Home Sweet Home

Sweet roses to welcome home a weary traveller.

The travails of travel

Parts of the USA were gripped by another snow storm on the date I made my long-awaited trip home to UK, February 5.  On the way to Kansas City International airport, I battled with limited visibility, large flurries of snow, and a small bunch of butterflies in the stomach.  The airport was functioning normally until news from Chicago O'Hare airport came.  The flight was delayed for 2.5 hours due to snow at Chicago. 

On arrival at Chicago O'Hare, hardly any snow was detected, but the plane sat for an hour before given a gate.  Originally the flight was due to arrive at Chicago at 17:05, but with the alleged snow and the gate delay, the disembarkation happened at 20:00.  There was a strong whiff of missing the BA flight when my fellow passenger, a college football player, checked the BA website on his cell phone and told me that the BA flight will leave ON TIME, i.e. 20:25. 

By the time I made my way from Terminal 3 via the transit system, to Terminal 5, going through odious security and making a dash for the depature gate, I watched with utter dismay, at 20:30, that the BA flight had been pulled away from the jetty and was being de-iced.  The BA staff at the gate was winding down as it was the end of their shift.  So they sent me back to Terminal 3 to take the 21:55 flight with American Airlines.

The BA departure desk had scribbled the flight details on the back of my self-printed BA boarding pass, which was not accepted at Terminal 3 security.  That necessitated joining the queue at the American Airlines desk to be issued with a "ticket".  Then it was back to security check and the long walk to the departure gate.  I just about made it, and was the last passenger to board the flight. 

This time, my end to end journey lasted 20 hours. 

Needless to say, my luggage did not arrive with the flight and I had to file a lost luggage claim.  Two losses out of four trips, that's an unfortunate record.

Footprints in the snow

A long, ardurous journey home

Wintry blues from Kansas

Dissolved in your loving embrace.

Legends

Legends is a vast outdoor shopping centre with factory outlets on the I435/I70 junction, Kansas City.  According to its offical website, this open-air shopping centre occupies 1.2 million square foot, which can pose a challenge to motorists trying to find their car....

Numerous sculptures dotted around the shopping centre, but the statement piece went to the 150-ft tall Smokestack Tower.  My favourites were humble pavement plagues in memory of scientists who through their research had advanced our understanding of the universe.