Houston?

Hello Readers (Mom)!

I'M IN LONDON.  Let me tell you, though, getting here was not an easy task. Luckily I was with three other Film students (Jeff, Julia, Collin), because if we hadn't been there to support each other I'd still be in Salt Lake...or Houston, crying in a corner. Houston? But why?

I'll tell you why.

Originally we were supposed to fly from Salt Lake to Houston, wait around for a couple hours, then fly to London. Our flight to Houston was getting more and more delayed and we got afraid we wouldn't make the connecting flight. So we talked to United Airlines. They put us on a Delta flight to Houston and we were supposed to make the connection without a problem. So we get on a Delta plane.

And then the plane stays on the ground.

For four hours.

"There's a storm in Houston and they're not letting anybody land. We can't take off until the storm passes."

"We are being redirected, so we'll have to go back to the gate and get more fuel."

"We accidentally put too much fuel on, and we might have to take some luggage off to decrease the weight."

"Nope, we're leaving the luggage on. We can take off now, let's taxi to the runway."

"Wait, they need us at the runway on the other side of the airport."

"Woops, now they need us on the side we were just on."

"We were taxiing so much our brakes overheated and we have to sit and wait for them to cool down."

Remember that episode of Community where they put people in room and keep telling them to wait, just to see how long it takes for people to completely lose their minds? Yeah, it was like that.

Meanwhile, we're realizing that we aren't going to make our connecting flight at all, which concerns us. Having been switched to a Delta flight, we become aware that United Airlines was not aware of the delays and wasn't going to hold the connecting flight. We panicked. I called United, was put on hold for 20 minutes, and talked to a guy with a thick accent who didn't know anything. (Pretty sure it was his first day on the job, he kept saying, "I don't know how to do this, I'm going to get my supervisor." and then putting me hold again.) I hung up.

We called a travel agent at BYU. THIS LADY DESERVES AN AWARD AND A FREE DINNER. She was super helpful and nice. She called United, let them know of our situation, and booked us on the next flight to London just in case. She stayed at work well after closing time to help us.

Eventually, the plane took off and we made it to Houston, exactly as our London flight was supposed to be leaving. As fate would have it, our terminal was on the other side of the airport. So. We. RAN.

We ran through that airport like a man  in a rom-com trying to catch the flight to Paris of the woman who's a magazine editor and his one true love. At one point, we jumped onto a tram to cross the bulk of the airport. Jeff had to squeeze/leap through the closing doors of the tram. It was hardcore, ok?

We make it to the gate. (I say "we" but I mean "they" because I was the one who was behind, wheezing, and saying things like, "Go on without me!" and "No but really, don't leave me. That was a joke. Don't leave me or I'll kill you." I also had to use the bathroom...it was at a level I don't want to go into.)

"Did we make it?" we said, panting dramatically.

"Nope," said the guy at the desk not even looking up from his computer.

"Are you sure? I can see the plane right there."

"That's not even your plane, you don't know anything about airports work, ok? You're too late!"

....At least I got to go to the bathroom.

The next flight didn't leave until 3:20 PM of the next day. We tried a little bit to get a hotel, but Delta said it was United's fault and United said it was Delta's fault. It was night and everyone was grumpy and rude, so we didn't get anything.

And we were suddenly staying the night in Houston.

Luckily, Julia (part of the Terminal Troupe, as we staring calling ourselves) lives in Houston and her parents were kind enough to let us stay at their house and wash our clothes and stuff. Thank you thank you thank you.

The next day was relatively hassle-free. We arrived at the airport early, got lunch, our flight was on time, we didn't crash and die, I watched movies, we landed in London, and we found our luggage.

This story is long and boring, but the point I want to make is that I'M IN LONDON AND I'M HERE TO STAY (temporarily).