Traveling on my birthday

So I took my birthday off and had a fairly lazy morning before heading off to the airport.  Once I arrived at the airport, I could tell something was amiss as everyone had that look.

Turns our plane was significantly delayed and the internet access was out at the airport so nothing could be done electronically - like checking in your bags and getting another flight sorted out.  I found this sort of funny and went and had a piece of carrot cake.

After about an hour and a half, the website said the flight was cancelled, and I thought - darn it!  But the gals in Wick said they had a charter flight that was going to Aberdeen and would come back and get us and that is exactly what happened.  Arriving 4 hours late to Edinburgh, we all queued up to resolve our flights.

Even though I'd purchased my ticket on British Airways, they made me rebook a flight with FlyBe.  There was only one lady working the FlyBe counter, and she promptly deleted my ticket in the system and then spent 30 minutes trying to resolve it - all the while the queue was growing, and the flight to London left.

When it was finally sorted, I went and checked in for the next flight to London and was told it was delayed. I found all of this quite funny in a I-can-fly-24-hours-from-San-Antonio-to-Wick-on-6-flight-segments-changing-airlines-3-times-and-not-have-any-problems-but-I-can't-get-from-Wick-to-London sort of way.

I did have a small hissy fit when I got selected for special screening - this was after I'd already had some gal stick her bare hands into my pants to verify I didn't have anything inappropriate there: I didn't.  The special screening itself was not issue, but afterward, I was asked my age, my race and my religion - now this sort of pissed me off - like with no explanation.

So I lodged a complaint - let's face it I had some time.  I did receive a response which I found interesting.  The screeners in the UK are offered gloves, but it is their choice as whether they should wear them or not - what about my choice?  I mean seriously, they stick their bare hands in people's pants all day long - could the be any grosser?!?

For the special screening questions, well they were verifying the selection was indeed random.  Now this just adds additional support to my theory that I am often chosen for screening as I help balance out the statistics - so they can racial profile.  I told her I was a 60 year old hispanic hindu and I was really nasty about it.

After my hissy fit, I waited in the lounge, which was a bit messy but had nice cold Pinot Grigio.  I did finally make it to London on my birthday - just at 15 minutes before midnight - and after a long ride on the Piccadilly line, I arrived at my apartment for the next 3 days and went straight to bed.  I was exhausted.