Oue journey to Crete was an experience and a half in itself. We got up early and went to secure the horses and clean the field (more pooh shovelling). When we got back to the house the girls were not finished packing. Anyone who knows how long it takes teenage girls to pack a suitcase knows this can be a very, very long time. We decided to go in two cars. My brother in law and two daughters and friend in one car, my sister and me in another car. My sis and I set off a bit earlier to Gatwick, about 3 hours away. The second car about 30 mins later. Halfway there we get a telephone message that something is wrong with their car. Sis and I pull off the motorway (bad move) to turnback. Only to find ourselves on another motorway with no turn off for 10 miles. Its getting close to check in and we are heading away. Finally we get back on the right motorway again. The second car manages ok, but is still behind and going slow because it has an overheating problem. Battling traffic jams and so on we make it to the bus port. Only 10 mins to last check in. Sis and I take the next bus to the airport hoping to check in it for the car behind that has not arrived yet. My nerves are begining to fray. The bus we take is slowed by an accident to the entrance of the airport, a biker has come off in the road, every minuet ticks by in agony.
Once there we bolt up the elevator and run like hell to the check in desks, just hoping the others are pulling in on another bus outside. The checkin desk says that they are closed 5 mins ago and we cannot go on. Dejected we amble over to the airline hoping to workout another flight. The attendant there says she will ring to see if the plane is still docked and if we can still make it. God bless her. We can!, but we have to hurry and run. Sis starts loading the luggage, meanwhile I run down the elevator to find the others coming in the front doors. We all run up to check in. After check in we all run like crazy down to the gates. My God it seemed to go on for ever, corridor after corridor, I thought someones going to have a heart attack and it most likely be me. At last we burst into the gate lounge. And what did I see? Full of people relaxing, lounging about. No one has even boarded the plane yet!.
Gasping and gasping for air from our sprint, we get a chance to catch a drink and snack and sit down. I mean what the hell?. Them telling us we are too late and the plane is not even open yet! I am so relived to of made it and exhausted that I just let the irritation pass.
15 mins after we were supposed to take off we all finally boarded. Thank God we are finally on our way at last. With my backside planted at last on the plane seat, nothing else can go wrong can it?. After what seemed like an eternity we finally taxied down to the park by the runway. There was a distubance behind us in the seats. A young man got up, "I cant do it, I cant do it" he moans. The stewardess goes over to him. his friends calm him down and the stewardess goes back to her seat. Up he pops again, "Sit down she commands him, but he refuses, babling and crying. Oh God!, what now I think. The stewardess is on the phone to the pilot, who is just about to turn us onto the runway. The plane turns around and we head back to the terminal. we dont go back to the same place, no, they direct us to a place away from other buildings. Out the window I can see police vehicles turning up and guys comming out armed to the teeth. Jeez!. Now we are a suspect plane. Mr. I cant do it, gets escorted off the plane to a police minibus under armed guard. I can see him thru the window getting grilled by the officers. I can imagine the questions. " Yes, yes, so you say you are afraid of flying, but WHY do you want to get off THIS flight so badly'". They had him in there and us parked for 3 hours. They removed his luggage from the hold, which they probibly had to search thru 300 peoples to find. I hope they blew it up as a precaution.
We were told he had a flying nerves. But we did eventually get to Crete , only 5 hours later and to our hotel at 1am in the morning and not at 5pm we expected. Happily the rest of the holiday was a million miles better than how it started off.
Once there we bolt up the elevator and run like hell to the check in desks, just hoping the others are pulling in on another bus outside. The checkin desk says that they are closed 5 mins ago and we cannot go on. Dejected we amble over to the airline hoping to workout another flight. The attendant there says she will ring to see if the plane is still docked and if we can still make it. God bless her. We can!, but we have to hurry and run. Sis starts loading the luggage, meanwhile I run down the elevator to find the others coming in the front doors. We all run up to check in. After check in we all run like crazy down to the gates. My God it seemed to go on for ever, corridor after corridor, I thought someones going to have a heart attack and it most likely be me. At last we burst into the gate lounge. And what did I see? Full of people relaxing, lounging about. No one has even boarded the plane yet!.
Gasping and gasping for air from our sprint, we get a chance to catch a drink and snack and sit down. I mean what the hell?. Them telling us we are too late and the plane is not even open yet! I am so relived to of made it and exhausted that I just let the irritation pass.
15 mins after we were supposed to take off we all finally boarded. Thank God we are finally on our way at last. With my backside planted at last on the plane seat, nothing else can go wrong can it?. After what seemed like an eternity we finally taxied down to the park by the runway. There was a distubance behind us in the seats. A young man got up, "I cant do it, I cant do it" he moans. The stewardess goes over to him. his friends calm him down and the stewardess goes back to her seat. Up he pops again, "Sit down she commands him, but he refuses, babling and crying. Oh God!, what now I think. The stewardess is on the phone to the pilot, who is just about to turn us onto the runway. The plane turns around and we head back to the terminal. we dont go back to the same place, no, they direct us to a place away from other buildings. Out the window I can see police vehicles turning up and guys comming out armed to the teeth. Jeez!. Now we are a suspect plane. Mr. I cant do it, gets escorted off the plane to a police minibus under armed guard. I can see him thru the window getting grilled by the officers. I can imagine the questions. " Yes, yes, so you say you are afraid of flying, but WHY do you want to get off THIS flight so badly'". They had him in there and us parked for 3 hours. They removed his luggage from the hold, which they probibly had to search thru 300 peoples to find. I hope they blew it up as a precaution.
We were told he had a flying nerves. But we did eventually get to Crete , only 5 hours later and to our hotel at 1am in the morning and not at 5pm we expected. Happily the rest of the holiday was a million miles better than how it started off.
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