I think it’s still the 6th August, my watch is on Costa Rica time, and it’s about 9.30, which is 11.30 here in Miami. So many things have happened today…
Got up at 5.45, when Helen and Kate came in. We left the hotel for the final time at 6.30am in order to get the 7am bus to the airport. We ended up on the 6.40 one because the bus stop was so close. Liz is staying for another two week, and is waiting in San José for her husband, Dennis. I have to admit that I nearly cried when we said goodbye to her and I nearly cried on the bus to the airport about three times. -It’s the whole “I’m leaving here for ever, I won’t see this place again” scenario, which is ridiculous because I liked it so much in Costa Rica that I’m considering the possibility of taking a work placement there after Uni. We got to the airport early and waited, filling out departure forms and checking in, then went over to the departure lounge.
Now comes the latest episode in the “Mark’s necklace” story. Having been firmly attaching it to his neck during the day, he took it off last night in case it fell off and he lost it. He got to the airport, only to realise that he had left it wrapped around the bedpost. To his excitement, he found one that looked exactly the same in the airport. This time, it cost $8, which I think is extortionate, but he was so pleased, that he bought it anyway. -Lets hope that he has better luck with this one. He also lent me his last dollar to buy a bracelet that I saw, and I paid him back in Colonés.
I was very greedy at the airport, eating two of the things I bought for breakfast from the great bakery just down from the hotel. I also bought 2 slices of pizza. (was so nice that I couldn’t resist a second slice), and then, I felt ever so slightly sick!
We got on the plane at the right time. I ended up sitting next to Jennie and Kate, with Mark and Geoff in front. I could have sat next to Mark as there was a spare seat, but I stayed in the same place, because Kate, Jennie and I drank Champagne with our Plane Meal lunch. (We had pineapple and papaya for pudding!) Mark put his seat back and there was a big gap between his seat and the empty one next to it, and he just sat there, pretending to sleep, and looking at me though the gap and holding my hand. -Very cute! We arrived at Miami on time and went off to Immigration, and there begins a whole different story…
We got into queues at the desks. We were directed towards one, but then they closed the queue, so Katy was in that queue by herself. The rest of us joined another two. As I waited, we saw Cheryl, who was in front of Mark, get taken to the side. -The instructions were to go to the right hand side once getting through Immigration. “Where the hell is Cheryl going?” I hissed to Mark. He shrugged, and I thought that maybe they were just checking something, and that she’d be back with the group in a few minutes. Mark went through as normal, then it was my turn. The woman at the desk took my passport and Boarding Pass to check them over. Then she turned to a guy next to her and said “Can you tell the airline that she’s going secondary.” He said “can you come with me please”. It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. I was taken to the left. Mark had already gone, and the only person left, Jennie, was in the other line and didn’t see me go. At the end of all the desks, there was a room, all made of thick glass. The man knocked on the door and it was buzzed open. All he said, was that it could be that something could have been printed incorrectly on my ticket. I called to Cheryl, and the look of relief on her face was incredible. It was obvious that she was close to tears when she explained that she’d just been taken away. She kept on saying that we wouldn’t catch the flight, and I was certain that we would. Nobody told us why we were there. Most of the other people in the room (about 40 people) seemed to be either Jamaican or Latin American and one of the women on the desk was really rude to everybody who tried to question them.
It was really frightening. The only people to speak to us were from Iberia. -“Is there anyone here for Iberia Airlines?” But there was nothing they could do to help. We got taken to this room at about 3pm, Miami time, and our flight was leaving just before 6pm. The last time I looked at my watch, it said 3.15. I was still on Costa Rica time, meaning than it was 5.15. I suddenly realised that everyone would be boarding soon, and that we weren’t going to make it, and I very slowly burst into tears.
Until this point, nobody gave us any useful information, but then, one of the stewards from Iberia came over and told us not to worry. “It is ok. Your teacher is staying with you. Your friends are boarding the plane now, but you can catch the next one”. That in itself was a major disappointment. We have spent a month with these people, and now, by the time we get back to Heathrow, they will have left and we haven’t said goodbye to them. Eventually, Jane arrived, and I started to cry again, partly due to relief. It was horrible.
By this point, a thunderstorm had started, and despite the state I was in, I was sane enough to notice what a spectacular storm it was. The lightning came in huge forks, all across the sky. I think that if I ever meet up with Cheryl after this, it’s one of the things that we may end up discussing for a while. -In order to combat our fears, we had already spent at least 15 minutes talking about the stars at the Pacuare Reserve.
At some point, about 6.30 I think, a woman called Cheryl and she was taken to a room and asked questions about whether or not she had been to the States before. They sent her back, and a few minutes later, her passport was given back to her. Then started another half-hour wait before I was called. This time, the woman just spoke to me at the side of the room. “Have I ever been in the State before? Which States had I visited? Hadn’t I even been here as a kid?” I explained that I had never been to America before, not even as a child, that I hadn’t visited any States, and that I was supposed to be on a two hour stopover in the middle of a transit flight. It was about another 15 minutes before I saw her again, and she was still holding my passport. She started to stamp it at the desk, and I got it back 15minutes later. Well, actually, it was given to one of the Iberia girls, who ran us out of the room, and off to the departure lounge. We had to have our visas checked and verified for us. -We had had to fill in forms once it became clear that we’d missed our flight. It turns out that it was a visa application, because to get to the departure lounge, we had ‘left the transit area’ and were therefore in America.
At the Iberia desk, we were given new boarding passes while Jane ran off to see what time the British Airways flight left. -It was a direct flight to London Heathrow, and if we could have got it, we would have arrived home before the others! It left at 8pm, and we would have to be at the gate by 7.45, giving us about 25 minutes.
Jane frantically telephoned World Challenge to see if the insurance would cover the cost of the different flight. She was told no. -The reason given, was that we couldn’t change flights/airlines in the middle of a transit flight. -Our tickets classed the San José/Miami/Madrid flight as one, complete flight. We would just have to wait until midnight for our next flight.
Jane was great. She asked if Iberia would provide us with food vouchers. They said no, because our delay was Miami’s fault, not the fault of the Airline. Jane said that instead, we would have a slap-up meal on World Challenge! She changed a wad of Travellers Cheques and we ran off to Burger King where I ate far too much. It didn’t feel like such a long time since lunch, or maybe I was just still full from the huge breakfast/lunch mix I had at San José and on the plane. I started to feel very sick, and it wasn’t helped by the huge amount I had to drink. -A Coca Cola Slush Puppy??? What a great idea!, Sadly it turned out to be more ‘cola’ than Coke, and very cold. Cheryl also got me a huge cup of water. (The drink re-fill machine). In the end, Jane and I dumped our half full cups in the bin.
Duty free window shopping and a visit to the hotel roof took up the rest of the time until we came up to the departure lounge, and now, we are waiting to get on our flight.
I came to the conclusion that no country is worth travelling through Miami, so next time I go anywhere, I’ll try to get a transit that stops anywhere but America. -Maybe I just won’t visit the USA, ever, and I fully intend to send Miami airport an e-mail, asking for an explanation. -Mind you, they were all so arrogant, and rude, that I’ll probably never get a reply from them. I think that Cheryl and I deserve them though. -Held for over 3 hours, given no information, missed our own flight, and the next one, and so having to wait 6 hours for a flight, needing a new flight at Madrid, and arriving home about 7 hours after the rest of our group. -If that isn’t enough grievances to complain about, then I don’t know what is! I’m just glad that we weren’t searched. The humiliation of that would have been too much after everything else, and I would probably be crying all the way home.
Day 32 Home Wednesday 7th August 2002
Well, I’m here.
We got onto our long haul flight at 11.30 Miami time, and we left at 12.00 Midnight. I still felt really sick, and went to sit in the loo for five minutes almost as soon as we were allowed to take our seatbelts off, just in case I threw up. Typically, as soon as I lock the toilet door, there seemed to be a lot of bobbing up and down. -Not really turbulence, but enough to make me wish I was still in my seat! -It happens every time.
The plane wasn’t really full, and Jane, Cheryl and I had the four middle seats to ourselves. Jane suggested that she lay on the floor (there was enough room at our feet, and she insisted that she’d done it before) giving us two seats each. Before long, Jane was stretched out, with her inflatable pillow and her Iberia pillow, and her blanket. Cheryl and I both put up the armrests and curled up into little, uncomfortable balls on the seats. I missed the first Plane Meal because I felt sick, and was too tired to eat. I didn’t really sleep though. Still feeling sick, I went to the loo again at 3am-ish. (I was till on Costa Rica time, so my watch said 1am) Then I went to sleep, and when I woke up, my watch told me that it was after 4am, therefore 6am Miami time. It felt very, very wrong. -We were served breakfast at about 4.20, but somebody opened their blind. I was nearly blinded by the light. I exclaimed “It shouldn’t be light!”, but by this point, we were approaching the coast of Portugal, and there, it would have been about 12 noon, I think. We landed at Madrid and had to wait for our next plane which was scheduled to leave at 3.55pm. In the airport, we ran into, and had to explain our situation to, a group of World Challenge people that had been on our Trans-Atlantic flight. -It was either the group that went to Peru, or the one which went to Mexico as we were travelling out to Costa Rica.
As were waiting for our flight to start boarding, a girl came over to us, and said “excuse me, are you on a Team Challenge? Where’s the rest of your team?” She was returning from a 4month Gap Challenge in Peru, and she was on the same flight as us. She asked if we were going to University this year. I explained that I was waiting for AS grades, Cheryl told her about her Art Foundation course, and when asked what University she was going to, Jane explained in a fit of hysterics that she was our leader. Her words were “I probably look different when I’m standing up”!! (She was lying on the floor, obviously something that she makes a habit of, as she also did it in the Miami departure lounge.)
When we got onto the plane, we said good bye to the Gap Challenge girl (we didn’t exchange names) and sat down, exhausted. Cheryl said “finally”, but I told her that I wouldn’t be happy until the plane’s wheels left the runway. I sat back and closed my eyes for a couple of minutes. The plane was delayed for half an hour. The plane started to move again, and I tried to relax.
A few minutes later, I opened my eyes to see why we weren’t moving yet, thinking that maybe we were waiting for our turn on the runway. I looked out of the window and yelled “Oh my God!!” as I realised that we were level with the clouds, and that the airport was nowhere in sight. On either side of me, Jane and Cheryl were fast asleep and we had all slept through take-off.
The flight went quite quickly, although we probably helped it along with the Bucks Fizz that we treated ourselves to. -And to think that when I was about 5, my parents had to pay for wine on an aeroplane. -Haha, Iberia gives champagne free!!
The seatbelt signs went on, and I automatically became desperate for a wee. -Just when it’s too late. The wait at the terminal was unbearable, and luckily, we didn’t need to go through baggage collection because World Challenge would have picked up our bags. As we dashed through passport control, desperately looking for toilet signs (a warning: Heathrow Arrivals has NO signs that point to toilets for at least a five minute run from the plane.-And believe me, we were running!!!!!)
I said as we swept off the plane “Wouldn’t it be really weird if something had happened to the others and they were here waiting for us”, and suddenly, almost as though I was a clairvoyant with a natural psychic streak, I was right. I couldn’t believe it.
There we were, running off in the direction of the (just found) toilets, when we got shouted at by Kate and everyone (but Kate was the loudest).There were huge hugs all round, and our arrival was greeted with much heartfelt excitement! We were wondering why they were there. -World Challenge had told Jane on the phone that they would arrange separate transport home for Cheryl and I, in addition to getting Jane back up to Aberdeen. But, there they were. It turned out that that beautiful (and lucky) storm in Miami had delayed the plane for over an hour, and although it was still at the airport when we left Immigration, we wouldn’t have been able to get on because it had moved away from the terminal. This delay made the whole of the rest of the team miss their connection in Madrid, the flight they got was only about 3 hours before ours. -By the time they got to Heathrow, there was hardly any point in them leaving early. When we said all this, Katy was horrified, and said “You didn’t think we’d leave you here, did you”. -Well, actually, we had. -They were supposed to arrive at Heathrow at 10.45, and it was now about 6pm. -Hours, and hours after they were supposed to leave. I was so happy that they hadn’t gone, because to spend a month with them, and then maybe not see them until our follow-up evening, would be awful, especially, if I’m honest, Mark. He’s the one I feel that I’m closest to, having finished the month, and the one I would have been most upset to not be able to say goodbye to properly.
We piled onto the minibus, me next to Mark, who fell asleep on my shoulder within a few minutes, so I got out my Iberia pillow (stolen from the plane -Well, I wasn’t the only one, everyone took blankets!) to make him a bit more comfy, because I have bony shoulders! For most of the journey home, I was quiet, watching as Stafford Services came closer and closer, and I did shed a few (silent) tears while nobody was watching. -I looked out of the window, over Mark’s head, and being at the back of the bus, with Simon asleep on the next seat, nobody could see. I think it was the emotion of sitting on an English bus, in the English rain, and the stress of Miami, and thinking about all the hellos and goodbyes there would be to say.
We pulled up at the services and I could see our car about 50 feet away. As soon as the bus stopped, I jumped out into the rain, and while everyone from Priestly ran to the loo, I ran to the car and burst into tears. My first words were something like “Miami was horrible, and me and Cheryl and Jane missed our flight, and I thought I was going to be arrested, and ooh, I’ve got a kind-of-boyfriend”, while giving Mum and Dad huge hugs. They were both saying ‘calm down’ and ‘welcome back’, as I was busy telling them how great it was, and how beautiful Costa Rica was.
Then it was time to say goodbye to everyone. Katy was getting a lift home with us, but I gave everybody else and hug, even Simon, although I think it was reluctant on both sides. Mark came out from the loo, and after patiently standing by and giving everybody else a hug, he took a couple of steps towards me, giving me a sort of “oh, come here” look and gave me a quick hug and kiss, and then it was time to go.
This was the ultimate end to the expedition. I tearful goodbye on some parts, all though I managed to redeem myself a little by not crying while saying good bye, and not since either. There has been so much to say, and so little time to say it all, and I can’t help thinking that the entire story will never be completely told to everyone, or even that anyone will really hear the entire story, not even read it here.
There are so many things to be said, and so made thoughts that should probably remain unsaid.
Right now, I’m writing this, sitting in my own bed, in clean pyjamas, and my own duvet, and a proper pillow instead of a folded up jumper, and wishing that I was elsewhere.
Maybe someday soon.
