Travel Chaos

So, you may or may not have read in the news there's a bit of problem with travel this week. Planes, trains and roads are all in complete chaos as piles of snow descends on the UK with no means of stopping and unfortunately I managed to get caught up in it. On Friday we flew back from Beijing into Heathrow Terminal 5, the flight was fine but once we'd landed the pilot announced that we'd have to wait "tens of minutes" for a gate to become available for us, this seemed ok as the plane was still running and you could see the terminal building so it wasn't like we were in the middle of nowhere. About 30 minutes later the pilot announced that we were waiting for a gate and would be stuck there for the next hour. He explained that we were 16th in a queue of planes waiting for a gate and it should take about an hour to clear. Although this was frustrating they kept the in flight entertainment on and continued to serve drinks. Once that 1 hour was up the captain announced that we would be stuck for another hour. People were really starting to get annoyed now, we'd already been stuck for 1 1/2 hours after we thought we'd off the plane and setting off home and now there was the possibility that we'd be stuck for another hour. Little did we know. The captain did explain that it was a problem on the ground, that the staff couldn't de-ice the runways quick enough for flights to take off, which was why we were waiting for a gate. This all seemed completely ridiculous as Terminal 5 had cost so much to make and open why couldn't they ensure that there were good practises in place for such an event? I know everyone goes on about how it never snows much in England, but it's been pretty heavy the past 3 years so you'd think they'd be a bit more prepared. Anyway, as the hours rolled in the situation became less funny and more stressful. Everyone was hungry, thirsty and annoyed and the cabin crew didn't have any new information. Eventually the captain announced that we had a gate and we slowly made our way there. Everyone seemed pretty relieved to be getting off the plane.......no such luck. Once we'd parked at the gate we were told that because we were so far away from the terminal building we'd have to wait for buses to take us from the plane there. It really did seem that everything was going wrong especially as we were at the back of the economy cabin so we'd have to wait until everyone else had got off before we had the chance of catching a bus. Another 30 minutes passed by and we EVENTUALLY made it off the plane (good riddance) and onto a freezing cold bus. We'd landed at 3.10pm and now it was around 7.30pm so it was getting cold. Once we were in the terminal it was slightly better, customs and border control were pretty quick affairs but the baggage hall was a nightmare. You literally had to fight to get your bag back as there were hundreds of people waiting for theirs. I was so glad to finally get through arrivals and away for Heathrow and I honestly have never felt more relieved to be home especially after seeing on the news about how flights have been cancelled all across the country and people have become trapped abroad. Phew is a understatement. It was a stressful end to 3 amazing months in Asia that I'll never forget. I think I'm currently in a state of shock as it sinks it that it's all over.....for now anyway. Who knows what 2011 will bring? Hopefully not more snow.....