C'est La Vie

“C’est la vie” is my go-to phrase when I want to complain about all the things that go wrong in life that I can’t control. Was it John Lennon who said that “life happens when you’re busy making other plans”? Well I have to say that I wholeheartedly agree. My flight from Atlanta to London was uneventful but problems arose when I landed in Heathrow. There was no jetty so we all had to be driven to a different part of the airport leaving only five minutes to make it on to my connecting flight. Needless to say I didn’t get through the long queues (lines) in time. I had to wait for about an hour before I was told that I was on standby for the next two flights to Edinburgh (3:40pm and 5:40pm) and that I had been booked on a flight at 7:50pm. All rather frustrating considering I was supposed to arrive in Edinburgh at 1pm!

Obviously I had plenty of time to kill and the airline had given me some money for lunch so I found a sit down restaurant offering traditional pub food. Here at last was some good news – I ordered a Full English Breakfast complete with sausages, bacon, eggs, toast, fried tomato, chips (fries) and baked beans. It was AMAZING. I couldn’t believe how much I had missed English bacon. I’m not a fan of fried tomato but it’s my mum’s favourite so I ate a bite of it hoping she would somehow be able to enjoy it vicariously. After enjoying my scrumptious meal I tackled Heathrow’s WiFi and managed to send a quick email to my parents and sister to let them know what was going on.

Two hours later I was told that both the standby flights were full and I wasn’t going to be able to make it on to either of them. I accepted that I’d be in the airport til the 7:50pm flight and settled in one place to wait it out. To say I was tired would have been an understatement – I’d been awake over 24 hours but was trying to look on the bright side. Here’s my list of ‘silver linings’:

• Full English Breakfast (need I say more?)
• Getting to Edinburgh later meant I would sleep at the right time and be less jet lagged
• It wouldn’t be an adventure if there were no hiccups
• This would be a very short and boring first blog post if everything had gone to plan

I was met at the airport in Edinburgh by some university representatives who helped me find a taxi to take me to my new home. The guy and girl who gave me the keys to my little house were very friendly. Turns out one is from Somerset and not far from my mum’s hometown. He also gave me a letter my sister had sent which had ended up in the wrong place somehow. I’ve just met three of my six flatmates and they all seem lovely. My unpacking is all done and now I’m off for some much needed sleep.