided that a day by the pool at the hotel was in order. We hung some of the still damp clothes around whatever we could find in the room to dry a bit better, changed into swim stuff, grabbed drinks, books, and sun cream, and staked our claim on some sun loungers. DF went into the pool for a while with the two DS, then lay beside me in the sun, while I read my book. The two DS were having a fun time in the pool, with all the toys and balls in there, and the other kids. Life was happy again. We thought that we wouldnt mind waiting for a flight like this, we could have been A LOT worse off! As long as we watched our expenditure wed be OK, and we might even try for the free day in one of the parks if we knew that our flight home wasnt going to be for some time.
Having settled and relaxed again, we were a little surprised when the Virgin rep came to speak to us by the pool. Again, we were to pack, check out, and wait in reception for a coach to the airport, the Glasgow flight was trying to leave again. That was great, but what about all the other people who were stuck? Should some of them not be ahead of us for a flight home? Apparently, because we had cleared immigration, and had actually been on the plane before it got cancelled the first time, our green cards had been taken from our passports, and technically we really shouldnt still be in the US without them, so they were trying to get us away as soon as they could! Ahhh, that makes sense.
So, off we trooped again, we had more time to pack this time, so things were packed properly, and we didnt leave anything in the dryers! Our luck seemed to be holding out, as the coach arrived, we all got on, and headed off to the airport. Again, luck holding, check in for the Glasgow flight was open! After quite a while in the queue, our turn came, and we weighed our bags, and waited for boarding cards... our check in lady then waited to speak to a supervisor... then tried to check us in again... then spoke to the supervisor again... then made a phone call and waited on hold for a long time. Meanwhile everyone around us was checking in fine, and getting their boarding cards. I was getting VERY worried by this point that we werent going to get on this plane, and would have to wait weeks for another one. Not too much of a hardship in sunny Florida, but the credit card wouldnt last forever, and the two DSs were getting very grumpy at not being able to get home.
Eventually the check in lady spoke to the person on the phone... and tried again to check us in... spoke to another supervisor... phoned again... and then I got up the courage to ask what the problem was. Remember the night Id lost it with the girl on the phone, trying to book us a flight home, and shed said the only one available was Manchester in two weeks time? Well, wed said to her not to do anything, but shed booked us on that flight. Now Virgin had stopped all new ticket sales, which had security locked some of the processes the check in staff had to use to re-book passengers onto different flights. All the other passengers were still registered on the original Glasgow flight, so had no problems, but we had been moved to that other flight to Manchester... Groan! What next! The check in lady was having to ask the supervisors, and phone the call centre to get us moved back to our proper flight. Tense wasnt the word.
Luck must have still been smiling on us though, because almost the last passengers away from the check in desks, we got our boarding cards for the flight! YAY! Straight through security to the gate area, a quick meal from Nathans as they werent sure what food was going to be on the plane, as it had sat there for a few days, and we were boarding again. Having been here before, we werent going to relax until that thing was actually in the air. We took off a bit later than scheduled, but we had a flight plan, and the weather reports said that if we took a roundabout route to Glasgow airport, we would be able to land.
We spent the whole flight waiting for the Captain to announce that we had to land somewhere else as plans had changed, but that announcement never came. We did take a bit of a roundabout route to duck under the ash cloud, but a bit late, we touched down at Glasgow airport, to raucous cheers, a round of applause, and lots of tears!
After passport control, baggage claim, and customs, we emerged into the arrivals hall to be met by journalists and cameras, it was the first International flight to land at Glasgow since the airspace had first been closed due to the ash. It was a bright, sunny morning, bitterly cold, but we were very happy to be home.
It had been a very strange end to the holiday, and almost overshadowed all the wonderful experiences and fun wed had for the preceding two weeks. However, it wont stop me going again, and I wouldnt hesitate to book again with Virgin Holidays, they looked after us all wonderfully. Especially when I got back to work, and heard some of the horror stories some of my colleagues went through trying to get home from their trips abroad. Roll on 2012 or 2013 for our honeymoon! Let the planning begin...
I know when the ash cloud happened , we joked saying 'we wouldn't mind being stuck in Florida'. In reality though, it must have been soul destroying not knowing when you were getting home or where you were sleeping that night.
