My Latest Flying Experience

Source: Viktor Forgacs on Unsplash 

I always get nervous before flying because something often goes wrong. Either I miss my connection or I lose my luggage or something eventful happens.

So because of past experience, I didn't expect an easy journey this time either.

I had an early morning flight on the 26th and I made it to the airport in plenty of time. There was a slight delay but that didn't matter because I had a four hour stopover in London.

So far so good.

There were more security checks than normal in Gatwick airport but I had time to do some shopping.

It was a smooth flight to Inverness with clear skies. There were spectacular views of the white landscape below. It's been ages since I saw so much snow.

As we approached Inverness airport, I could make out a bank of fog along the coast. The flight attendants made the usual preparations for landing. The plane started to descend through the thick fog that was surrounding the airport but then suddenly it shot up sharply. A few people screamed.

It's the first time that has happened to me. I was worried until the pilot announced that she had aborted the landing because of bad visibility. She said that she would make another attempt at landing as soon as she could.

You will probably think I am sexist, but I did wonder if the last minute change of mind had anything to do with the fact that we had a female pilot. Still, better to be cautious than risk a crash.

We had to circle for what was at least another 30 minutes before she had the courage to attempt another landing. We were successful the second time.

I was glad because had we not been able to land, I would not have made it in time for my Xmas turkey.

It was unusually cold in Scotland this winter. It stayed below zero for the whole time I was there and it snowed heavily most days. In some parts of the Highlands, the temperature fell to minus 20 degrees.

I watched the weather forecasts, especially paying attention as the date of my return journey drew nearer.

As usual, due to nerves, I got hardly any sleep the night before flying.

It was freezing on the morning of my flight with a lot of ice and snow. The news was full of the disruption in England due to the wintry weather.

I rang the local airport to check that neither of my flights had been cancelled. I was worried about missing my connecting flight in London but they told me to check in on time.

The Inverness - London flight left 2 hours late but I had four hours between flights so I felt relaxed.

The pilot made an unwelcome announcement as we approached London. He informed us that Luton airport had closed again and that we had been diverted to Stanstead.

After landing, we had to wait a while before we could get off the plane. I didn't have any baggage to collect - airlines have lost my case too many times. I rushed to the airline's information desk only to find a long queue with one person behind the counter.

I finally got on a bus to Luton airport. I was in no rush because I knew then that the flight to Madrid had been cancelled. Had I known that when I was in Inverness, I wouldn't have got on the first flight. So I spent a long, sleepless night on a cold airport floor.

The whole journey took me around 30 hours.

It's not the first time that I have "slept" on an airport floor - I've done it at least six times before.

You may think that 30 hours is a lot to travel from Scotland to Spain but it doesn't beat my previous journey home at Christmas. That one took me just 50 hours and involved an immense amount of stress.

Because of that experience in the Xmas holidays of 2007, I have sworn never to fly with British Airways again. I think they are the world's worst airline and I would recommend people not to fly with them.

What about you? Write a post about an eventful flight that you have had.