Homeward Bound 2008
Trip Start
Jun 14, 2008
1
12
13
Trip End
Jul 02, 2008
Lansing,
Michigan,
United States
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Left the hotel at 7:00 am and got a ticket for Heathrow at the Tube station and it took around 60 minutes to get to Heathrow terminal 2. The only line delayed that morning was the Piccadilly line and of course that was the line I was taking to Heathrow. Checked in at the Air France counter and was directed to the Air France club to await the departure to Paris. On the return Northwest had me go from London Heathrow to Paris and then to Detroit and Lansing. The Air France flight was delayed around 20 minutes so by the time I got to the Northwest gate in Paris I had about 10 minutes until boarding. Nice flight to Detroit. This time the guy next to me spoke around 5 words to me, which was fine as I slept for about 3 hours after the meal. Arriving in Detroit, my bag was about the last one off the plane but I got through customs and went to the Northwest Worldclub to await my flight to Lansing at 7:15 pm. Spoke with Sandy around 5:30 and she asked if it was storming in Detroit. It looked very dark to the west and looked like something was headed our way. She said it was storming like crazy at home and wondered if I would get out.
Got to the gate to hear an announcement that the flight was going to be delayed due to the weather and we would be rescheduled for 8:15. Around 7:15 they asked us to get on the plane, a short window in the storm was there. Then the pilot came on and said the ramp was closed due to lightening and no one could service the plane. We needed extra fuel due to the new route to miss the storms. At 9:15 the pilot said there was good news and bad news, "You will be going to Lansing tonight, but it won't be me taking you as I became illegal 45 minutes ago." He indicated another pilot was going to be grabbed from the next canceled flight and would get to us as soon as possible. The pilot finally arrived around 10:00 and then said the ramp was closed again, so he asked us to leave the plane to take a break, indicating that once we left the gate we probably would sit on the runway for an hour due to all the planes waiting to take off. Got back on the plane at about 11:00 and took off at 11:45 arriving at Lansing at 12:15 or about 4 hours late. I had been traveling for almost 23 hours, but was finally home.
Europe 2008 complete!!
