Enquire Airline

To Judy Chan and her beautiful girls, and Gemma, Suzy & Ann- the best queuemates in all of London.

A few excerpts from the journal of Carl...

The boards here at Heathrow tell me it's 8 Jan, 07:35 GMT, and I am forced to take it on faith as neither my mind nor my body have the bearing to inform me otherwise. I've now been in London for 48 hours- forty of which in Terminal 5, ten of those waiting in a single queue in an attempt to re-book a flight; fifteen in the best thing to happen to me in London- the red couches outside Gate A15. I've probably spent eighteen total hours in queues and three hours staring at flight boards, waiting in vain for a gate number to pop up, only to see my two most-hated words in the English language. The boarding pass inside my passport and tucked in my left breast pocket is the fourth I've had in the last two days- each with the same departure and arrival cities, and each thus far with the same result: Enquire Airline.

It has been a trying few days, but it's been a very insightful experience. I've seen combatant Italian women; fun, pushy and inconsiderate Greeks; thick Americans; fun-loving Brits, and hundreds of other people in frustrating circumstances showing their true colors. I've wanted to kiss a British Airways employee, punch multiple British Airways passengers, yell, laugh, sleep, clap, lie on the ground , jump in the air, and most recently, cry- all because of a few white words of text on the black background of a flight board: Go to Gate A20.

I've done things here in which I take incredible pride, and I've struggled with what to do in difficult situations. I've been stunned by people on many accounts: the patience and leadership of an airport manager, as well as the ignorance and neuroticism of an underprepared and overwhelmed airline representative. The selfish egotism of many infantile passengers, as well as the ability of a crowd to laugh and cheer as one in the midst of a seemingly endless queue. I have learned that, while some greatly deserve it and others clearly do not, it's best to just give everyone a little credit.

Throughout the whole ordeal, I noticed that problems often occurred when people lost track of one key thing: perspective. YES- it is ok to laugh when a situation bullies you to scream, cry or fight. NO- you are not the only person in the world (or the room) who is unhappy, stressed or upset. And MAYBE, just maybe, we can step out of ourselves from time to time to help someone else. Not for a thank you or to feel better about yourself, but because they just might need a helping hand.

As I write now, I am on my plane and taxiing on the black tarmac, elated to be in a cramped airplane seat and hesitant to assume we will successfully take off or land at our planned destination. And I've figured out that sometimes that is exactly how life is.

You are how you act in the hard situations, and what makes it all worth it are the people around you.