Airline delays...surely not...

Day 6 – returning home…airline delays…who would have thought

I am ready to return home!! I miss my family and I miss Bloomington. It will be a long day today (leave Islamabad 8am Friday April 12 [11pm Thursday April in Bloomington] and arrive at 9pm Friday in Indy…home in Bloomington by 11pm Friday 12-April…about a 24 hour trip….

The day began with a quick trip to the airport…but that was the only quick thing so far…airport security in Islamabad…slow and not very organized. It took 45 minutes to get from the front of the airport to the departure lounge. Not so efficient and very frustrating. Also, I had forgotten that many people are “moving” to the US or wherever and using their luggage to facilitate that…It was not unusual to see a family with 5 “bags” that must have weight 100 lbs each. What a congested nightmare…

The flight finally got off the ground about 20 minutes late. This will make my connection in London a bit tight. But, hopefully there will be no problems.

No problems….ha, ha…

My flight into London was late, so I dashed off the plane and hurried through security and passport control and on to….nothing….there was no evidence of a Northwest Airlines flight to anywhere in the Heathrow airport. Just was beginning to panic the friendly British Airways person said…”Check out the KLM transfer desk”. KLM knew what I was talking about and directed me to the correct place.

Of course, the NWA flight was late….90 minutes late departing London to be exact. So, my 120 minute connection in Minneapolis, allowing me to get home, was now 30 minutes. I got off the plane in Minneapolis at 6:30pm with 40 minutes to make my 7:10pm flight to Indianapolis. Scurry, scurry, scurry….

First stop, passport control…wonderful…no lines, I walk right up to a desk with a big smile on my face, the smiling guy behind the desk chats me up a bit and then utters the fateful phrase no one wants to hear…”Supervisor to Lane 12”. So, I got grilled about my travels to Pakistan for about 10 minutes by the supervisor. He was very friendly and I am not complaining. Good, careful security is necessary and important. But, I was really, really getting nervous about making my flight, then final one to Indianapolis that day….

Bottom line is…I did make my flight by running…last person to board…

But, that flight was delayed also…so, I arrived in Indy about 10:15pm and in Bloomington about 11:30pm….yawn…