Our trip is off to a stellar start. A few minutes before we were due to walk out the door for the airport, to catch our flight to Venice, Italy, I received the dreaded text. "We are sorry for the delay in your flight...." No!!!!!
This wasn't just any delay, mind you. Our flight was delayed by over five hours, so instead of departing at 8:50 PM (which is already rather late with four kids in tow), we were now slated to depart at 1:30 AM. That's the middle of the night!
As if that wasn't bad enough, we were informed that we would also miss our connecting flight, out of London Heathrow, to Venice. That's right, we now have a 14-hour layover ahead of us in London. So instead of arriving in Venice tomorrow night (since it is now 12:15 AM, that would officially be tonight, I suppose), we'll be arriving on Friday, at noon.
Our Airbnb, which was already paid for, will sit empty, while we potentially camp at Heathrow for the night. We will miss all the activities we already planned (and paid for) on Friday, in Venice.
I know this stuff happens, but when it happens to you, it sucks. There's no other way to put it.
As if the flight delay wasn't bad enough, it took us nearly 90 minutes to get to the airport (in the middle of the night?). The traffic was horrendous. I have never traveled at Christmastime, and I'm not sure, after this, that I'll be traveling again at the holidays. It was a sea of red lights for miles.
Tired, but still troopers....
Have you ever seen an airport, just days before Christmas, this empty? This is the international terminal. It feels a bit eerie. I suppose one positive thing about flying in the middle of the night is you beat the crowds. Garin said that an airport is the perfect place to be during an apocalypse because there's a lot to see, do, and eat. Tonight feels like a bit of an apocalypse here.
I applaud my kids for being such troopers. They are now seasoned travelers and if you travel enough, eventually you pick the short straw.