28 hour trips and British peculiarities

After I finally arrive in Athens, I will have been traveling (from Fort Worth to Athens) for a grand total of 28 hours. If everything had gone as planned, it was only supposed to take about 18.

Dad and I left for the airport at 1:00pm on June 3rd. My flight was scheduled to leave at 4:35, and Dad's was scheduled for 6:30. We both had a connection in London Heathrow before we reached our final destination in Athens that was scheduled to leave five hours after my flight landed in England. So after I boarded the plane in DFW  (the first time), Dad left to go to his terminal to wait for his flight.

After sitting on the plane for an (original) hour and a half delay due to mechanical issues, they instructed us to exit the aircraft and head to a neighboring gate where we would board a different plane. So myself along with all of my fellow passengers waited for the next plan to show up. Heathrow is a major European hub, so almost every person on that flight had connections that they would now be missing due to what would become a 4 hour delay. Since I was scheduled for a 5 hour lay over, I figured "eh, I should be okay to make my connecting flight." However, I went ahead and had the attendant give me a voucher for the next available flight to Athens, just to be safe. Turns out, that flight would not be until 9:40pm. 

8.5 hours later, as we are approaching Heathrow, the pilot learns that since our flight was originally scheduled to land 4 hours before, the runway was not clear for us to land. So we circled Heathrow. And circled. And circled. And circled. Until we were able to land, 30 minutes later. 

I now have 40 minutes to navigate Heathrow, take a ten minute bus ride to a different terminal, and make my way through security before my flight is supposed to leave. So as soon as I squeeze my way through the slow pokes leaving the tunnel..

boom. 

I hit the ground running. 

To lift my spirits, I started humming the Rocky theme song in my head as I run through the (unnecessarily long, if you ask me) tunnels which led to the bus that would take me to terminal 5. I'm sweating by this point, trying to keep my flip flops on my feet as I literally sprint to find that bus. I tried to ask some guys for directions, but I forget not everyone in the world speaks english (needless to say, they were no help). The cute little lady with a british accent at the check-in desk told me that it was too late (it was 11:55 by this point, and my flight was scheduled for 12:10), because I still needed to make my way through security. 

So here I am. Getting to know terminal 5 of Heathrow all too well. I'm sure there is a reason for all of this, and it will make me all the more thankful for that bed at the hotel I will finally arrive at around 3:00 tomorrow morning!

I've learned a few things on my trip so far, and I thought I would share:

-Brits call coffee with milk "white coffee"

-Not only do cars drive on the left side of the road...people walk on the left of the walkway. Makes sense, I guess.

-Airports look more like shopping malls than a place to board planes.