Last week, I got sent to the UK for an internal conference (global meeting). The nice part was I got to go the day before my meetings actually started.
First impressions: Customs was easy peasy. There was barely any wait, the customs officer only asked one question and then stamped my passport. There was also a really nice lady standing around the luggage carousel in case we had questions which we didn't. Then to leave, you don't have to stand in another customs line! Just walk out 2 doors while they videotape you.
Taxis: The airport taxi will try to rip you off. When we first got out of the customs area, we check with a private car service for a pricing. They told us it would be £65 for the taxi but it was a 50 minute wait. As I'm not one for sitting around airports, we went outside to find a public taxi. The taxi guy loaded the taxi and then pulled out his handy dandy chart and showed us that a ride to Chester was £85. We then kindly asked him to remove our bags as the private service was much much cheaper and we didn't feel like being ripped off. The driver then negotiated down to £70. As we didn't really want to wait 50 minutes, we went for it. Which I later learned was still way over the norm: the hotel was actually able to arrange a car service from the hotel to the airport for only £40.One cool thing about the taxi, you have tons of control in the back seat.Manchester Airport: OK maybe this isn't Manchester Airport so much as BMI Airlines. BMI cancelled my flight to Heathrow without telling me. Even worse than not telling, they confused the hell out of me. There were 3 of us travelling to Heathrow but only 1 of use got a cancellation notice. So we called and checked online and both say the flights are on schedule. Who do we listen too??? My 2 colleagues decided not to chance it and take the train to Heathrow so they can make the connecting flight back to the States. Unfortunately for me, my rib muscles still ached so I couldn't lug around my luggage around the transit system.
I made my way to the BMI counter and was told my flight was cancelled but they already put me on the next flight (YAY!). The down side, which I had to prod out of them, was that I would arrive about 1 hour before my connecting flight and would have to switch terminals. And since they didn't notify me of the cancellation, I was extra early. I tried to kill time shopping but I was done in less in 30 minutes. More time to kill so I ate. Still more time to kill so I tried to find my gate. But nope, they won't tell you what gate you need to go to until the gate opens, which is when boarding starts. Until then, I was asked to patiently wait in the lounge and stare at the gate information screen.
London Heathrow: Our flight actually landed earlier than scheduled. I got excited thinking I get extra time to find my gate, but it took the plane a good 20-25 minutes to TAXI to the gate. Great. I get out and am told to go through international connections to get the bus to my next terminal. International connections was a massively long hallway with 3 different stops (which means 3 different lines). I get to the bus area and the bus is late, like 10 minutes late. And once we board, the bus driver wanders around looking for something someone lost. What was suppose to be an 8 minute ride felt like forever as the bus weaves (not exaggerating here) the airport grounds. And yeah he had to stop to chat with an incoming bus. Sigh. When I get to the terminal it was time to power walk to the gate. Thankfully, I made it to the gate exactly when boarding started. The boarding attendants then ask me to wait off the side so the can print me a proper boarding pass (I had an electronic print out from BMI). So I waited, but they were swamped ... so they gave me back my boarding pass and let me get on the plane .. lol
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