Flight to Salt Lake City

Posting this on behalf on Elder Loffhagen:

I'm currently sitting in the Taylor family's study, typing on a very small Mac keyboard and looking at a very large Mac screen. The keyboard will be the reason for any typos that occur - it's a lot smaller than the ones I'm used to :P

It's currently 10:03 PM MST, which makes it something in the region of 4 AM GMT, meaning that I am somewhat tired after having travelling all day. But I've arrived safely, despite lengthy periods in airports (Chicago was a nightmare!) and even more lengthy flights.

The first flight, Heathrow to Chicago, was absolutely great. Lots of room, friendly cabin staff who made sure I was kept topped up with Fanta or whatever else I may have asked for, a little computer screen built into the chair in front of mine (which I didn't use, of course, but kept turning itself on at times - at seven it flicked on showing the travel route, how far we were ad how far we had to go, and after that I just left it on) and the meal was great - chicken curry, followed by strawberry cheesecake.

Things soon turned for the worse upon arriving in Chicago. The first big sign I saw said "Welcome to Chicago", as you might expect - but the sign also said, in large letters, RBS. Yes, the Royal Bank of Scotland was welcoming me to the airport. You know you're going to have trouble if the airport is so unfriendly that a Scottish bank has to pick up the slack.

Luckily, I was able to slink through customs and immigration without a problem, which was more than can be said for Elder Leah and another Finnish missionary who was on the plane. Both were taken to one side, where they had to wait for something like an hour. I waited for them on the other side of the gateway, guarding their bags from the airport staff who looked like they were pretty desperate to cart off any unattended baggage. I reasoned that, in the unlikely event that one of us miss our flight, we might as well all miss it.

With just 45 minutes to the flight to Salt Lake, the Finnish missionary was able to walk through, escourted by a guard. He picked up his bags and was taken off somewhere - I volunteered to wait for Elder Leah. When he finally came through, with only 20 minutes to go, he was also being escourted by a guard. He picked up his bags and told me, "I'm being taken for interrogation." I nervously asked if I'd better just leave him then, and get on the flight. He agreed that I should.

This put me in a tricky position - I was alone in Chicago airport, with no clue what I was supposed to be doing, and only 20 minutes until my flight was due to leave. Thankfully, one lady helped me fast-track checking in my bags, possibly realising how little time I had, and I was away. Following signs, I ended up on a tram that took me to my terminal, at which point I asked a member of staff what I should do. His concern for me was obvious from the expletive he offered after realising how little time I had to make my flight. He pointed me in the right direction, and I got checked in and pointed in the right direction. I went through the metal detectors right behind a large, slow family, and found myself running around, trying to find the right departure gate, one hand clutching my jacket, hand-luggage and belt, the other holding up my trousers.

For some reason, departure gates in Chicago are assigned letters - only three letters, though; J, H and K. My gate was H16, which made very little sense, and turned out to be right around the other side from where I was. So after a lot more running, I skidded to a halt just outside the terminal, was told off for running by one of the workers there, and just made it onto the plane.

American Airlines are very different from British Airways. While my BA flight was very comfortable and high-tech, I suspect the AA plane was built slightly before the invention of...the wheel. It was small, tightly packed, uncomfortable and creaky. I managed to find my seat (eventually) and the plane took off. The other two elders were nowhere to be seen; I can only assume that they are, still, now being interrogated on suspicion of being terrorists or something stupid. I have to wonder what it was that let me through but detained them - at least they'll have more interesting stories to write home about.

Well, it's now all the later, so I'd better actually try and catch up on some sleep, having been up for nearly 24 hours, and having not got much sleep last night thanks to a certain someone's snoring and clucking...