Day 2 - Still Traveling

The German poet Gothe said, "So divinely is the world organized that every one of us, in our place and time, is in balance with everything else."  With this in mind, I guess I should have expected to wake up from my post-dinner dream to a nightmare. . . and I did.


The flight into London actually arrived on time as promised, however, the weather in London had briefly shut down the airport and we were forced to circle for about 90 minutes.  Just the amount of time I had before my next flight.  I hoped that since we were "making a left pattern" as our pilot put it, my outbound flight would also be delayed.  It wasn't.  I rushed through customs, waited through security, and eventually sauntered up to the check-in desk where I could see the plane taxiing away.


True to form, the British Airways people were helpful, friendly and efficient.  (I'm sure if they hadn't been so efficient they probably wouldn't have left on time.   Grrrr.)  The gate agent said "Bad luck!" and proceeded to help me get rescheduled on the next flight to Austria in about four hours.  Four hours in Heathrow isn't as bad as you may think.  Heathrow is very much like an upscale mall.  Tons of shopping, restaurants,  food kiosks, pay as you go internet and lots and lots of people.  British Airways was kind enough to give me a voucher for 10 pounds worth of food while I waited and off I went in search of sustenance.  They had everything, fresh sushi, Starbucks, a caviar bar, multiple sandwich shops, pizza, and some restaurants where I couldn't afford to look at the menu,  I chose a bagel sandwich shop for the simple reason that they had one of the longest lines and that was a good indicator that the locals thought it was good food.  I ended up getting a roast beef with provolone, onions, and peppers on a poppy seed bagel.  Sound familiar?  Leave it to this south westerner to travel all the way to England to have a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich on a New York bagel.  


The four hours passed slowly, especially when the new flight was delayed by two hours. . . then three . . . then four . . . then an hour in the plane on the tarmac. As expected, the British Airways people were friendly and informative.  They even gave every person on the flight more food vouchers while they waited.  Apparently, British Airways knows that food acts as a sedative.  It's difficult to be unhappy AND well fed. 


Finally arriving at my hotel in Vienna around 2:00 am local time.  I got online to talk to Jen and then fell into bed.  


Somewhere along the way I've lost Saturday.  The calendar says it's Sunday, but I left on Friday and I've lost a Saturday.  If you've seen it, please send it to me.