Somewhat belated, but just for the sake of keeping this as a record of my year abroad, I should really recount the tale of my not quite as planned journey home...
I don't recommend that you actually read it - it's long (almost 1000 words!), waffley, and not that exciting!
It all began on the train shortly before Cologne. Having secured a lift to the station from my landlord, I was on the train and set to arrive at the airport with plenty of time before check-in was even due to open. Just as well really, 'cause public transport wasn't on my side! What began as a short stop at a signal just before Deutz (due to a broken down train), turned into a 111 minute delay as first one, and then 3 football fans decided that walking along the track between Deutz and the Hauptbahnhof would be a good idea - idiots. I can't even explain how frustrating it is to be sat on a train not going anywhere for the best part of 2 hours, especially when you have a plane to catch.
Needless to say as we weren't even half way to the airport yet, it was looking more and more inevitable that I was going to miss my flight - not something that aids feeling calm! We did eventually move again, but were then told that this train was going to terminate at Dormagen due to the enormity of the delay, so we were all to get off and wait for the next train following around 20 minutes behind. Not amused.
By this point I had pretty much given up all hope of making my flight and was resigned to spending a night in Düsseldorf airport. That was until this next train announced that we were going to skip all local stops between Nuess and Duesseldorf Hbf. Suddenly once more there was a slim slim chance that I could make this flight after all (I am very thankful for check-in only closing 40 minutes before a flight!).
I arrived at the airport around 3 hours later than planned, and after ,dodging an ambulance and fire engine raced to the check-in desk with only 5-10 minutes to spare... only to be told something along the lines of 'well we don't know where the plane is, so I suggest you wait a bit longer before you check-in". Great.
I was eventually allowed to check-in, passed through (the most rigorous European) security and found some other assistants / Erasmus students also attempting to fly home. Delays and cancellations are so much easier to cope with when you have company :) We waited for a long time at the gate before our flight changed to saying "boarding". If only. Turns out the incoming flight had unaccompanied minors and a wheelchair user on board, all of whom needed assistance to get off the plane, only this assistance didn't turn up for ages - add in another hour's delay to our flight.
Eventually just over 2 hours after our flight was meant to leave, we were allowed to get the bus to the plane. However, the faces of the cabin crew on board didn't fill us with confidence that the flight was actually going to go. We already knew that the airport had technically closed but had been extended to 23:30 for us and the Manchester flight, but now there was freezing rain to contend with too, and unless it decided to stop in the next 20 minutes, we weren't going anywhere. And that is exactly what happened. At half past 11, they declared the flight cancelled and we were all bussed back to the airport to pass through passport control and re-collect our baggage.
We were told that they would run a flight for us in the morning and that they would pay for us to be checked into the (really quite nice!) hotel just on the airport site for the night. If only we had a little more than about 5 hours to appreciate the niceness of this hotel, but a free breakfast had to be got up for, before returning back to the airport in the hope of getting a flight.
45 minutes earlier than they told us to arrive we joined an already existing queue, at which point a reporter from N24 (the German version of BBC News 24) asked if he could ask some of us a few quick questions. Not gonna deny that I left that one to other people in our little group ... sleep deprivation and stress is not something I've found helps my German! When we eventually got to the front of the queue we were just told that they didn't know any more information yet and that we'd just have to wait. So much for a flight being put on for us. Eventually, after everyone on that morning's flight had been checked in, our names slowly started to trickle through onto their system, meaning we had been transferred onto that flight. Definitely nervous moments though to keep showing your passport only to be told your name wasn't there yet.
Anyway, luck decided to be on our side this time around, and everyone from our evening flight was successfully transferred onto the morning one, and after only a (comparatively) short delay we were allowed to board. This time around we actually had the safety talks and were even taxied out to be de-iced (a 15 minute process or so where the plane is sprayed with lots of pink stuff...) No sighs of relief were breathed until we actually took off though, but after quite a bumpy / wobbly landing, touching down on British soil was a good moment.
A mere 15 hours later than planned I safely arrived back in England (for the first time in 107 days / 15+ weeks!) in time for Christmas. Christmas eve out with friends, and Christmas day with the family - perfect :)
But for now, 'Frohe Weihnachten und ein gutes neues Jahr' to all.
